While 25 words is ideal for a ‘hooky’ logline, our research found that the most effective ‘story’ loglines range in word count from 25 to … 55. On this site we honour both types of loglines, but we focus primarily on the longer versions as they work harder as a test of your story. Below are the top reviewers’ most frequent notes, and what industry pros focus on. Check the examples and fix your logline before you post.
1 Well-defined POV
Follow one protagonist, and give them one detail that matters.
One sentence holds one story, told from one point of view. Competing threads confuse readers about what the story actually is — and a generic label ("a woman", "a cop") wastes the one chance you have to make the lead particular, so the detail you choose should say something about the story that follows, not just about the character.
Test: Choose the primary throughline, give its protagonist one telling detail, and check that detail earns its place in the story, not just on the page.
What the Medic checks, in order of importance:
- The logline follows a single protagonist's perspective, even if the underlying story has two.
- That protagonist is described with a specific, character-defining detail, not a generic label.
- The detail given is relevant to the story that follows, not specificity for its own sake.
Seen in 324 real reviews
One real review where a top reviewer raised this exact note:
2 Clear, difficult goal
The ending is picturable — and worth a whole film.
Without a clear goal there is no story engine. Readers need to picture the ending the protagonist is driving towards, and that ending has to be big enough to justify two hours.
Test: State what the protagonist wants, and ask whether you can picture them getting it.
What the Medic checks, in order of importance:
- The ending is anticipated and picturable, not left open.
- The goal is substantial enough to be worth pursuing, and big enough to justify a film.
- Only where the logline uses a midpoint-reversal structure: it is the final goal, not just the first-half goal, that is anticipated.
Seen in 103 real reviews
3 Active protagonist
They pursue something — things don't just happen to them.
A logline must show what the protagonist does, not just what happens to them. Audiences follow protagonists who want something and take action to get it — the most common note by far is that the lead is passive. And a lead who pursues the goal out of obligation reads weaker on the page than one who pursues it like their life depends on it. The more the pursuit looks like obsession rather than duty, the more cinematic it feels.
Test: Distinguish setup (what happens) from plot (what the character does about it), then push the verb as far as it will go: obsession reads stronger than duty.
What the Medic checks, in order of importance:
- The protagonist is shown actively pursuing the goal, not just having it stated for them.
- The pursuit reads as driven by real intent and determination, not half-hearted or passive phrasing.
- The pursuit reads closer to obsessive than merely dutiful — the more cinematic end of commitment.