Logline Shortcuts

How useful can a one-sentence story summary be?

The entertainment industry is competitive, and everyone is vying for attention – screenwriters included. To stand out, you need both a worthy screenplay and an attractive pitch that entices people to read that screenplay.

And whether you’re writing your first screenplay or polishing your tenth, there’s one type of story summary you’ll find invaluable to know how to write. What is it?

A one-sentence encapsulation of your story, known as a logline.

Loglines are incredibly useful and yet they strike fear in the hearts of writers. If you’ve tried to write a logline, you understand. Sometimes it feels nearly impossible to distill an entire movie into one snappy sentence.

Yet you keep at it. Because a well-written logline can be used to pitch your project, hook a reader, and open the right doors for you and your screenplay.

And loglines aren’t just for pitching your finished screenplay, either.

Working out your story idea in one sentence is also a valuable part of the development process. Meaning, writing a logline can be a great way to start any new project. It’s a low investment of time and effort that delivers real benefits.

The greatest benefit may simply be that it gets you started on your screenplay. With just one sentence, you begin to shape your story and build momentum to keep going.

So if you’ve thought about writing a screenplay but don’t know where to start, or if you’ve started and stopped one (or more), and found yourself feeling lost in the process, then this guide will help you too.

By this point I’ve written hundreds (if not thousands!) of loglines, and one thing I can tell you is: writing loglines gets easier with practice. Especially if you have a few basic guidelines to follow, which I’m about to share with you.

I’ll cover what a logline is, how it can help you write your screenplay, and a straightforward way to write a logline that actually does your screenplay justice. I’ll talk about a few of the most common pitfalls writers might stumble into when writing loglines and how to avoid those issues. I’ll also give you plenty of examples to really solidify the concepts we’re going to cover, and some common logline templates to make writing your own logline that much easier.

Ready? Let’s get started!

About the author

Naomi Beaty is a screenwriting teacher and consultant who works with writers, producers, and directors at all levels to develop their film and TV projects. Naomi has read thousands of scripts and worked with hundreds of writers, first as a junior development exec at Madonna and Guy Oseary’s Maverick Films, and currently through group workshops and one-on-one coaching at writeandco.com.

With the projects they’ve brought to her for consultation, her clients have placed in prestigious screenwriting contests, been featured on the Black List (an annual list of the industry’s favorite unproduced screenplays), pitched to every major studio, and have optioned and sold feature screenplays and TV pilots to producers.

What is a logline?

Whether you’re just beginning to develop an idea or you’ve finished your screenplay and are ready to get it out into the world, there’s one tool you will probably find very useful: the logline.

A logline is a brief, one-sentence description of the story contained in your screenplay. At its most basic, that story is: Someone wants something and goes after it against great opposition.

Loglines are used throughout the entertainment industry as a quick way