How to Write a Screenplay Logline: Your Movie Log Line is a Writing Outline

Even screenwriters have trouble knowing the difference between a logline and an advertising tag line. The purpose of a logline is to tell people, generally studio executives, what the movie is about. This is not the one-line "hook" that movie posters use to get people to go see the movie. The most common way to explain what a logline is, is to compare it to a television listing summary that tells in very few words what the movie is about.

Sure, a logline can entice the viewer, but it's less a teaser and more detailed about who the main character is and what the obstacle is that this character will have to face.

Look at the 2011 movie "Bridesmaids," starring Kristin Wiig, Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph and produced by Judd Apatow. The Web site, www.themoviepool.com posted the following logline for the hit movie.

"A lovestruck and broke woman is tasked as her best friend's maid of honor, and must complete all the usual rituals with a group of oddball bridesmaids."

Yes, the logline is a concise summary but it also contains key information about the protagonist and what she is going to have to overcome. It looks like an easy summary of the movie yet most loglines that are published are written after the movie has been seen. Writing your own logline before even writing the movie script is a challenge.

There are benefits to writing your logline prior to writing your script. Some writers will swear by working out an outline to use while writing. Other writers (generally unemployed writers) will groan about an outline and complain that it is too constrictive for their style of writing.

Writing a logline before writing "FADE IN" will start you thinking clearly about your screenplay and what your main character will have to overcome. The best way to learn how to write a well-constructed logline is to read Chapter 1 of Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat!" Snyder deconstructs the logline and teaches the four elements of a great logline.