Excellent Screenwriting Tips? I got you, fam!
Hey, everyone!
My name is Aki, and I just wanted to invite you to take a look at the free content on my blog/Patreon page. I'm so thankful for the warm welcome IndieTalk has given me, and would love to build a dialogue with all you brilliant peeps!
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/storycrafteraki
Here is my most recent article addressing Loglines!
Enjoy!
------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHTS ON LOGLINES!
I'm gonna take a crack at this but, remember, in the end this is just advice/use your own judgement.
Alright, well, to me, a Logline is basically a HOOK! to grab your audiences's attention. You're simplifying your intricate/beautiful story into a sentence or two. Which is a skill in its own.
Depending on who you are/that particular story, you can choose whether to:
write the Logline before the script,
write the Logline after the script, or,
not write a Logline at all!
Whatever you choose, I personally don't think there is a right/wrong answer.
But, there are a few things you want to include in your Logline to better convey what your story is about.
Protagonist - You have to give a sense of who the main character is.
In your Logline, don't use names or any other specific, yet useless, identifiers. Unless your character is well-known (Wonder Woman, John Mcclane, Oprah, Shrek!), mentioning them by name doesn't really contribute much.
"Wide-eyed romantic," "guilt-ridden veteran," "suicidal immortal" are good examples because they give us a sense of who these characters are; regardless of what they look like, how old they are, what their gender is, and especially what they're names are.
Those characters can range in appearance and name, and still maintain that core personality!
Protagonist's Goal - Putting what your characters (external) want/what they are trying to achieve in the Logline is ideal.
Notice that I wrote "external"; meaning, a goal that is visual, which, in turn, makes it easy to measure. For example:
The story is about a wide-eyed romantic who wants to escape Super-Max prison.
The story is about a guilt-ridden veteran who wants to win America's Got Talent.
The story is about a suicidal immortal who wants to become a human.
Okay, stop!
Having a sense of your protagonist and their goal are what I consider crucial to writing a Logline.
But, I'd be cheating y'all if I didn't mention that some sources out there recommend adding a little more to your Logline for it to be complete.
That being said, I think giving a sense of your Protag and your Protag's Goal are enough, and, the elements I'm going to mention next are optional/up to you to decide to use or not, girls and boys!
Antagonist - Try and give the main conflict in your story a face; even if it's just life itself.
By "conflict" here I mean what's the thing standing in their way of catching their break/what they want.
And, that 'thing' is the one piece of them that they are not willing to surrender.
The story is about a wide-eyed romantic who wants to escape Super-Max prison, but has to give up their love to do it.
The story is about a guilt-ridden veteran who wants to win America's Got Talent, but has to face his demons to do so.
The story is about a suicidal immortal who wants to become a human, but must sacrifice humanity in the process.
Realize that these 'Antagonists' are abstracts! Meaning, they can take whatever shape you/your story wish for them to take!
For the wide-eyed romantic, 'love' can mean a fe/male inmate, fe/male officer, or something extreme like a psychological persona they've built to survive the hardships of prison/their very real ability to love.
For the guilt-ridden vet, 'demons' could mean PTSD, the families of the men, women and/or children he killed in the line of duty, or, again, if we're going to extreme, literal demons!
For the suicidal immortal, 'humanity' can range from one person (a lover or a surrogate daughter/son) to the actual billions of lives populating the planet!
The idea here is that you're giving the 'essence' of your story, without weighing the words down with colorful detail.
Details come later, when your audience are reading/watching your script/film.
Genre - Here is where you hint at the landscape of your story, and do a little world building.
The story is about a wide-eyed romantic in 2320 Japan, who wants to escape Super-Max prison, but has to give up their love to do it.
The story is about a guilt-ridden veteran in modern day Mexico, who wants to win America's Got Talent, but has to face his demons to do so.
The story is about a suicidal immortal in a dystopian future who wants to become a human, but must sacrifice humanity in the process.
Mentioning elements specific to your genre will help answer a few questions before your listener asks them.
For the wide-eyed romantic, the genre can easily be Sci-Fi.
The guilt-ridden vet story will likely be a gritty and/or heartfelt drama.
And, the suicidal immortal story can take place in either a Sci-Fi or Fantasy setting, depending on how you play it.
Well, that's all I've got for ya, fam!
Hope that was helpful!
Write on!
Aki, out!
Hey, everyone!
My name is Aki, and I just wanted to invite you to take a look at the free content on my blog/Patreon page. I'm so thankful for the warm welcome IndieTalk has given me, and would love to build a dialogue with all you brilliant peeps!
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/storycrafteraki
Here is my most recent article addressing Loglines!
Enjoy!
------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHTS ON LOGLINES!
I'm gonna take a crack at this but, remember, in the end this is just advice/use your own judgement.
Alright, well, to me, a Logline is basically a HOOK! to grab your audiences's attention. You're simplifying your intricate/beautiful story into a sentence or two. Which is a skill in its own.
Depending on who you are/that particular story, you can choose whether to:
write the Logline before the script,
write the Logline after the script, or,
not write a Logline at all!
Whatever you choose, I personally don't think there is a right/wrong answer.
But, there are a few things you want to include in your Logline to better convey what your story is about.
Protagonist - You have to give a sense of who the main character is.
In your Logline, don't use names or any other specific, yet useless, identifiers. Unless your character is well-known (Wonder Woman, John Mcclane, Oprah, Shrek!), mentioning them by name doesn't really contribute much.
"Wide-eyed romantic," "guilt-ridden veteran," "suicidal immortal" are good examples because they give us a sense of who these characters are; regardless of what they look like, how old they are, what their gender is, and especially what they're names are.
Those characters can range in appearance and name, and still maintain that core personality!
Protagonist's Goal - Putting what your characters (external) want/what they are trying to achieve in the Logline is ideal.
Notice that I wrote "external"; meaning, a goal that is visual, which, in turn, makes it easy to measure. For example:
The story is about a wide-eyed romantic who wants to escape Super-Max prison.
The story is about a guilt-ridden veteran who wants to win America's Got Talent.
The story is about a suicidal immortal who wants to become a human.
Okay, stop!
Having a sense of your protagonist and their goal are what I consider crucial to writing a Logline.
But, I'd be cheating y'all if I didn't mention that some sources out there recommend adding a little more to your Logline for it to be complete.
That being said, I think giving a sense of your Protag and your Protag's Goal are enough, and, the elements I'm going to mention next are optional/up to you to decide to use or not, girls and boys!
Antagonist - Try and give the main conflict in your story a face; even if it's just life itself.
By "conflict" here I mean what's the thing standing in their way of catching their break/what they want.
And, that 'thing' is the one piece of them that they are not willing to surrender.
The story is about a wide-eyed romantic who wants to escape Super-Max prison, but has to give up their love to do it.
The story is about a guilt-ridden veteran who wants to win America's Got Talent, but has to face his demons to do so.
The story is about a suicidal immortal who wants to become a human, but must sacrifice humanity in the process.
Realize that these 'Antagonists' are abstracts! Meaning, they can take whatever shape you/your story wish for them to take!
For the wide-eyed romantic, 'love' can mean a fe/male inmate, fe/male officer, or something extreme like a psychological persona they've built to survive the hardships of prison/their very real ability to love.
For the guilt-ridden vet, 'demons' could mean PTSD, the families of the men, women and/or children he killed in the line of duty, or, again, if we're going to extreme, literal demons!
For the suicidal immortal, 'humanity' can range from one person (a lover or a surrogate daughter/son) to the actual billions of lives populating the planet!
The idea here is that you're giving the 'essence' of your story, without weighing the words down with colorful detail.
Details come later, when your audience are reading/watching your script/film.
Genre - Here is where you hint at the landscape of your story, and do a little world building.
The story is about a wide-eyed romantic in 2320 Japan, who wants to escape Super-Max prison, but has to give up their love to do it.
The story is about a guilt-ridden veteran in modern day Mexico, who wants to win America's Got Talent, but has to face his demons to do so.
The story is about a suicidal immortal in a dystopian future who wants to become a human, but must sacrifice humanity in the process.
Mentioning elements specific to your genre will help answer a few questions before your listener asks them.
For the wide-eyed romantic, the genre can easily be Sci-Fi.
The guilt-ridden vet story will likely be a gritty and/or heartfelt drama.
And, the suicidal immortal story can take place in either a Sci-Fi or Fantasy setting, depending on how you play it.
Well, that's all I've got for ya, fam!
Hope that was helpful!
Write on!
Aki, out!