WHAT IS A LOGLINE?

A logline, also known as an elevator pitch, is a brief, concise description of a story, product, business, or idea that conveys its essence or value proposition in a very short time — approximately the length of an elevator ride, hence the name.

In the context of a product, business, or idea, the logline typically includes the problem being addressed, the solution, and the unique selling proposition. For example, a logline for a new app might be: “Our app connects busy pet owners with trusted pet sitters in their neighborhood, making pet care easy and reliable.”

In the context of a story (such as a book, movie, or TV show), a logline is a one to two sentence description of the main concept or the central plot of a film or TV show. It typically includes the protagonist, their goal, the antagonist or obstacle they must overcome, and the stakes if they fail. A good logline should convey the story’s genre, tone, and unique elements, and it should pique a reader’s interest.

In both cases, a good logline should be clear, compelling, and concise, ideally one to two sentences long.

Here are examples of loglines for some classic films:

1. “The Godfather”: “The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.”
2. “Star Wars: A New Hope”: “A farm boy discovers he’s the inheritor of a legendary force in a distant galaxy and sets out on a journey to rescue a princess and defeat an evil empire.”
3. “The Shawshank Redemption”: “Framed for a crime he didn’t commit, a banker is sentenced to life in the Shawshank state prison, develops a life-changing friendship with a fellow inmate, and sets out to prove his innocence.”
4. “The Sixth Sense”: “A child psychologist attempts to help a young boy who claims to see and communicate with the dead, only to discover that the boy might not be imagining things.”
5. “Jurassic Park”: “On an island off the coast of Costa Rica, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok, putting a group of visitors’ lives in peril.”

Remember, the goal of a logline is not just to summarize the story, but to sell it, to make someone want to watch the movie or read the script. Each word should be carefully chosen to convey the most interesting and unique aspects of the story.

Since brevity is the name of the game for a logline, a time- saving technique is to make reference to a well known (and commercial successful) project. For instance, the logline for the movie “Jaws” might be: “A small town sheriff must kill a great white shark terrorizing beachgoers before it kills again.” After the enormous success of Jaws, venerable pitchman, Robert Kosberg, got New Line Cinema to green light “Man’s Best Friend” by pitching it as “Jaws with paws!”. If logline references were tracked in the same manner that scientific paper citations were it would almost certainly be the case that “Die Hard” holds the title for most referenced film in a logline:

1. “Under Siege” (1992): Often described as “Die Hard on a battleship,” the film stars Steven Seagal as a cook on a U.S. Navy battleship who fights against a group of mercenaries who take over the ship.
2. “Speed” (1994): Keanu Reeves stars as an LAPD officer who must prevent a bomb from exploding on a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph. It can be seen as “Die Hard on a bus”.
3. “Air Force One” (1997): Harrison Ford plays the President of the United States who must single-handedly thwart a group of terrorists who have hijacked Air Force One. This film is often referred to as “Die Hard on a plane”.
4. “The Taking of Pelham 123” (2009): This film could be dubbed “Die Hard on a subway train,” where a New York City subway dispatcher draws on his extensive knowledge of the subway system in his attempts to outwit a dangerous criminal mastermind who’s hijacked a subway train.
5. “Non-Stop” (2014): Liam Neeson stars as a U.S. Air Marshal who must stop a killer on an international flight, making this another example of “Die Hard on a plane”.
6. “Skyscraper” (2018): This film features Dwayne Johnson as a former FBI agent turned security consultant who must save his family from a newly built skyscraper–the tallest in the world–after it is taken over by criminals and set on fire. This film is often referred to as “Die Hard in a skyscraper”.

Each of these films uses the “Die Hard” formula of a resourceful lone hero in a confined setting facing overwhelming odds. If there isn’t already a “Die-Hard in space” chances are it’s in development.

It’s extremely important that a logline not make reference to a project that was a commercial failure. This sounds obvious but you would not believe how often studio execs are pitched projects that make reference to a film which did not work in the marketplace. The exec has to pitch this project up the ladder so a well-oiled logline that sounds like success and a promotion for that film team is a pragmatic way to get past gatekeepers and at minimum get a decision-maker to add the project to their weekend read.

Time spent testing and honing a logline can even inform a screenwriter during the writing process and help them edit their work to make it more commercially viable.