A one or two-sentence description (no more than 40 words) of your script, including:
- Character (one or two-word description)
- Goal (this should be your character’s end goal for the entire story)
- Obstacle (an ongoing and imminent threat/hindrance to your character)
Make the goals and obstacles external from your character. They should be definitive, observable, and tangible.
When writing your logline, consider these three character motivations but do not write them in the logline itself (the want should be inherent in the goal):
- What does she (your character) want?
- Why does she want it?
- What happens if she doesn’t get it?
Ex: Jo March
- What: she wants to be a writer
- Why: to exercise her passion and gain autonomy and freedom
- Or else: she will die a miserable old spinster
A passionate young woman struggles to become a writer in a patriarchal society that values domesticity and subservience to men.
—Little Women (1994)
A diminutive villager embarks on a quest to destroy a magical ring before its creator can use it to enslave his world.
—The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)
A young blacksmith joins forces with an eccentric ship captain to rescue the woman he loves from supernatural pirates. (19)
—Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Falsely convicted of murdering his wife, a once-prominent surgeon escapes to find the real killer and clear his name (21)
—The Fugitive (1993)
When a deadly great white shark stalks the shores of an island community, the local sheriff must overcome an antagonistic mayor and his own fear of the water to join a marine biologist and a shark hunter in killing it (40)
—Jaws (1975)
The sheriff of small island community must overcome an antagonistic mayor and his own fear of the water to enlist a marine biologist and a shark hunter in hunting down a deadly great white shark menacing the local shores (39)
—Jaws (1975)
A mute woman develops a love affair with a sea creature and embarks on a plan to rescue him from his sadistic captors (23)
—The Shape of Water (2017
After killing a rapist, two women must elude police as they flee to Mexico (18)
—Thelma & Louise (1991)
A CIA specialist conducts a covert operation wherein he produces a fake Hollywood movie to rescue six American diplomats during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis (26)
—Argo (2012)
A cynical PI investigating an adultery case stumbles onto a conspiracy to rob farmers of water during a drought in 1930s Los Angeles (24)
—Chinatown (1974)
The crew of an interstellar commercial vessel returning to Earth receives a distress call from an unexplored planet, returning to their ship with a deadly biological alien. (28)
—Alien (1979)
A tough principal takes revolutionary measures to clean up a notoriously dangerous inner-city New Jersey high school (18)
—Lean on Me (1989)
High school student fakes illness so he can enjoy a day off with his girlfriend and his hypochondriac, anxiety-ridden best friend as they elude the principal (27)
—Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)