How to logline a dual-plot story
What is the best way to write a short logline for a screenplay with dual storylines, especially if both storylines are crucial to the telling of the story?
I feel like scripts with multiple storylines (3+ stories) like Pulp Fiction or Crash can rely on simple loglines that get across the overall theme of the story. But what about scripts with two distinct storylines that parallel one another…do you pack both storylines into the logline? Or do you pick one and focus the on it?
– Mac
Los Angeles
Some movies are really difficult to logline. Go is one. When forced to give a short description, I try to chart the three main threads: “It’s about a really tiny drug deal, a wild night in Vegas and two soap opera actors — all of which cross paths at LA’s underground rave scene.”
Again, not great. But it gets the job done.
For something like Big Fish, I make the parallel structure clear: “It’s the story of a man’s life, told the way he remembers it: full of wild, impossible exaggerations. At the same time, his grown son is trying to separate the truth from the fantasy before his dad dies.”
Julie and Julia has dual storylines, yet summarizes easily: “It’s the story of a young woman determined to cook her way through Julia Child’s famous cookbook, intercut with the adventures of Julia Child’s life.”
If both plotlines are key to your story, you need to make that clear in the logline. Otherwise, you risk future readers feeling like you bait-and-switched them.
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March 5th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
This is something I’ve been tangling with for a few months. Dual protagonist script with parallel/reflective plot lines! That’s a hard one to tackle. Even when talking about it–which one is the protagonist? Both of them! But it seems based a bit on the log line that people read before I give them the script. So to cleverly work in both plot lines is a challenge, but I think I have a bit of insight on how to word it (and even make it work!).
TY :)
March 5th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I wrote/directed a no-budget feature a few years ago and have struggled since then to quickly summarize the plot. Your “Go” logline is a great formula for me to use. Thanks.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Where does “This-Meets-This” come in?
I always thought the “This-Meets-This”s were just water-cooler talk, but I just heard a serious screenwriter refer to a this-meets as a log line?
I used to think they were belittling oversimplifications for full-grown dumpster-babies & the creatively void, until I finally saw one that worked far better than any logline.
Could ‘this-meets-this’ possibly just be the best way through loglining a complicated braid like Pulp Fiction?
March 5th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
There has to be one theme or concept that unites the story lines – otherwise you are stuffed.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:35 am
@Synthian: In the book Writing Treatments That Sell, they make a good point that typically studios aren’t looking to experiment or do anything very brave, so the worst thing you can say is, “No one’s ever tried this before.” The “this-meets-this” is, in the authors’ view, a good way to speak their language. Let’s take two tried and true formulas and create something new that’s not too risky. That said, I never liked “this-meets-this” but I never really liked most studio products either… so there you go. I doubt Kaufman used “this-meets-this” to sell “Being John Malkovich” because it was too unique to be boiled down to those sorts of generalities.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:37 am
John: If “Go” was complicated, how did you logline “The Nines”?
Or, if you never needed to – how would you?
March 6th, 2010 at 11:49 am
John, in case you are not aware of the goose chase Valve has been putting us through. The end of the chase came. Portal 2 has been announced, along with Steam being available for Mac. I look forward to the cake. They promise it will be there this time. I believe them.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I’ve used ‘this-meets-this’, and have been told by reputable producers that it’s a legit tactic.
However, I consider it a separate item from the logline, which I believe should stand on its own.
So, one pitches the logline, then continues the elevator pitch/thumbnail synopsis, which might include ‘this-meets-this’.
So for my last optioned script, it went:
“Grampa thinks he’s a TV super hero, and drags his grandson on a cross-country road trip to confront his imaginary arch enemy… accidentally thwarting crimes along the way and fast becoming a folk hero.
(beat)
It’s like a cross between Home Alone and Wild Hogs, a family adventure that looks at inter-generational relationships, pride and honor, tweenager romance, porta potties as transportation and a few good fart jokes. It’s silly enough for the kids, but still maintains real heart and a touching subplot that resonates with parents and grandparents alike.”
Choosing Home Alone and Wild Hogs creates a perceived connection to two financially successful projects, one that launched a career and a franchise and has gone on to become a holiday favorite, and another that’s more recent and demonstrates the ability to bring star power to light family fare and be a surprise financial success. Plus they share the general tone of the property, so you can immediately see what kind of film it will be.
My .02.
March 6th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
With all due respect to John August, the logline examples he provides are less than appealing, not evocative at all and, if something, they show an utter lack of focus in the stories. The one for Big Fish seems especially uninspired and doesn’t communicate any of the film’s atmosphere or charm. IMHO.
March 6th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
@ S.A.M. Ya, I understand the reason for the This-Meets-This and the fear that drives the beast onward. (And I still think they’re really just baby-talk for communicating with the creatively void… but I’m embracing it. If there were a Rosetta Stone set I could keep in my car to aid me in speaking Creatard I’d pay the overnight shipping on it.)
I was just trying to figure what Chip said: Are they necessarily a separate evolutionary spore from the logline? Or have we devolved into a gimpy little craft-imitates-art crescendo where a this-meets… is actually the line?
(I only ask cause it was Rossio who said it… which is unusual.)
@ Chip Street, Thanks as always man.
I’ve invented this nigh-impossible Iron-Lotus ninja move in my head… I want to make the TITLE, the HIGH CONCEPT, the STRANGE ATTRACTOR, and the LOG-LINE, all 4, the exact same words. And not need to provide any other explanation. PFFFZZZHWOOOOSH.
March 6th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
@Synthian: Already done — “Snakes on a plane”.
March 6th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
“Or have we devolved into a gimpy little craft-imitates-art crescendo where a this-meets… is actually the line?”
Erf… I hope not.
I’d love to have a property that I could define with your Iron-Lotus ninja move tho. I’m close (on another). But not… quite.
@Synthian — man, I hope your scripts read like your posts.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
@ Ruben, Yeah that! :) – Only less movie/more “film”.
March 7th, 2010 at 1:16 am
@Chip on Synthian…ya…I hope so too.
March 7th, 2010 at 10:10 am
@Synthian: “Are they necessarily a separate evolutionary spore from the logline? Or have we devolved into a gimpy little craft-imitates-art crescendo where a this-meets… is actually the line?”
Maybe I’m looking at this too naively, and let me know if I am:
I’d think they’re more utilitarian than formal convention (the same way that screenplay format is a formal convention).
The “logline,” “this-meets-that,” the “elevator pitch” – aren’t these all just nicknames for a set of loose ideas & general principles we should understand (enough to use or avoid, and enough to know how to make that decision)?
To me it’s not whether one would “replace” the other, it’s which flavor of the same basic stuff to use for any given context/audience.
March 8th, 2010 at 1:49 am
@ Mani, – Ya dude, that’s not naive. Its certainly more sensible than just pretending Hollywood has a structured mathematical code & inorganic system of etiquette.
(Sure we all hear myths of “the rules” from left brained pseudo-ninjas with a book to sell… but I have yet to see the room where those rules exist in full metal jackets with “born to kill” written on their helmets and I’m pretty sure if that room exists I wouldn’t stick up my thumb with an idiotic smile and work there.)
We just have an accidental tendency to forget that its not a formal dance in the 14th century feudal system when there’s such a barrage of guru BS being shoveled at us… or at least I do.
That’s why Viki King’s “How to Write a Movie in 21 Days” is my favorite screenwriting book ever. – Because it starts with: F*** the Rules. Be happy. And then proceeds to give you nothing but little zen koans the rest of the way. Its infantile. And awesome.
You’re right. – Nobody cares if you eat your salad with the shrimp fork.
March 8th, 2010 at 9:10 am
@Mani, Thanks for the reminder.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Chip’s reply about this-meets-that is correct. It can be a useful way of describing what a movie is “like,” but it generally doesn’t tell you what a movie “is.”
March 11th, 2010 at 10:21 am
John,
When does one use a logline? In the opening minutes of a pitch? When approaching a producer about a screenplay outside of the normal “agent sends it out” process? Or????
I’ve only had scripts go out through an agent, so I’ve never needed a logline to talk about an existing script (though I can see using it in a pitch). Also, if you’re not repped (and I’m not at present) would you use the logline to interest producers whom you already have a relationship with in reading a screenplay you’ve written that hasn’t “gone out” (due to your lack of representation)? What about producers and execs whom you’re just meeting?
Thanks in advance!
March 11th, 2010 at 10:23 am
@ Synthian,
Was Rossio advising that we all use this-meets-that in lieu of a proper logline, or was he saying that he does that? If the latter, I’d say that might work for him, a known brand, in a way that it may not work for a writer earlier in his career. Curious to know what others think.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Oh hell no… he said it in passing, “If your log line is ___ meets ___ then it would be appealing because ___.” and he was on a thought train so I didn’t ask. It just looped my head. So I take John above to be the final word.
(I take the rest of the “when” questions to live under the umbrella of Organic Preparedness: Its just something to have in your pocket in case somebody asks… but there’s no formal date/place where you’re scheduled to write it down.)
March 13th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I can never write good loglines, it’s absolutely hopeless. Seriously, I find it easier to write whole screenplays. Frustrating.
March 14th, 2010 at 12:40 am
I want to try working with macros in word for script formating instead of Final Draft. Having trouble finding regular old fashion courier. Not wanting to use new or bt. I’ve looked everywhere. Any suggestions?