HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY (SCRIPT) PT. 3

HOW TO WRITE A LOGLINE - CONCEPT OF A SCRIPT
By now you've read one or two screenplays and are getting familiar with the format and vernacular. The script is going to be the medium in which you convey the story, and it has to have interesting content, entertaining the reader and audience.

Your script needs to be full of events, and they need to take place with proper timing. In an analogy, think of how a song starts with verse, goes to the chorus, back to verse, chorus, the bridge- which is an unexpected change of melody, chorus, often a third verse and then ends reiterating the chorus. This is the standard for many songs, and usually the intensity will build throughout, climaxing in the big chorus at the end. It wouldn't make sense to do everything in reverse.

Your story needs to have similar elements, and the structure is very important; we have to maintain the viewer's interest and keep them on the edge of their seat, hungry for the climax.

We will get to the breakdown of your script, but first we need to consider what you will be writing about, and if it's a unique and captivating story. In a nutshell, in one sentence, you will have to convey what the story is about. This is known as the "logline", which is a short synopsis of your screenplay. There are many different definitions, I like "a description of a screenplay in twenty-five words or less".

For now, your logline will keep you on track as to what the concept behind the story is. Later, it will be a quick way for any reader, producer, director, agent, or other industry type to get a snapshot of your "Opus Magnum".

Probably the best logline example I see repeated out there is:

"A giant shark terrorizes a small town."

Do you recognize the film? Jaws, right? Technically five words and we know the story because it is so simple yet so unique, and scary.

By now you have at least one idea of something to write about, that's why you're on this site. I'm guessing that at least half of you want to write a story about yourself? That's fine, nothing wrong with it, you just have to make sure that the audience considers the content to be as unique as you deem it. You might have to embellish parts of your story to make it more interesting, and that's what screenwriters do: create interesting content.

Using your own life as an example, let's create an interesting logline for your story. My tip here is to to focus on the single most moving event of your life and build a story around it. Something you consider to be unique, maybe the best or worst time of your life, a great achievement, an epic failure. We do this in a script, as well as in each scene of the screenplay, because the rule of thumb is to:

“Come in as late as possible, get out as early as you can".

What this means is that we're not going to start with your birth and losing your first tooth, unless it's an integral part of telling the story. If you were born with a thirst for blood, and a fang replaced your first lost tooth, we might have the making of a great vampire film, so that info would be pertinent. Just that alone might make a great logline.

"A suburban couple gives birth to a vampire and attempts to hide that fact from their status-quo type neighbors".

But chances are, you're not a vampire.

I'll use the example of one of my relatives. She's artistic, but there's no monumental story there. She was or still is addicted to pills, many types. Now that's an interesting trait of the character, we can build on that. The most unique thing she has ever done? Moved fourteen times in a two-year span. Now that's downright crazy in my book, probably something I can write a captivating story about. Here's just the beginning of the logline:

"A woman moves fourteen times in a two year span".

The first question is why? Is she just trying to be efficient at it, or is it the subject of her thesis or book? People want to know the motivations of your character, what the "protaganist", the main character, wants and needs. Without it the concept might be slightly interesting, but not enough.

"A woman moves fourteen times in a two year span on her endless search for love and happiness".

Now, that's a story, one that will peak interest, one that I can write about. The topic alone could be debated: can one find love and happiness simply by moving? As Americans, most of have moved, quite a lot, the average is fourteen times in our lifespan, so to see this in a two-year time period will be outright nuts. Good.
There will be skeptics, people that know that moving only changes the setting of your life, not your content. And there will be those that back our main character, knowing that a new setting can invite opportunity. Will she end up happy, or lost? They want to know, and we're not revealing that in the logline, we want to keep the reader's interest, suck them in.

Maybe, in a "worst case for writing scenario", you are convinced that you should write about yourself, but don't know where to start. You were born and raised in the same small town, you graduated high school, have always worked at the local hardware store, have a wife, two kids, and a picket fenced house. You couldn't name one unique event if your life depended on it.

That recognition alone is proof that you can be a good writer, because you're realizing that's not a great story. It shows your potential as a screenwriter. Work with that, embellish something, create a story in the setting that you're an expert on: a very average, slow moving, rural town. Hollywood execs don't know much about real life small towns, so the script could be intriguing to them.

"A corrupt city council puts a hit out on a hardware store employee who discovers their extortion attempts."

That was off the cuff, but pretty good, or? Try again, what about:

"A farmer plows open an unknown native american gravesite and is pursued by the evil spirit of an indian chief."

Kinda creepy, but cool, not so much my genre but I could work with it.

So, pin down your concept with a logline, and write several of them, it's going to be your story, and a unique one.

Have a good write!