How To Write a Logline

Being a screenwriter isn’t just about writing a screenplay. You also need to know how to write other important stuff like treatments, synopses, one-pagers, and loglines.

A good logline contains several elements:

1. The inciting incident.
2. The protagonist.
3. An important detail about the protagonist.
4. The protagonist’s plot goal, the reversal.
5. The antagonist.
6. A hook that makes the reader want to know what happened.

That’s a lot for one little sentence. But if it’s done right, it will tell your story succinctly without giving anything away.

Let’s start by looking at a couple of loglines.

This is from a Lifetime movie I wrote titled ‘Missing at 17’:

After inadvertently discovering she’s adopted, 17-year-old Candace runs away in search of her biological mother only to become involved with Toby, a dangerous bad boy who delivers much more than the help he promises her…

Let’s run it through our check list:

Who is the protagonist?

• Candace.

What’s the important detail about her?

• She’s 17.

What’s the inciting incident?

• She finds out she’s adopted.

What’s her goal?

• To find her biological mother.

What’s the reversal?

• She hooks up with a dangerous bad boy who promises to help her.

Who’s the antagonist?

• Toby.

What’s the hook?

• He delivers much more than just the help in finding her mother, but we don’t know exactly what.

Okay. One more, then you’re on your own.

This is the logline from one of my upcoming Lifetime movies ‘The Secret Sex Life of a Single Mom’:

When stay-at-home-mom-of-two Delaine decides to divorce her controlling husband Robert, she goes online to find a new mate and winds up meeting a Dom who, by making her his sexual submissive, teaches her how to become more empowered in every aspect of her life…

Run it through the check list on your own before continuing and see if your answers are similar to mine.

Who is the protagonist?

• Delaine.

What’s the important detail about her?

• She’s a stay at home mother of two children.

What’s the inciting incident?

• She divorces Robert.

What’s her goal?

• To find a new guy.

What’s the reversal?

• She meets a Dom and decides to become his sub.

Who’s the antagonist?

• Robert.

What’s the hook?

• The Dom teaches her, through sexual submission, how to take control of her life.

Now go away and write your own logline for your own screenplay. Good luck!