Writing good loglines

[seansshack]

Practice is the key here.

It's by no means an easy task. But keep it one line (as the name suggests) and try and have a hook/element of interest in there.

But you are dead right. It can be very hard to get right and very easy to turn a reader off you work.

Here is one of my longer loglines: Action/Comedy

"A criminal lawyer finds himself crossing over to a life of crime, in which he is must recruit a  brother so fresh out of prison he still showers with his back to the wall; together they enlist the worst collection of would be criminals, to pull off a drug run that could cost them their lives even if they succeed."

[scripto]

Take a look at the logline for Home Alone from IMDB:

An eight year-old, who is accidentally left behind while his family flies to France for Christmas, has to defend his home against idiotic burglars.

Here is the Logline for my only quasi-feature length script:

Aaron Olis, a bitter ex-government agent, is dragged back into service when his old nemesis kidnaps the world's top scientific minds in an attempt to utilize his horrific discovery . . .The Blueprint for Life.

It is, seriously, what the whole movie is about in one sentence.  Not everything that happens in the movie, but it's the movie in a nutshell.

The movie Ed Wood could be summed up like this:

A talentless movie maker from the 50's strives to make his dreams come true despite his limitations.

Simple, no real details to speak of, but the movie is summarized in one sentence.

[Chuck58]

Not here, but I'll sure be watching this thread. How people condense a 100 page script into a couple of sentences amazes me?

[screenwriter_mom]

oes anyone else have problems with writing loglines? I know my stories inside and out but have issues putting a hook logline together. Does anyone have any suggestions?