Logline
Definition
A logline is your film's one-sentence shop window: who, when what happens, to achieve what, despite what. Four parts, at most ~30 words — and the film's ending is never told.
When is it used?
When you tell someone about your film for the first time (a producer, a competition, a friend); and as a compass while you write — "does this scene belong to the film in this sentence?"
Example
An old butcher who has made needing no one his identity is forced, when a giant chain supermarket opens in town, to fight a one-man war to keep his shop standing.
Its parts: character (with the adjective that carries the conflict) · event ("opens") · goal (keeping the shop standing) · obstacle (the chain supermarket — and his own stubbornness, implied by "one-man"). No ending, plenty of curiosity.
Common mistakes
✖ "Cemal tries to protect his shop and makes peace with his son and brings the town together." — The "and" chain: three films at once. Pick one goal. ✖ "A butcher's life changes when a supermarket opens." — The load-bearing column: "his life changes" fits every film; pull it out and the sentence collapses. Make it concrete. ✖ "...and in the end agrees to work with his son." — The ending's been told. A shop window doesn't finish the film; it makes you curious.
Related lesson
🎓 2.5 Logline · 2.6 The Logline Workshop (four tests: cliché, contradiction, pruning, curiosity)
Related content
📖 Premise (the film's argument — the logline's sibling) · Glossary/Cliché Test
BLANK LOGLINE TEMPLATE
[ADJECTIVE THAT CARRIES THE CONFLICT + CHARACTER],
when [THE EVENT THAT UPENDS THEIR LIFE],
for [A CONCRETE GOAL]
despite / against [THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE]
is forced to ......................
Check: □ Under 30 words □ One goal (no "and")
□ Pull the adjective and the sentence collapses □ Ending not told
Writing Documents — more from this shelf
How do you boil your idea down to one sentence?
The lessons for this topic are in Chapter 2 · The Core of the Story — Idea, subject, theme, premise and logline.