Short Synopsis
Definition
A short synopsis is your film's one-paragraph (5-8 sentence) prose summary: who, what they want, what's in the way, how the fight grows — and unlike the logline, it gives a sense of direction (it implies the ending; it doesn't tell the story scene by scene). Written in the present tense, without ornament.
When is it used?
In the step after the logline has caught someone's interest: competition applications, production files, the answer to "so what happens next?"
Example
Cemal, an old butcher who has made needing no one his identity, begins losing his customers one by one when a giant chain supermarket opens in town. Out of pride he turns away the help of his son Emre, who has been offered a cashier's job at the supermarket; the lone war he wages to keep his shop standing drags him into debt and away from his son. As the deadline on the takeover offer runs out, Cemal is forced to face the question he has spent his life avoiding: the shop — or what it really is that made him a "master"? The answer isn't where he expects it.
Common mistakes
✖ The scene list: "First this happens, then that happens, then..." — a synopsis isn't a chronology, it's dramatic flow: want → obstacle → escalation → confrontation. ✖ Telling everything: Every supporting character, every subplot — a world doesn't fit into one paragraph; tell the main fight. ✖ Flowery language: "On a heart-wrenching journey..." — a synopsis isn't ad copy; write the event, drop the adjective.
Related lesson
🎓 The full teaching of the treatment: Chapter 13 — Treatment. The synopsis itself isn't a separate lesson in Act 2; its foundation is 2.5 Logline.
Related content
📖 Logline (the one-sentence version) · Premise (its argument)
BLANK SHORT SYNOPSIS TEMPLATE
[CHARACTER + adjective], when [EVENT], runs into [FIRST
LOSS/THREAT]. (1-2 sentences)
In the struggle for [THEIR GOAL] they collide with
[OBSTACLE/OPPOSING FORCE]; [THEIR FLAW/INNER OBSTACLE]
makes it harder. (2-3 sentences: escalation + cost)
When [TIME PRESSURE/THRESHOLD] arrives, [THE REAL
QUESTION THEY'RE FORCED TO FACE]. (1-2 sentences: the
hint of the ending — don't write the answer, let the
direction be felt.)
Check: □ 5-8 sentences □ Present tense □ Not a scene list
□ One main fight □ Ending implied, not announced
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.