What is a Logline and How Do I Write One?

Before anyone reads your screenplay, they're going to read your logline. Before a producer considers your pitch, before a manager takes your meeting, before a competition reader pulls up your PDF, they're reading that one sentence. And they're deciding in about five seconds whether they want to keep reading or stop.

That's what a logline is. And that's why it's so important.

What Is a Logline?

A logline is a one to two sentence summary of your screenplay that captures the protagonist, their goal, the conflict standing in their way, and what's at stake if they fail. It's not a synopsis or a tagline (we'll cover these topics in more depth at a later date.) It's the DNA of your entire story.

A tagline is a marketing slogan, the kind of thing that goes on a movie poster. "In space, no one can hear you scream" is a tagline. A logline is the actual story engine, specific enough that a producer can imagine the movie.

The sweet spot is 25 to 50 words. Under 25 and you're in tagline territory. Over 50 and you're writing a synopsis.

Why It Matters More Than Most Writers Think

When I first started writing, I treated the logline as an afterthought. Write the script first and then figure out how to describe it later. That's actually backwards.

(Side note: To this day, I'm still guilty of that habit. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you write. Write any and everything. Start, finish, and then start again. Don't let yourself get all caught up in the technicalities. Just write. You can always come back to the logline later.)

The logline is a tool to sell your story and hook your audience. If you can't summarize your story in one clean sentence, who the protagonist is, what they want, what's stopping them, and what happens if they fail, then your story probably isn't as focused as you think it is. Writing the logline before you write the script forces you to know those answers before you're 70 pages deep.

It's also your most important sales tool the moment the script is done. Every pitch meeting, every query letter, every contest submission, it all starts with this sentence. A producer who has a hundred scripts on their desk needs a reason to pull yours out. That reason is your logline.

The Three Things Every Logline Needs

Strip away all the noise and every effective logline has three components:

1. Who is your protagonist? Don't use their name. Describe them in a way that tells us who they are. "An aging mob patriarch," "a disgraced astronaut," "a deaf teenage girl." The description should carry character.

2. What do they want? Be specific. Not "she wants to save her family" — that's too broad. What do they literally, specifically want to do? The more concrete, the better.

3. What's at stake? This is the part most beginners leave out. If your protagonist fails, what happens? If the answer is "they don't get what they want," that's not enough. The stakes need to feel life-altering/life-or-death, whether literally or emotionally.

A Simple Formula to Start From

When [inciting incident], a [specific protagonist] must [objective], or else [stakes].

Don't treat this as the finish line. Treat it as the story's framework. Plug your story in, see what comes out, and then rewrite until it sounds like something you'd actually say to a producer at a party rather than a fill-in-the-blank exercise.

Here's an example of the formula done poorly: "When a shark appears, a sheriff must kill it or else people will be in danger."

Here's the same story done right: "A land-locked sheriff must hunt a killer shark terrorizing his small beach town before the tourist season and his community's survival is wiped out."

Same story. Completely different gravitas.

A Few Real Examples Worth Studying

Look at how much these tell you in one sentence:

A thief who steals corporate secrets through dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO. — Inception (2010)

Two imprisoned men bond over years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency. — The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

A cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's room. — Toy Story (1995)

Notice what they all do: specific protagonist, specific goal, clear conflict. None of them are vague. None of them tell you everything. All of them make you want to know what happens next.

The Biggest Mistakes Writers Make

Being too general is the number one problem. "A woman tries to escape her past" tells me nothing. What woman? What past? What does escaping look like? The more specific your logline, the more unique your story sounds, even if the premise isn't wildly original.

Leaving out the stakes is the second most common mistake. A goal without consequences is just a to-do list. If your protagonist doesn't succeed, something has to be at stake.

Using your character's name instead of a description is a small thing that makes a big difference. Nobody knows who Marcus is, but "a disgraced forensic accountant?" Now I'm curious.

One Last Thing

Loglines are rewritten. Over and over. The first version is almost never the best one. Write it, run it by someone, watch their face, rewrite it based on whether their eyes lit up or become vacant. When I'm showing someone a self tape or acting clip, I usually will take a step back and watch the person's face to get an honest read. The eyes never lie.

If you're actively working on a script and want a place to do that writing, Scene Zero has a built-in Screenwriting Bible that covers every element of the craft, including how to think about premise and story structure before you ever touch page one. It's free with every plan.

Happy writing.

— Brady