Work on the outline revamp is temporarily on hold while I divert my attention to something equally, if not more important – the logline.

This thing has been through countless revisions, and the last time I had rewritten it, it seemed…okay.

Not so.

It was too wordy, and didn’t sum up the story the way it needed to.  So back to the interwebs I went for guidance.

There are lots of opinions about what constitutes a good logline, but the general consensus is that it should include the hero, the hero’s goal, what’s at stake, and the antagonist.  Some suggest adding the ‘ticking clock’ factor, but that could make it unnecessarily longer. Use at your discretion.

The logline should also convey what sort of story this is going to be. If it’s a comedy, it should sound funny. An adventure should sound exciting. You get the idea. Let them know what they’re in for.

The logline should pique their interest so much that they can’t resist wanting to read the script.

Sometimes a writer will include some kind of vague generalization, or a phrase that evokes emotion, such as “…and learns about himself in the process.” Personally, I don’t care for those. It’s like the writer doesn’t trust the story enough to interest you, so they throw that in. The items listed above should be enough.

Since I’m always open to feedback on anything I work on, feel free to take a look at my assorted loglines (right there under the ‘Scripts’ tag up top) and give me your two cents.  Do they work? How could they be improved?  Don’t be shy. I’m happy to do the same for you.

-The screenwriting blogs have been very busy the past couple of days with this whole “Emily Blake vs Carson Reeves/Scriptshadow” conflict. I’ve been an avid follower of both, and think it’s a shame it’s come to this.

Scriptshadow is a great resource for learning the craft, but if this is something I’m spending an exorbitant amount of time and effort on, then I want to the one responsible for reaching that goal.  And $1000 is WAY TOO MUCH to charge for notes.  I had to make sure I could afford this before I submitted. (Incidentally – definitely worth it)

My original plan was to submit DREAMSHIP to SS and see if anything happened. But now I’m not sure I want to.  I’ve been pretty good about working on my own, and I’ll probably stick with it.

I’m also planning on following Emily’s lead and subscribing to Done Deal Pro. $24 a year is a pretty good deal, and probably worth my time.