How to Write a Logline (With Examples)

What is a logline?

A logline is a one- or two-sentence summary of a screenplay that names a specific protagonist, what they want, and what stands in their way. It is the first thing a producer, agent or competition reader sees — often in a list of hundreds — and its only job is to make them want to read page one.

The four parts

Almost every working logline carries four things:

1. A specific protagonist — not "a man", but "a disgraced surgeon" or "a ten-year-old bike thief". The adjective does the work.
2. The inciting incident — the event that throws their life off course (see inciting incident).
3. The goal — what they now have to do.
4. The obstacle or stakes — what happens if they fail, or who stands in the way.

A formula that keeps you honest:

When [inciting incident], a [specific protagonist] must [goal] before [stakes / obstacle].

You do not have to follow the word order. You do have to have all four parts.

Irony: the part that makes it interesting

The loglines people remember contain a contradiction: the hero is the worst person for this problem. A pacifist who must win a war. An agoraphobe who witnesses a murder from her window and cannot leave the flat to report it. Irony tells the reader there is conflict built into the premise, which is what a feature needs to sustain two hours.

Ten examples

Invented examples across genres, each with the four parts visible:

• Thriller: When her daughter vanishes from a crowded ferry, a deaf ferry mechanic must find her before the boat docks and the kidnapper walks off with the crowd.
• Comedy: A wedding planner who has never been in love is hired to sabotage her ex's wedding — by the bride.
• Drama: After his father's death, a debt collector discovers the largest debt on his books is his own family's, and he is the one expected to collect it.
• Horror: A night-shift radio host realises the caller describing a murder is describing the studio she is sitting in.
• Sci-fi: On a generation ship, the only crew member who remembers Earth must convince a council born in space that the planet they are steering towards is the one their ancestors fled.
• Family: A kid who has lost every chess tournament he has entered must teach his grandmother, newly arrived from her village, enough to beat the regional champion — his bully.
• Sports: A washed-up kabaddi coach takes over a team of factory workers with eight weeks to qualify before the factory closes.
• Romance: Two rival food-truck owners forced to share one parking spot fall for each other while trying to drive each other out of business.
• Crime: An honest accountant discovers her firm launders money for the city's mayor — the man who paid for her late mother's surgery.
• Short film: On the last night before the village is flooded for a dam, a boy tries to bury his dog where the water will not reach.

Common mistakes

• Plot summary instead of situation. "Then he meets... then she discovers... then they..." is a synopsis.
• Theme instead of story. "A film about grief and forgiveness" tells the reader what it means, not what happens.
• Vague protagonist. "A young woman" could be anyone; "a young bomb-disposal officer" is a story.
• No stakes. If nothing is lost when the hero fails, there is no reason to read.
• Too many names. Names mean nothing until the reader cares.

When to write it

Write the logline early — before the beat sheet, ideally. If the story will not fit in two sentences, the trouble is usually not the logline: the script has more than one central situation, or none.

Once you have it, the logline goes on the title page of a pitch, at the top of a query letter, and in the first line of a treatment. In ScenePaper's Pitch Room it sits at the top of the pitch, and sealing the pitch records the exact wording with an independent timestamp before you send it anywhere. For the page itself, see Screenplay Format: The Complete Guide.