#LOGLINE DEFINITION PROFESSIONAL#

Along with the working title, director, and star(s), they’d include a short description of the movie’s topic or premise. The term “logline” dates back to the earliest days of motion picture production when studios kept physical “logs” of all the films they owned or had in production. You’ll still find such thumbnail summaries on the “Info” page every time you choose an episode to watch on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or other streaming service. Loglines have often been compared to TV Guide summaries, those thumbnail episode descriptions that traditionally accompanied program listings in that venerable coffee table-top mini-magazine. Usually, a logline establishes a character - the protagonist - and the central problem or challenge he/she faces. In Hollywood-speak, a logline is a one- or two-sentence-long description of a story’s dramatic premise. Meet the Logline When people ask “What’s it about?”, what they’re looking for is a logline.

And not just because being able to answer the question “What’s it about?” is important when it comes to selling your script it’s just as important when it comes to writing your script in the first place.

#LOGLINE DEFINITION PROFESSIONAL#

Your ability to answer the question “What’s it about?” in a way that is concise, compelling and evocative will factor significantly into your future as a professional screenwriter. And it doesn’t matter if the person asking is a lowly production company reader, an A-list actor or Bob Iger. It doesn’t matter if you’ve written a screenplay, a TV pilot or even a six-minute web episode.

That’s the first question everyone asks when being pitched a script.

Logline definition