Film Courage: Does every story begin with a log line?
Jen Grisanti, Speaker/Story/Career Consultant, Author: Loglines are a writer's friend and I
think log lines give the framework of the story. So many writers are resistant to the
logline and the logline tells the executive tells anyone who's asking what the story is,
what the framework is and it shows that the writer has thought out the concept so value
the process of doing a logline because when you go to the page from the logline it will be so much
easier when you're logline doesn't work your story doesn't work so if you go to the page and discover
that the story is not working it it starts with the logline how does a logline determine whether
the story will work a logline if you have the right components the writers that I work with
I utilize a formula to help them which is setup of who create empathy dilemma action goal twist
of irony and I have so many writers who will say oh my God I can't put all that in a sentence but
when when you do it puts everything in order and it tells you what is going to work what
is not going to work and one of the tools that I learned helps writers is when the adjective
describing the central character at the beginning of the logline is something where we get a sense
of the Void so that creates empathy for the character and we see how the goal is a chance
for the transformation wow all that and just you said you like to give how many sentences
I like them to do it in one sentence however two sentences work I mean there are many people in
the industry who are fine with two sentences as long as brevity is something that that is
there and we get a main sense of the story points not a rambling second sentence are there certain
adjectives that you prefer to use that void I like any adjective where I can get a sense of
the earlier wound that creates some type of anticipation that creates some sense of the
flaw where I can get a sense of how the pursuit is going in a direction that gives an opportunity
to heal the earlier wound does a screenwriter really need a logline for their movie can't they
do it later after they've written the script I know many writers that do the logline later
and I think that works however my preference when when working with writers I notice that
when they have the logline it helps them so much with going to the outline in the script and when
there is a struggle it's because they don't have a general outline of where they're going now the
logline can change and when you start with logline and then you see how the story comes through you
and you discover that the story is different than where you started with the logline then
you just rewrite the logline so it's not set in stone that it's flexible yes it is flexible the
logline is something that writers need to value because it's showing that you have a well thought
out concept where you are able to deliver it in one or two lines and the receiver immediately
knows what your story is do you find with some of the people who take your courses that they're
open to flexibility and maybe some are more rigid and they have a hard time being open to changes I
find resistance a lot lot so I do feel that the value of doing something like a course is that
the writer will get the information the writer will see the story tool then they will see the
application of the story tool with the clip and the example of a show or film and how to apply the
story tool so the courses even though you may have resistance the value of doing a course is that the
writer understands your philosophy on story so that it helps them in knowing how to apply it
so there is a tremendous value in giving Story tools giving philosophy and then illustrating
in action with shows or films that are utilizing the story tool at a high level so that the writer
understands how to use it is a logline really the job of the screenwriter shouldn't that be
left to the marketing department no that should not be left to the marketing department I have
seen marketing I remember there was a series on Fox a number of years ago where the marketing
department marketed the show wrong and and because it was marketed in a way and there was such high
hopes for the series but the marketing made it seem like it's something that it wasn't and when
you when I saw the show coming from a current program a former current programming executive
point of view I saw the reason that the audience didn't show up because of that gap that now I
think there are many marketing professionals who know how to coin a story in a way that maybe adds
to the writer's intention however I feel that no one knows the story like the writer what do
you mean when you say learn to identify by the log lines in your own life emotional truth so
emotional truth is for me something that adds depth when the emotions that you're exploring
in a story when you've gone through that emotion then you can take us so much further into it and
I feel like with everything going on in the world right now that people are craving depth
and authenticity and people are craving the feeling of someone sees me someone knows me
and that only comes from an emotional truth of someone who has experienced something similar to
what the main character is going through so you think maybe in the past we wanted to see more of
like a dream version of who we are but then now we actually want to see ourselves the warts and
all represented I do I I think that's very well put it used to be that you wanted a character you
always want a character you empathize with and you root for so no matter how flawed a character is I
think the balance of finding positive traits to negative traits is a very big challenge because
it is so important for the writer to create a vulnerability with the character that lets the
audience in and streaming certainly has opened up the gate to character arcs that are going so much
deeper and I think when I compare streaming to television I feel like film also goes to a depth
that streaming goes to and I think the network shows are starting to catch up with that but
I feel like there's more liberty in streaming in film to go through the transformational arc
and to not feel the surface part of the character but through understanding the
wound the flaw the dream the biggest fear creating multi-dimensional characters that mean something.