Unlocking the Power of Loglines, Taglines, and Synopses: A Writer's Toolbox

EPISODE DESCRIPTION – Hey there, storytellers! Ever found yourself stuck trying to sum up your epic novel or screenplay in a single line? Well, fear not! On today's episode of The Storytellers Mission with Zena Dell Lowe, we're diving into the art of crafting killer loglines, taglines, and pitch paragraphs. Zena breaks down the differences between them with protips and trivia! Join us as we uncover the secrets to making your story shine with these essential tools!


Subscribe now to The Storyteller's Mission with Zena Dell Lowe for more episodes on mastering the art of storytelling and creating narratives that resonate with every listener.

Hollywood Story Structure Class - Early Adopter opportunity

The Storyteller's Mission Podcast is now on YouTube. You can watch your favorite podcast as well as listen. Subscribe to our channel and never miss a new episode or announcement.

Support the Show on Paypal@Missionranchfilms!

Contact us for anything else!

Transcript

[00:00:00] Zena Dell Lowe: Calling all novelists and screenwriters. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the daunting task of summarizing your masterpiece into a single sentence, fear not. Join us today as we break down the essential elements of crafting a killer logline,

[00:00:15] tagline and pitch paragraph that captures the essence of your story and leaves your readers hungry for moreHello and welcome to the Storytellers Mission with Zena Del Lowe, a podcast for artists and storytellers about changing the world for the better through story. 

[00:00:33] One of my clients recently submitted her logline to me for review, and I had to tell her that what you've written here isn't actually a logline.

[00:00:42] It's more of a one paragraph synopsis or a pitch paragraph, which is a completely different thing. Many writers submit what they think is a logline, but is actually turns out to be a short synopsis or a pitch paragraph. Or sometimes writers will submit a tagline thinking that it's a logline, but it isn't.

[00:01:01] It's a tagline. So it's important for us to understand the differences between each of these elements, as well as how to write them well, because they are all important in terms of the project that we're working on, especially when it comes to The Powers That Be. 

[00:01:16] But before I dive into that, would you please take a moment to like, subscribe, or comment on this podcast episode. That really, really helps boost the algorithm, and it's one of the best things you can do to help support this show. So if you like the content, then please, please like, subscribe, or comment. And if you don't like the show, make a comment and tell us that too, so that we know how we can improve. We're open to feedback. Okay, that said, let's dive in to today's episode. And what I want to talk to you about are some things to consider when you're writing your logline or your synopsis or your pitch paragraph.

[00:01:55] What are the things that you have to do? Well, crafting a killer log line is like giving your book a dazzling elevator pitch. First off, you have to keep it concise. You want to pack a punch in just a sentence or two. And how you do that is you want to start with your protagonist, throw in their goal, what they're trying to pursue for the story, and then stir in the main conflict.

[00:02:21] However, there's a particular way that you do this, which I'll get to in a moment. But first, what I want to emphasize is that you want to make it intriguing enough that you hook the readerbut clear enough to give them a taste of what your story is about.

[00:02:35] You don't want to give it all away at once. And yet they have to know the essence of the story. but you also have to sprinkle in that unique flavor that sets your story apart from the rest. Because at the end of the day, there's nothing new under the sun. And so you have to let us know if this is a coming of age story, how it's different, what.

[00:02:56] makes it unique, why this particular coming of age is special. about making your logline irresistible, like a literary trailer for your book or for your screenplay. Now, here are a few key differences between a logline and any of these other types of materials.

[00:03:16] A logline is a brief one or two sentence summary, usually one sentence, no more than two, that captures the essence of your story. And it does it, again, by focusing on who is the story about, what do they want, and, and,

[00:03:35] What is the central conflict? Or put it another way, What is the main thing that they have to overcome to get what they want? It's like a quick preview that hooks the reader's interest. It has to be intriguing. On the other hand, a synopsis is a more detailed overview of your entire story. Now if you're writing a false synopsis, that means it usually ranges from one to three pages.

[00:04:01] and that document will cover all of the major plot points of your story, the character arcs that are included in the story, the major key events, and it gives us a comprehensive overview of the narrative from start to finish. However, the log line is all about. You have to grab the attention and generate curiosity.

[00:04:25] A synopsis dives deeper into the story's intricacies, and it reveals more about the plot, the characters, and the themes. In fact, usually when companies are asking for a synopsis, they don't actually want you to leave the mystery in. They want you to solve it. Now that isn't always the case, so it depends on what kind of synopsis they're asking for.

[00:04:44] But a lot of times, they're asking for you to lay out the entire story without leaving the mystery. But a logline should have the mystery but give the essence. Both of these are essential tools for writers, but they serve different purposes in the storytelling process. Now, there's also something called a short one paragraph synopsis, or it's also sometimes known as a pitch paragraph or a summary paragraph.

[00:05:10] Now this condenses your story into a concise, yet compelling summary. It's like capturing the essence of your entire book in a few sentences. Now in this brief synopsis, you'll be expanding on your log line.

[00:05:27] So you'll also want to introduce your main character. You'll outline their primary goal that they're trying to achieve and their dilemma. You'll touch on the main conflict or the obstacles that they're going to face. It's the same stuff that you have in your logline, but it's fleshed out more.

[00:05:45] It, it expands on it. It's laid out a little differently. It's about giving readers a taste of your story's flavor and leaving them hungry for more. But giving them a little bit more detail than you did in the log line.

[00:05:59] The pitch paragraph serves a similar purpose to the blurb that you might find on the back cover of a book. It's meant to give readers a tantalizing glimpse into the story.

[00:06:10] Now, here's the key aspect I think to all of these elements. Something that's going to really tie them all together that you really have to focus on and that is what's at stake. Whether you're writing a log line, a short one paragraph synopsis, or a full synopsis, as readers, We need to have a sense as to why this adventure matters.

[00:06:36] Why do we care that little Johnny must learn to ride his bike in the first place? 

[00:06:40] Even if you don't feel like your story is an action packed Hollywood exciting type story, we still need to know why it matters. Why do we have to tell the story? What's at stake? Why it matters is always about identifying what's at stake. And when I say what's at stake, what I'm really asking is, what happens if your character fails?

[00:07:04] What happens if they succeed? stakes should always be life or death, even if it's metaphorical. So the question you want to ask yourself is, What dies if your character fails in their mission? 

[00:07:20] what is the life and death thing that's at stake? so for example, in a rom com, what's at stake is if this person is not able to connect or win over this other person, then they are missing their soulmate and they will go forever without that match. And that's a tragedy.

[00:07:38] And we feel that for them and with them. And we believe that it's a tragedy to us too, because the world's going to be a better place if those people find each other. So somehow it's got to be tied to life and death. And as good as it gets, the life and death situation is that this is his last chance to connect with other human beings.

[00:08:00] If he fails, he will lose his soul. So it is a death Even if it isn't a literal death. So you need to ask yourself if your character fails in this mission, what is at stake? Meaning, What will die? That's the key question to ask. Okay, well, that leads me then to the tagline. What is the tagline?

[00:08:25] How does that differ from a logline? Well, a tagline is like the catchy slogan for your book or movie. It's a short, clear statement. memorable phrase that captures the essence of your story and yet helps to market it to your audience. It's often very quippy, right? It's like a little nugget of brilliance that sticks in people's minds long after they've seen or heard it.

[00:08:50] It's clever, usually. So a good tagline often encapsulates the tone. Or the theme or the central conflict of your story in just a few words. It's like the cherry on top of your marketing sundae. So when you're brainstorming your tagline, you want to aim for something punchy.

[00:09:11] Sometimes taglines are a little corny or cheesy, but they're memorable and they should reflect the heart of your story. 

[00:09:18] So I'm gonna give you some examples of taglines and then we'll look at some log lines based on the same films. Okay. So Alien, what's the tagline for the film? Alien in Space, no one can hear you scream. Pretty spooky, right? Gives us a tone. It speaks to the tone, the genre.

[00:09:42] It's a horror film and it spooks us out just from the very tagline. The Lord of the Rings. One ring to rule them all. Now that gives us an essence. It encapsulates the entire story, the epic adventure. One ring to rule them all. That's the tagline. 

[00:10:01] the tagline for Star Wars, A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Now that again, it encapsulates the kind of story it is. It tells us the genre. It tells us that this is sci fi fantasy, if you will. 

[00:10:17] It also alludes to the fairytale aspect of this story a long time ago in a galaxy far far away that alludes to a long time ago. There was a little princess. I mean, it's very very similar in structure, right? So it's encapsulating that in its tagline. Okay.

[00:10:34] Well now let's look at the log lines to those same MoviesWhat's the log line for alien? A commercial space tug's crew investigates a mysterious transmission from a distant moon, leading to a deadly encounter with an alien species.

[00:10:51] Now I want you to notice a couple things about this. First of all, we don't hear the name Ripley. We don't hear any of the names. We hear who the characters are by the description of their duties. A commercial space tugs crew and what do they do?

[00:11:08] Investigate. That's their thing. That's what they're doing. A mysterious transmission from a distant moon. Tells us the setting too. And what's at stake? Leading to a deadly encounter with an alien species. So it encapsulates the entire story. It isn't quippy. It is informative. And yet it's still leaves us wanting more. 

[00:11:34] the logline for the Lord of the Rings is, a young hobbit named Frodo Baggins embarks on a perilous journey to destroy a powerful ring And save Middle earth from the Dark Lord Sauron. Okay, so notice you have all the component parts, right?

[00:11:51] And notice they don't just give us the name. They say a young hobbit. So they're immediately identifying the who in terms of a personality trait and a role that they play in a way. Now they do give us the name Frodo Baggins, but then they tell us what his task is.

[00:12:11] What is his purpose? Embarks on a perilous journey. For what reason? To destroy a powerful ring. Why does that matter? To save Middle earth from the dark lord Sauron. So it's telling us what's at stake. And that is the key. It's a wonderful encapsulation of the entire story.

[00:12:33] Star Wars. A farm boy joins a rebellion against an oppressive empire after discovering his connection to a mystical force and embarks on a quest to rescue a princess and defeat a dark lord.

[00:12:48] Okay, so now we know what's at stake. Who is it? A farm boy. What does he do? He joins a rebellion. against an oppressive empire after discovering his connection to a mystical force. And then, what does he do? Well, he embarks on a quest to rescue a princess and defeat a dark lord. So now we know what's at stake.

[00:13:13] If he doesn't do this, The princess won't be rescued and the dark lord won't be defeated. We know what's at stake. But notice also it is perfectly encapsulating the entire essence of the story. So your logline needs to give us a clear indication of what your story is about, but it also needs to capture what's at stake.

[00:13:34] It should grab our attention by revealing who the main character is, what their goal is, and why it matters. Your logline should be one sentence, maybe two, but it's a teaser and the most important thing in your logline is to convey a sense of urgency or importance. Hook us with the stakes. You also, of course, want to do that with the pitch paragraph and the synopsis.

[00:14:00] And the tagline of course. No matter what your story is or no matter what that tool is that you're using to describe your story, we need to understand why it needs to be told. We need to understand why it matters. And it always comes back to the stakes. So my encouragement to you would be to rework your logline until you can summarize the essence of your story in a single sentence by focusing on the main character, not their name, but their role 

[00:14:27] and one basic personality trait that sort of encapsulates them. And then, tell us what their goal is. What must they accomplish over the course of the telling? And then, tell us why it matters. What happens if they succeed or they fail? What is ultimately at stake?

[00:14:45] I'm going to give you a few more examples of excellent tag lines versus log lines for you to chew on and analyze and see how you can compose something similar.

[00:14:55] But before I do that,

[00:14:56] I want to take a moment to invite you if you are interested in learning how to write a compelling story with a clear beginning, middle and an end, and you want to go on this writing journey and you have a hard time finishing a story or you have a hard time understanding how to structure your story, I want to invite you to check out my beta course, which is now available.

[00:15:18] My beta course is called Hollywood Story Structure Made Easy. And what I've tried to do is make it simple to structure your story. All the other story structure methods out there, the three act structure approaches, a lot of times I personally found them so confusing. It was only when I found this tool that I teach in this course 

[00:15:38] that I finally began to write stories well. in fact, I could never complete a long form story until I learned the Hollywood plot map. So this is what I teach in this course. I personally think it is the best course on story structure out there. So if this is something you need, you can actually participate as a beta student.

[00:15:56] What does that mean? That means that You are getting in on the ground floor. The course isn't finished yet. And so I'm asking beta students to join me in the process to become co creators of the course to make sure that I'm covering all the information that you ever needed to know. So if you have a question, you get to participate and say, Hey, I need to learn more about this.

[00:16:19] What a difference would that make for your writing career if you could help formulate the course that informed your writing journey. So join me. You can click on the link provided to find out more and to sign up. Hollywood story structure made easy, and I would love to see you there. 

[00:16:35] Okay. So that said, let me go through these taglines and share with you what are considered some of the great taglines. And then we'll look at the log lines. 

[00:16:44] And let's see if you can guess what these are. Some memories are best forgotten.Memento.

[00:16:52] Here's one that I think is so fun. An adventure 65 million years in the making. What do you think that's from? Jurassic Park. Okay, uh, this is, I love this one.

[00:17:04] Earth. It was fun while it lasted. That's from the film Armageddon. And it captures some of the irreverent tone of it too. So even though it's an action adventure film, it is also clever and fun. And it's telling people, it's giving a sense of the tone. The truth is out there. If anybody knows that one, it's the X files.

[00:17:26] the tagline for the fly, Be afraid be very afraid now. I don't think that's the best tagline, but I do like the logline So what's the logline a brilliant scientist's experiment goes horribly wrong When he merges with a house fly leading to a terrifying transformation And a descent into madness.

[00:17:50] That's a pretty good logline Okay, the log line from Memento. A man suffering from short term memory loss seeks revenge for his wife's murder by piecing together clues from his fractured memories. but he soon discovers the shocking truth. Now notice that one doesn't tell us what the truth is.

[00:18:11] It leaves us wanting more, but it very much encapsulates the essence of the story. Jurassic Park, a billionaire philanthropist. Okay, so what are we doing? We're giving an idea of who the character is, invites a group of scientists to preview his new theme park filled with genetically engineered dinosaurs.

[00:18:32] But when the security systems fail, they must fight to survive against the prehistoric predators. That's a great logline. Armageddon. A ragtag team of oil drillers is recruited by NASA to stop a massive asteroid from colliding with Earth. Risking their lives on a perilous mission to save humanity. So, I mean, we're talking the stakes are huge here, and who are they?

[00:19:02] A ragtag team of oil drillers, right? And what do they have to do? They're recruited by NASA to stop a massive asteroid from colliding with Earth. And what's at stake? They're risking their own lives on a perilous mission to actually save humanity. wonderfully encapsulated log line. Okay? And the final one I'll give you today is the X files.

[00:19:28] Two FBI agents, one a believer in the paranormal and the other a skeptic investigate unsolved cases involving supernatural phenomenon and government conspiracies, uncovering secrets that challenge their understanding of reality. So this one's interesting because first of all, it has to give us an idea.

[00:19:52] You have to, if you're giving us a logline for the X Files, we have to understand that these two agents, one who believes in the supernatural and the other who is a skeptic, that is super important for the whole story. But they work together to investigate unsolved cases involving supernatural phenomena and government conspiracies.

[00:20:16] But in the process, what's at stake? They uncover secrets that challenge their understanding of reality, which means it's going to challenge our understanding of reality. And so that is meant to draw us in because we know what's at stake. 

[00:20:32] and I'll see you on the next episode. 

[00:20:34]