An Ode to Loglines

[Plot Device]

The following article appeared April 20, 2007. It's written by an Australian scritpwriter, Jeff Bollow, who found the shoe was on the other foot the day he made the leap from being a writer to being a producer. His altruistic goal of reading every last submitted script in its entirety proved impossible, and he had to settle for merely reading loglines.

Why you Should Learn to Love the Logline

by Jeff Bollow of Screenplay.com.au

http://www.articlesbase.com/screenplay-articles/why-you-should-learn-to-love-the-logline-134828.html

Here's an excerpt:

But, being a writer myself (and knowing how much effort you put into it), I didn't want to just reject screenplays out of hand. So I made a policy of reading everything that came in -- or at least of giving it a genuinely "fair go".

After about a month, I was so hopelessly behind, that I would never catch up. They were coming in faster than I could keep up. Within six months, I was sure I was being voodoo cursed by a couple hundred writers out there.

See, it takes about an hour and a half to properly read a correctly-formatted screenplay. And even if you've got a lot of time on your hands (which I didn't), you still can't read more than, say, 10 or 20 scripts in a week. Not if you're trying to seriously consider them for production. And as soon as you have ANYTHING going on in your life, you're lucky to get through 5 or 6 of them.

Eventually, I was consumed with guilt. Not getting back to writers who had submitted their screenplays made me just as wicked and evil as every other producer that had never gotten back to me. Skimming scripts to "get a feel for it" was going against what I claimed made me different. The mountain of scripts (okay, call it a "stack", but emotionally, it was a mountain) became overwhelming.

[DanielD]

To Plot Device.
Jeff Bollow came over from the states, and during his teaching and writing noticed a lack of quality screenplays in Australia.
Also, how small the actual number of Screenplays being produced was.
His main motivation, was to encourage people to write quality Screenplays.
An opportunity arose for him to work on a film(I think he joined the production company full time) in New Zealand,which he took up.
Being a film maker firstly and a writer secondly, this seems to be a logical choice for him to make.
Though sadly, many of his various services, including an indepth DVD Screenwriting course, are all placed on standby pending the outcome of his forray into the venture in NZ.
I have an E-Mail notification set up, in case his Screenwriting services are put back into action.
About the LOGLINES.
I have heard this said before,that a well written LOGLINE can be a remarkable asset.
Some are just a few words,others a few sentences(lines),so I tend to wonder how they(interested parties,readers,ect,)can make their judgment based on this much information.
With the longer LOGLINES(containing all the story essentials), it would be possible to have a quick look over the script, to see whether the LOGLINE matches the actual story(screenplay).
Though with those short(couple of words ) ones,I think this would mean a more indepth read through the Screenplay.
Anything that helps a Writer(Screenwriter) to have their work accepted,can only be seen as a positive.
Especially, when considering how competitive the industry is.
The more I read about and study Screenwriting,the more I realise I need to read, and study about Screenwriting.
Take care .
Daniel.

[Plot Device]

Hey, Daniel, thanks. I didn't realize he wasn't an Australian himself. (He "writes" with an Australian accent! ;) )

And yeah, I too am growing to appreciate the almighty logline more and more.