To nmstevens.
Just wondering as to your referring to the reader at the Prodco , writing out the logline.
I havn't heard of this before.
Have I missed something here?
I thought the logline, treatment, ect were the sole domain of the actual writer of the Screenplay.
Except of course, in the instance whereby the original writer is payed off, and a new writer/ or writers, take over the project(Screenplay).
Apart from that, I like your rundown of what's required in the writing of a knockout Screenplay.
Many thanks.
Daniel.
I don't know how familiar you are with the process known as "coverage" but it's common to all studios, development companies, and agencies. Scripts and books come in, are read by professional readers and, while there are slight differences from place to place you end up with something that is much the same.
A cover sheet that contains certain basic info -- who wrote it, how long is it, the genre, where it came from (that is, who submitted it), if there are any attachments -- often there is a rough ratings chart, where you check off on best to worst on various levels -- commercial appeal, characters, plot, etc., Down at the bottom, there's a place where the reader writes in, Pass, Recommend, or Consider (although recently that's blossomed into "Weak Consider" and "Strong Consider" because nobody wants to just come out and say Recommend and Pass any more).
And in the middle, there's a place for a logline -- a one or two line summary of the story.
While people recommend that writers think in terms of a logline, the logline is something that developed within the realms of production -- really on documents like this, as a way of more efficiently keeping track of material.
Just think of the word itself -- "log line" -- it's really a description intended for a log -- for a record book.
After the logline, some companies (William Morris used to do this), asked for a summary -- that is, the whole movie in a paragraph or two, and then everybody wants coverage -- the whole movie in two pages. After that, the reader is expected to write around a half a page or a page of comments describing the strengths and weaknesses of the project, focusing on whether or not the company should make the thing or rep it, if the coverage is for an agency.
Of course, sometimes the coverage is slanted, (say it's an agency and it's something written by an existing client). Then they produce coverage and the comments, obviously, are going to be positive, because it's one of their clients and good, bad, or indifferent, they're not going to distribute bad coverage on it.
But these days, one has to be especially careful about coverage because, even though it's supposed to be proprietary (that is, not just passed around) -- there now exist these coverage sharing boards to which execs at all of the studios and most development companies belong. Once a script goes out -- to pretty much anywhere these days, and gets covered, the coverage can end up on these boards and gets shared by everybody.
Thus, one bad piece of coverage (and these things can be very much a hit and miss affair) can kill your script all over town.
So that's just one more hurdle that writers have to contend with these days.
NMS
