Nearly fifteen years have passed since Lucy V. Hay (script editor and novelist) stated in an article that every week she saw scores of pitches and every week she saw loglines and taglines being mixed up. She begged that it stop.
I would like to believe we've improved but authors still confuse the two. Although repetition does not make the heart grow fonder, it sometimes inspires us to remember, so here we go again.
I would like to believe we've improved but authors still confuse the two. Although repetition does not make the heart grow fonder, it sometimes inspires us to remember, so here we go again.
IMAGINE MY SURPRISE
So here I was (fifteen years ago), cruising along, a relative newbie as a published author, following the lead of others who were more seasoned in the business than I will ever be. And since many of these authors seemed to use the terms logline and tagline interchangeably, I labored under the delusion that these were just different terms for essentially the same thing.
Wrong! You know that. While the terminology was initially borrowed from the movie industry, the terms are defined the same way for both literature and film.
• A logline provides a concise summary of the plot and characters in no more than thirty words.
• In contrast, a tagline is a catchy phrase no more than 8 words used in marketing and on
the poster to capture the film’s essence without revealing the plot.
Since a lot of attention focuses on these two similar, but different, tools of the trade, research was in order. I found plenty of blogs and articles that confuse the two, or describe the difference but use examples for one term that are clearly samples of the other. A few pointed out the difference.
So here I was (fifteen years ago), cruising along, a relative newbie as a published author, following the lead of others who were more seasoned in the business than I will ever be. And since many of these authors seemed to use the terms logline and tagline interchangeably, I labored under the delusion that these were just different terms for essentially the same thing.
Wrong! You know that. While the terminology was initially borrowed from the movie industry, the terms are defined the same way for both literature and film.
• A logline provides a concise summary of the plot and characters in no more than thirty words.
• In contrast, a tagline is a catchy phrase no more than 8 words used in marketing and on
the poster to capture the film’s essence without revealing the plot.
Since a lot of attention focuses on these two similar, but different, tools of the trade, research was in order. I found plenty of blogs and articles that confuse the two, or describe the difference but use examples for one term that are clearly samples of the other. A few pointed out the difference.
- THE TAGLINE
- First, taglines, tag lines, or tags are American terms, so if you are in the UK, you know them as end lines or straplines. In Italy, they are called pay offs; in Belgium, baselines; in France, signatures.
- In the film industry, a tagline is a piece of marketing copy designed to go on posters to sell the film, or in a writer's case, to sell the book.
- Another definition, this time by Author Stacey Nash, describes a tagline for books as "a one-sentence summary of your story. Its goal is to intrigue and make the person that you are delivering it to want to read the story. The most important thing about the tagline is that it needs to be high concept. It should sum up the entire plot in one quick compelling sentence."
- The samples of taglines (all for movies) used by Lucy V. Hay, which she found in a Google search, are:
● "He lived the American Dream…With a vengeance." (Scarface)
● "An epic of miniature proportions" (A Bug's Life)
● "The Toys are back in town." (Toy Story 2)
● "Whoever wins…We lose." (Alien Vs Predator)
● "EARTH—take a good look. Today could be your last." (Independence Day)
The longest is ten words: short and high concept.
Whatever art form they're selling (movies, TV shows, music, books), taglines are one sentence (or maybe two) that describes the product. They utilize puns, clever wording, and images that the average person already knows about, at least superficially, to intrigue the individual into wanting to see the film, hear the music, or read the book.
The key is using imagery most people know and understand to convey an expectation of what the book is about.
Some blogs call a tagline an elevator pitch. I guess that depends on how many floors you're going to travel in the elevator, but it's basically a one-story pitch. Whatever you call it, it's the Big Hook. The Attention Grabber. And your book, and everyone else's, needs one.
THE LOGLINE
Origin of the term logline
The origin of the logline (or log line) is not the movie industry tie. Actually, according to Stanley D. Williams, it is a nautical term. Log lines were thin ropes with knots tied in them and wound on a spool. Mariners unreeled these ropes behind them to measure their speed-- in knots--by counting how many evenly spaced knots passed through their hands as the sand in the hourglass drained from the top to the bottom.
The log line was a necessity which helped them navigate the journey and not get lost, since it would show how far the ship had gone in a certain direction and when to turn to find their destination. It was a navigation tool.
Origin of the term logline
The origin of the logline (or log line) is not the movie industry tie. Actually, according to Stanley D. Williams, it is a nautical term. Log lines were thin ropes with knots tied in them and wound on a spool. Mariners unreeled these ropes behind them to measure their speed-- in knots--by counting how many evenly spaced knots passed through their hands as the sand in the hourglass drained from the top to the bottom.
The log line was a necessity which helped them navigate the journey and not get lost, since it would show how far the ship had gone in a certain direction and when to turn to find their destination. It was a navigation tool.
The log line was a necessity which helped them navigate the journey and not get lost, since it would show how far the ship had gone in a certain direction and when to turn to find their destination. It was a navigation tool.
I'm not sure how the use of the nautical term got transferred to the movie industry, but according to Wikipedia and others, the logline came into use when the old movie studios had script vaults. In those vaults, they stored screenplays, apparently one on top of the other, in stacks.
Image Source: http://www.Amazon.com/books/sports
Image source: https://www.bing.com/aclick?ld=e8q7FQvoy
I'm not sure how the use of the nautical term got transferred to the movie industry, but according to Wikipedia and others, the logline came into use when the old movie studios had script vaults. In those vaults, they stored screenplays, apparently one on top of the other, in stacks.
Image Source: http://www.Amazon.com/books/sports
Image source: https://www.bing.com/aclick?ld=e8q7FQvoy
Readers supposedly "wrote a concise one line summary of what the script was about either on the cover of the script, on the spine of the script, or both." This allowed people to read the loglines without actually unstacking the scripts.
I suppose, in a sense, this was also a navigation tool.
What is a Logline?
The logline, while short, is longer than the tagline and presents a basic description of your plot in about twenty-five to thirty words. It should contain all the necessary elements for telling a good story.
That's right. And it's tough to condense 90,000 words into twenty-five. It's a two-story elevator pitch or a thirty-second time bite in real time.
I suppose, in a sense, this was also a navigation tool.
What is a Logline?
The logline, while short, is longer than the tagline and presents a basic description of your plot in about twenty-five to thirty words. It should contain all the necessary elements for telling a good story.
That's right. And it's tough to condense 90,000 words into twenty-five. It's a two-story elevator pitch or a thirty-second time bite in real time.
RULES OF THUMB
● Be succinct without being sparse. The trick is to create a logline that is pithy but has substance. It must be clear that the antagonistic force is an obstacle to the major goal. It must imply that something is at stake; it must suggest that something can be lost.
● Don't use the main character's name.
● Use a descriptive adjective to give the main character depth in a word or two. Instead of describing the main character as "a detective" say "a cynical fifty-year-old detective" or "a young, enthusiastic detective." Using "an ex-superhero" tells a lot more than "a superhero." "An alcoholic ex-superhero" conveys even more to the reader (or listener).
● Make the genre clear in the text. If your novel is a romance, you need a hero and heroine in the logline. Whether science fiction, comedy, or mystery, the logline should tell the reader what the genre is.
● Present a succinct description of the protagonist's main goal and place it as close to the beginning as possible.
● Make your protagonist pro-active. Show the action of the story. Even if the protagonist is reactive, that's not the same as passive.
● Include the stakes or a ticking time-bomb. Urgency. Show that something can be lost. I like the example used by Erik Bork in his article.
To save his reputation, a secretly gay fraternity boy must sleep with fifteen women by the end-of-semester party.
● Include the set up, particularly science fiction or paranormal where the rules are different. More Erik Bork examples:
• In a world where all children are grown in vats…
• Driven to a mental breakdown by an accident at work, an aquarium manager…
● Don’t reveal the twist or surprise at the end. The logline (and the book) should work by itself without the "bonus" surprise at the end.
● Make every word count.
● Sell it, don't tell it.
One final suggestion from a number of screenwriters and authors: Write your Log Line before you write your novel, or at least at the beginning. James Burbridge writes that the bad news is that if you can't make the logline work, it's probably because the story doesn't work. When things were getting pretty fuzzy and definitions overlapping and contradictory, this example brought clarity to me.
Close Quarters - Press Kit. Please note that there are several movies and books with the same title.
● Tagline
A film about sex, betrayal, friendship, jealousy, love, hate, death, and coffee.
● Logline
Forced to work an extra shift, two young baristas must come to terms with their own
relationship while being bombarded by the very different issues of their diverse customers.
(29 words)
● Short Synopsis
BARRY and ABBY are two baristas in a Chicago coffeehouse. Barry is passionately and
blindly in love with Abby. She knows this all too well, but is hardly ready to move into any
kind of formal relationship with him. This does not stop Barry, though, who has decided
that the best way to win her over is to propose to her in front of the largest group possible.
This evening will be his opportunity. It is Abby’s birthday and her friends are planning
a surprise birthday party for her. Barry is planning an even bigger surprise.
Jaws.is a movie we all know.
●Tagline
Don't go in the water.
●Logline
A sheriff struggles to protect his beach community after a grisly shark attack, but greed
rules the Chamber of Commerce. (21 words)
Alien often comes up as an example.
●Tagline
In space, no one can hear you scream.
●Logline
After responding to a distress signal, a space crew is forced to confront a deadly alien who
stows aboard their ship, leaving one member to fend for herself. (28 words)
JUST FOR FUN
So, authors, write your taglines and loglines, and if you run out of ideas or just want some fun, go to Brian Stoke's Random Logline Generator. This link is for the Zombie edition of the generator: http://www.lifeformz.com/cgi-bin/idea/idea.fcgi
Another random generator is: http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/modules.php?name=Logline
Have fun, and please share your logline and tagline in your comments.
JUST SAYIN'
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Resources
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/whats-your-novels-log-line/http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/writing-good-log-lines.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_8663965_write-taglines.html
http://www.bang2write.com/2010/05/loglines-are-not-taglines.html
http://www.staceynash.com/2012/08/24/taglines-hooklines-loglines/
http://theloglineblog.blogspot.com/p/how-to-do-log-line.html
http://www.kimberlykillion.com/writers.asp
http://www.closequartersmovie.com/cms/uploads/press-kit.pdfhttp://www.flyingwrestler.com/2013/02/loglines-dont-tease/http://www.raindance.org/10-tips-for-writing-loglines/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_line
http://www.lifeformz.com/logline.html
http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013/02/pitch-factory-twitter-pitch-logline.html
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