An Ongoing Series of Articles on Screenwriting by an Award-Winning Filmmaker By Donald Vasicek The logline must show what your movie is about. You have about a minimum of five or six words and a maximum of three five to six word sentences to show it in the logline. The shorter the better. If you are serious about writing selling and getting your screenplays produced then you must think in terms of writing lean and mean. Lean and mean is the same thing as the shorter the better. This attitude will help you write to industry standards and help you hone your craft as a screenwriter. A key here is to use active verbs. Use them in your loglines use them in your synopses use them in your treatments and use them in your screenplays. The use of active verbs will help you streamline your writing. It will force you to write that show your descriptions and condense your dialogue. Think in terms of writing it with a beginning middle and an ending. Think of it the same way as movie trailers you see on television or in the theater. Think of writing the logline the paralleling the same method that you read them in television and movie guides. Start your logline out with the main character. You should follow that with the description of the plot and end it with a hook that seduces people in wanting to read your screenplay. An example that has been very successful for me with a screenplay I wrote Catching the Fall is as follows: A common Joe races the clock to restore his son back to normal after the boy goes brain dead. Here you can see who the main character is: A common Joe. The plot is: races (the key active verb) the clock to restore his son back to normal. And the ending hook is: after the boy goes brain dead. So fix yourself up some potatoes and gravy and get to work on your logline. The Author’s Credits Include: Donald L. Vasicek studied producing directing and line producing at the Hollywood Film Institute under the acclaimed Dov Simen’s and at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute. He studied screenwriting at The Complete Screenplay with Sally Merlin (White Squall). He has taught mentored and is a script consultant for over 400 writers directors producers actors and production companies and has also acted in 20th Century Fox’s Die Hard With a Vengeance NBC’s Mystery of Flight 1501 ABC’s Father Dowling starring Thomas Bosley and Red-Handed Production’s Summer Reunion. These activities have resulted in Don’s involvement in more than 100 movies during the past 23 years from major studios to independent films including MGM’s $56 million Warriors of Virtue Paramount Classics Racing Lucifer and American Pictures The Lost Heart among others. Vasicek has also has written and published over 500 books short stories and articles. His books include How To Write Sell and Get Your Screenplays Produced and The Write Focus.
