What is the difference between a tagline and a logline

Sluglines are used to aid the reader and help clarify the screenplay. They can be used for split screen telephone conversations, answering machine messages, print posters, magazines etc.

Loglines are a more common screenwriting term. They are a sentence description of your screenplay which carry the entire burden of selling your movie script. They aim to identify the main character, the tone, the conflict and give an idea of theme and plot. Some loglines can stretch out to sentences and are more like mini synopses.

A new trend is emerging to describe your film in 25 words or less. Whatever the format, the purpose of the logline is for you to quickly pitch your film script to a producer and talent to convey the general concept. I used to have a love hate relationship with loglines mainly hate because they force me to decide on what my screenplay is really about.

Now, I write the logline along with the premise before I start writing, to help me better focus on my script. Frivolity aside, they are powerful devices to stay focussed and avoiding writing unnecessary scenes. The wedding is less than two days away, the groom is nowhere to be found and nobody remembers what happened the night before. We get a sense of genre comedy , a sense of conflict wedding with no groom and a sense of urgency must find groom.

We visualize the comic mix of such explosive characters. The retracing of steps tells us where the plot might go. The word count for this logline is 49 words, but I have seen loglines up to 60 words. These are used to give the essence , cadence and flavor of the film. They titillate and intrigue the audience and hopefully get them to watch the film.

Plotlines are structural terms which define an individual story progression within a screenplay. They should be self contained and contain a setup, middle and resolution.

Titanic : A young man and woman from different social classes fall in love aboard an ill-fated voyage at sea. Groundhog Day : A weatherman finds himself inexplicably living the same day over and over again. Chicken Run : A dashing rooster and the hen he loves lead a daring escape from a poultry farm in s England. They create buzz and sum up the tone or premise of a film. A tagline sets up a strategic and effective direction for a film and is meant to be catchy.

Elevator Pitches describe your script and are used as a selling tool to engage the financial interest of an executive or a producer or for casting.

Loglines are marketing tools devised to sell the film to an audience, and taglines are small hooks placed on film posters and film descriptions to appeal to the individual, often in the form of a word play or witticism. So if you have changed your elevator pitch a lot, and digressed from your actual script story to make it sound more interesting, you might just want to reconsider tweaking your script.

Elena Alston is a freelance writer and editor based in London. She writes about technology, screenwriting, culture and travel—and has a knack for bringing brands to life with words. Not necessarily in that order. This is not a logline:. What would happen if you were a young boy tired of being small who wanted to be big and your wish came true?

After making a wish at a fortune teller machine, a young boy becomes a grown man overnight and must cope with finding a place to live, finding a job, and adult relationships, with only the help of his ten-year-old friend. While a logline is a selling tool for your screenplay, it is not a selling tool for the film. That is a tagline. A tagline is short three to ten words and can be multiple sentences. It is used as a tool on posters and advertisements and is always written by the marketing staff of the producing studio, or a professional copywriter from an ad agency.

Another way to think of taglines is as the slogan for a film. A logline is not a slogan, it is the story. While the following examples are great as taglines, you should never send something like this to a producer or agent who has asked to hear your pitch. They're looking for one. It is imperative that writers know the difference and not send a tagline when asked for a logline. This is a huge faux pas and shows a lack of professionalism and understanding of the industry.

On the other hand, if you send a paragraph that describes every beat of your story with detailed character descriptions, you have also missed the point, because you wrote a synopsis. A synopsis can be anywhere from a few sentences to multiple short paragraphs and describes in greater detail than a logline the story and character arcs for a screenplay. It is within a synopsis that a writer can begin describing specific character traits, backstory, and story beats.

Of course, if a synopsis is longer than a page, detailing every act, it has become a treatment. Thirty-five words which can either launch your script into development or send it back for rewrites. Loglines are the heart of your story.

If you cannot effectively distill your story into one sentence, so that people have to hear more, then you may need to spend more time defining your story before writing your script. Learning the art and craft of writing a logline is essential for a screenwriter. It is another tool in your tool belt. It should be exercised like a muscle. It needs to be honed like a knife.