What Is a Logline? Definition, Formula and Examples
A logline is a one- or two-sentence summary of a screenplay, about 25 to 35 words, that names the protagonist, what they want, what stands in the way and what happens if they fail. It is the sentence a producer reads before deciding whether to open the script.
Updated 2026-09-22 · About 7 sections · 5 answered questions
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What is a logline?
A logline is the shortest complete description of a story: one sentence, occasionally two, that tells a stranger who the film is about, what they are trying to do, who or what is stopping them, and why it matters. It is written in the present tense, it names no actors and quotes no dialogue, and it fits on one line of a spreadsheet, which is where the name comes from. Studio story departments once logged incoming scripts in a ledger with a single line each, and the line had to be enough to find the script again.
Today the logline does three jobs. It opens a query letter and a pitch. It sits at the top of coverage, where a reader summarises your script for an executive who will never read it. And, before any of that, it tells you whether you have a film. A story that cannot be reduced to a logline usually has no protagonist, no goal, or no opposition, and it is cheaper to discover that in a sentence than in 110 pages. If the whole form is new to you, what is a screenplay covers what the sentence is describing.
Use the generator above to draft a first version while you read; the sections below tell you what it should contain and what to cut.
The logline formula: protagonist, goal, obstacle, stakes
Every working logline carries the same four parts, in some order.
| Part | Question it answers | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Protagonist | Who is this about? | A descriptive tag, not a name: "a disgraced coastguard", "a retired forger". The adjective is the character's flaw or contradiction. |
| Goal | What are they trying to do? | Concrete and filmable. "Reach the island", "clear her name", "steal the painting". Never "find herself". |
| Obstacle | What is in the way? | An antagonist with intent is strongest. A force of nature or a deadline works if it escalates. |
| Stakes | What happens if they fail? | Stated or clearly implied. Often carried by a clock: "before the inquiry closes on Friday". |
The fifth ingredient is irony, and it separates a logline that is merely clear from one that gets the script requested. Irony here means a built-in contradiction between the protagonist and the goal: the pacifist who must fight, the con artist who must tell the truth, the lighthouse keeper who must keep the lamp dark. It is what makes the reader ask a question the sentence does not answer. A logline with all four parts and no irony describes a competent film; one with irony describes a film someone wants to see.
The most common arrangement puts the inciting incident first: When [event], a [adjective protagonist] must [goal] before [stakes], or [consequence]. It is not the only shape, but it forces every slot to be filled. The step-by-step method for building one, including how to find the irony when it is not obvious, is in how to write a logline.
How long is a logline?
One sentence is the target; two is acceptable when the second carries the stakes. In words, aim for 25 to 35 and treat 40 as a hard ceiling. Below 20 you are usually missing a part; above 40 you are usually describing plot rather than premise.
Length is a symptom, not the disease. Loglines run long because the writer tries to include the subplot, the twist, the setting's history and a second protagonist. None of those belong. A logline describes the engine of the film, and the engine is one person wanting one thing against one opposition. If two characters genuinely share the goal, pick the one who changes most and describe the other as part of the obstacle or the stakes.
Count the words after every draft. The free logline builder does the count and grades the sentence against the four slots, which is faster than asking a friend and less polite. Zen Writer's script statistics do the same job for the pages behind the sentence, so a 34-word logline promising a tight thriller is not sitting on a 140-page draft.
Three strong logline examples
All three are invented. Each is one sentence, 25 to 35 words, with every slot filled and an ironic pairing at the centre.
When the brother she reported dead turns up alive on her island, a disgraced coastguard must keep the lighthouse lamp lit against the smugglers he owes, before the storm brings their boat in.
Protagonist: disgraced coastguard. Goal: keep the lamp lit. Obstacle: smugglers, plus her brother. Stakes: the boat, and her brother's life. Irony: the person who failed at rescue is the only one who can signal for one. 33 words.
A retired forger who has spent ten years painting honest landscapes must fake one last masterpiece to buy back the daughter's portrait he sold, before the auction where the real one is unveiled.
Goal: forge a painting. Obstacle: the auction, the genuine article, his own retirement. Stakes: the one thing he wants back. Irony: he has to become the man he quit being. 33 words.
When a small-town wedding planner is hired to organise her own ex-fiancé's wedding, she must deliver the perfect day for the woman who replaced her, or lose the business that is all she has left.
Protagonist with a wound, goal that is a job, obstacle that is personal, stakes that are financial and emotional at once. Irony in every clause. 35 words, and the genre is unmistakable without the word "comedy" appearing. More across every genre, with notes on why each works, are in logline examples.
Three weak loglines and how to fix them
Weak loglines fail in predictable ways. Here is each failure, the sentence it produces, and the repair.
1. No goal, only a situation.
A grieving widow moves to a coastal village and slowly rediscovers what it means to live.
Nothing is wanted and nothing opposes it. The fix gives her a concrete task and something in the way: A grieving widow who moves to a coastal village to scatter her husband's ashes must first win the harbour permit from the fisherman whose boat her husband's negligence sank.
2. Plot instead of premise.
After his partner is killed, a detective investigates a series of murders, uncovers a conspiracy in the mayor's office, is suspended, teams up with a journalist, and confronts the killer in a warehouse.
That is a synopsis wearing a logline's coat. Cut everything after the engine: When his partner is killed on the mayor's payroll, a detective who has spent his career looking away must prove the murder before the election makes the mayor untouchable. The warehouse is for the script.
3. Adjectives doing the work of stakes.
A hilarious, heartwarming story about an unlikely friendship between a grumpy old man and a young boy.
"Hilarious" and "heartwarming" are claims about the film, not facts about the story, and a reader discounts them on sight. Replace them with a goal and a clock: A widower who has not left his house in three years must teach the boy next door to ride a bike before the boy's family moves away, or admit that he never intends to go outside again.
Logline vs tagline vs synopsis
These three are confused constantly, and sending one when someone asked for another marks the writer as inexperienced.
| Logline | Tagline | Synopsis | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The story in one sentence | A marketing hook | The whole story in prose, ending included |
| Length | 25–35 words | 3–10 words | Half a page to two pages |
| Written for | Producers, agents, readers | Audiences, on a poster | Executives who need the plot without reading the script |
| Reveals the ending? | No | No | Yes, always |
| Example | "When the brother she reported dead turns up alive..." | "Some lights should stay dark." | Three paragraphs covering all three acts |
A tagline sells a mood and hides the plot. A logline sells the premise and hides the ending. A synopsis hides nothing, because the person reading it needs to know whether the third act works. Writing the synopsis is a separate skill, covered in how to write a screenplay synopsis, and the longer prose form used to pitch before a script exists is the treatment, explained in what is a treatment.
In practice the three travel together. A query letter opens with the logline, a producer who bites asks for a synopsis, and the tagline is somebody else's job entirely. Keep the logline at the top of your script file where you can see it; Zen Writer's title page fields hold it beside the title, so it goes out with every PDF you export and you never have to hunt for the sentence when someone asks. The full path from sentence to submission runs through how to write a screenplay.
Common logline mistakes
- Naming the protagonist. "Nell Marr" tells a reader nothing; "a disgraced coastguard" tells them the genre, the flaw and the arc.
- Internal goals. "Must learn to trust again" cannot be photographed. Give her something to do; the trust is what the doing costs.
- Two protagonists. Pick one. The other becomes obstacle, ally or stakes.
- Revealing the twist. The logline is a promise, not a summary. Save the ending for the synopsis.
- Rhetorical questions. "Can one man save the world?" is a tagline, and a weak one.
- Passive voice. "A town is threatened by a flood" hides who acts. "A mayor must evacuate a town that voted to stay" does not.
- Writing it last. The logline is a planning tool. Write it before the outline, rewrite it after the draft, and if the two versions differ, the draft has drifted.
Once the sentence works, the script has to keep the promise it makes, and the rest of the screenwriting guides are about that. Draft the script itself in the free online screenplay editor, with no login and automatic formatting, and put the logline on the title page from day one.
Frequently asked questions
How many words should a logline be?
Aim for 25 to 35 words in one sentence, two at most, and treat 40 as the ceiling. Shorter loglines usually miss a part, typically the stakes; longer ones usually describe plot instead of premise. Count after every draft.
Should a logline include the character's name?
Usually not. A descriptive tag such as "a retired forger" carries genre, flaw and arc in three words, while a name carries nothing a stranger can use. Some readers accept a name plus a tag, but the tag is the part doing the work.
Does a logline reveal the ending?
No. The logline states the premise and the stakes and stops before the outcome, so the reader wants to open the script. The synopsis is where the ending is revealed, and it always is, because an executive reading a synopsis needs to know the third act works.
What is the difference between a logline and a tagline?
A logline is a one-sentence summary of the story written for industry readers: protagonist, goal, obstacle, stakes. A tagline is a short marketing phrase for a poster, written for audiences, that sells a mood and hides the plot. Writers send loglines; studios write taglines.
Should I write the logline before or after the screenplay?
Both. Write it before the outline as a test of whether the story has a protagonist, a goal and opposition, then rewrite it after the draft. If the two versions describe different films, the draft has drifted from the premise and one of them needs to change.
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Four fields. One logline. A score for voice, irony, goal, and stakes.
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Turn title, genre, logline, and a short synopsis into a query email and a one-page leave-behind.
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