The Logline/Elevator Pitch

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The Logline/Elevator Pitch

• Where the rubber hits the road

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LOGLINE

• "If you can't say it in three sentences, you
  don't know what your story is about."

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LOGLINE

• Think of the logline as a 10 second commercial
  for your movie. 

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LOGLINE CHECKLIST 

• Reveal the star's SITUATION
• Reveal the GOAL the Action the stars takes
• Reveal the important COMPLICATIONS
• Hint at the CLIMAX - the danger, the 'showdown'
• Identify SIZZLE greed, humor, danger, thrill
• Identify GENRE
• Limit to three sentences or under
• Use present tense

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LOGLINE Runaway Bride

• A New York reporter travels to Maryland to
  profile a woman who left three bridegrooms at the
  altar.

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LOGLINE Dumb Dumber

• An inept dog groomer and a limousine driver
  chase the latter's dream girl cross country.

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LOGLINE ET

• An alienated boy bonds with an extraterrestrial
  child who's been stranded on earth the boy
  defies the adults to help the alien contact his
  mothership so he can go home. 

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ELEVATOR PITCH

• The Elevator Pitch is a short narrative treatment
  which gathers up the threads of your story
  character, motivation, agenda, setting, conflict,
  action, key scenes, and storyline - combining
  them into a short treatment that gives you the
  first hint of the impact of the final script.

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ELEVATOR PITCH

• Focus on large actions stemming out of character
  motivation.  The verb is WANT.  What does your
  character WANT? Before writing The PITCH make a
  list of wants for your character. There will be
  one main WANT.

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ELEVATOR PITCH CHECKLIST 

• Reveal the star's SITUATION
• Reveal the GOAL the Action the stars takes
• Reveal the important COMPLICATIONS
• Describe the star's CRISIS decision
• Hint at the CLIMAX - the danger, the 'showdown'
• Hint at the star's potential TRANSFORMATION
• Identify SIZZLE greed, humor, danger, thrill
• Identify GENRE
• Limit to one paragraph
• Use present tense

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THE ELEVATOR PITCH

• "Secret Of Algonquin
• Shawn Miller, a handsome 29-year-old scientist,
  wants to make a difference in life. But to many
  he seems to have lost direction. However, to
  those who know him he still seems to have a
  strong sense of confidence and purpose.
  Confidence and purpose, however, could not be
  farther from the truth as the emotional
  instability of being unemployed begins to consume
  him.
• Having always been known as an outsider, he
  obsessively decides to get back into the game at
  any cost. As the obsession starts to envelop and
  control his life, Shawn begins to experience
  strange and unearthly events surrounding his
  endeavors to get hired at a top-secret research
  center. He is drawn to the brink of near death as
  the dark secrets at the research center began to
  unfold and reveal an off world intelligence
  searching for evidence of Mankind's origins.
• Deceptions surface and truths are reached among
  the characters, yet not one of them has an answer
  to the question that looms What is the secret of
  Algonquin?

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SHORT ELEVATOR PITCH RAINMAN

• A self-centered hotshot returns home for his
  father's funeral and learns the family
  inheritance goes to an autistic brother he never
  knew he had. The hotshot kidnaps this older
  brother and drives him cross-country hoping to
  gain his confidence and get control of the family
  money. The journey reveals an unusual dimension
  to the brother's autism that sparks their
  relationship and unlocks a dramatic childhood
  secret that changes everything. 

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Your Task

1. Think about five movies youve enjoyed and create
   loglines for them.
2. Next, using your smartphone, find the actual
   loglines for the films and record them below your
   own.
3. Question How did your loglines compare to the
   originals?
4. Without consulting the web(absolutely no
   copying), create an elevator pitch for your
   favourite film.