Why I hate loglines
Really important stuff here.
Whew. 4 weeks since my last JDrop - Lots of things happened there: I hurt my back, then my jaw, then my back again, I drove across the country, I’m working again?!
Lots of excuses that are all really valid and not at all bullshit.
Unlike log lines, which are complete bullshit.
I know that they’re an important way to get someone interested in your script, and I understand the need and desire to make it really crisp and snappy, but for fuck’s sake the number of times I see new writers agonizing over their loglines instead of, you know, THEIR SCRIPT, it just kind of drives me insane.
But if you’ve polished your script a dozen times, if you’ve done a dialogue pass to make sure every line belongs, if you’ve proofread it thrice over, AND you have NOTHING else to do, take a look at Julia York’s thread on loglines.
Because if you’re going to spend the time, at least do it right.
SCRIPTNOTES NOTES:
Holy shit, I’m behind an episode for the first time in a hundred years (this is how you know I’ve been busy). So lemme talk about Episode 494 for a hot minute.
The first section is a discussion on color in screenplays and I think it’s a really interesting conversation — it plays a lot into the idea of how you can direct on the page without explicitly saying things like:
The camera pushes into a close-up of Margo’s face, she smiles, remembering her childhood cat, an orange tabby prone to naps and addicted to belly rubs. Chopin’s elude in G Minor swells as a single tear streaks down her eye.
If I read that in a script I’d probably stop right there and get high and play video games instead of finishing. But there are ways to get your vision across on the page, and I think this conversation on how to use color in your writing is very enlightening.
However, the MARQUEE EVENT of this episode is another round of the 3-page challenge -- I think these segments are hands down the most useful segments Scriptnotes does. Read the submissions, listen along, and decide for yourself, but this is the FIRST time I’ve ever listened and said to myself: No, that’s wrong Craig.
Disclaimer: Craig Mazin is a brilliant writer and I’m a fucking schlub.
The first submission was a script written in the style of a Modern Family, Parks and Recs, The Office - you know, one of those shows that has a ton of talking head cutaways.
One of Craig’s first notes was the way the writer did the cutaway on the page:
Craig’s major takeaway was: the subslug “ELIAS TALKING HEAD” left him confused - where was this happening? There should be a full slugline and scene description. And maybe he’s not wrong, maybe there is a more elegant way of doing things, but I guarantee you that the writer did what I did when I wrote a sitcom in this style:
They looked at what the pros did.
The Office:
Modern Family:
Parks and Recs:
There are two reasons why I would write a cutaway like those pros and ignore Craig:
1 - It’s clearly a convention of the genre. Any reader will understand that the background and setting of the cutaways take place in the same general scene.
2 - It saves a shit ton of lines in the script. If you write cutaways as much as those shows do, it’ll add about a page to a page and half to write full sluglines and scene description, which, fuck that right?
Checkmate Craig that’s why I have the overall deal at HBO and not you.
Oh wait.
TRIPLE TREATS:
This is one of my favorite YouTube essays on directing. Edgar Wright’s direction of the camera is the number one thing I think about when I have creative control on a project. It’s all about transitions! A great hero and mentor of mine once said: If you know how to handle transitions, you’ll have a career in this business.
This creator is a little off-putting - I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this video on how Rian Johnson uses plants and payoffs (or if you want to be fancy like this guy and refer to them all as ‘Chekov’s Gun’ then go for it) is pretty solid.
For me, the main takeaway is this: If it doesn’t need to be in the story, then it doesn’t go in the story.
Speaking of off-putting, I know some people don’t like Scriptfella’s videos. However, those people are morons. Scriptfella is great and so is this piece on How To Break In From Outside Of Hollywood.
Did you like The James List? Is there anything clunky about the formatting? Just want to yell into the void?
Know someone else who might be interested? Know someone you hate and you want to clog their email inbox?
Need eyes on some pages and want my notes to be featured here? Have any questions about formatting, the industry, or how to make bagels at home? Just want to say hi?
Email me!
thejameslistnewsletter@gmail.com
(oh and if you want to read what I wrote for the Three Page Challenge….)