Reader Question: Is it okay / advisable to put a logline on the script’s title page?
From Teddy Paternak:
Hello. Long time reader here. I can’t remember where I saw this, but not too long ago someone had put a logline on the title page of their spec script, right under the title, and someone else said that’s a big no-no. Of course, I thought, what kind of fool would put the logline on the title page! But the more I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what was SO wrong with it. I know it’s not the industry standard, but I’d be curious to know if it would be such a turnoff that you’d lose the reader before they even opened the script. What if it’s a killer logline? Could it actually increase your chances of getting a read? Any readers out there with any experience in this? Do you ever see spec scripts with the logline printed on the title page? For the record, I do not put the logline on my scripts title pages. Just glitter glue and drawings of unicorns.
To which plinytheelder added:
what about putting a quotation on the cover page? Something that hints or is a humorous adjunct to what the story is about.
Okay, all you script format formalists out there, have your way with these questions. That includes you, script readers.
Me? Over the years, I’ve learned never to use the word “never”… well, actually I just did, didn’t I… when it comes to screenplay format, style, conceits, basically anything to do with screenwriting. I even have a specific moment in time when I learned that lesson quite pointedly — you can read about it here. In Hollywood as soon as you say, “That will never work,” some project comes along where it works.
So while conventional wisdom may be not to put a logline on the title page… and not to put a quote on the cover page either… you will never… damn it, did it again… hear me say you can never do that.
Now that we have that disclaimer out of the way, here is why I recommend not putting a logline in the title page. You are a writer. You should be laser-focused on this:
Let the story tell the story.
What do you hope to accomplish by putting a logline up front? Get the reader’s attention? Aren’t your first few pages and the script’s opening supposed to do that?
You put the logline on the title page, one of two things will happen:
* They will not like the logline in which case they will already dislike your script before they have read one word of it.
* They will like the logline, but if they read the script without knowing its conceit, they would have liked the logline anyway.
So no, I do not see an advantage.
Now if your concern is that the people who read your script will not be able to translate your story into a logline approximating the one over which you have slaved for months, how about this:
Put the logline on the last page. Go FADE OUT / THE END, then space all the way down to the bottom of the page and type:
LOGLINE: Pursuing a drug kingpin, a stubborn cop gets a new partner: A police dog.
Just a suggestion.
In terms of a quote on the cover page, this is not a new thing. I remember all the way back to 1990 and Shane Black’s spec script The Last Boy Scout which on the cover page featured three quotes: Lyric excerpts from the Genesis song “Just a Job to Do,” a quote from Hallenbeck, and a quote from Dix, the latter two characters from the story.
And as we all remember, TLBS sold for a billion dollars… or something like that.
But the sense I get from readers is that the use of a quote from a book, a song, a public figure, who/whatever is pretty played out.
Personally I give more latitude to quotes because if chosen well, a quote can get a reader’s mind thinking about a theme.
Now I suppose you could argue that is not letting the story tell the story. And I suppose you’d be right. But there are scripts I have read which have used cover page quotes quite effectively to help lure me into the story.
A great example of a fairly recent script is (500) Days of Summer which opens like this:
Title page: (500) DAYS OF SUMMER by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, First Draft 2006
Next page: NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS A WORK OF FICTION. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO PERSONS LIVING OR DEAD IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.
Next page: ESPECIALLY YOU JENNY BECKMAN.
Next page: BITCH.
This tells me a multitude of things, a few which are:
* This script is a romantic comedy.
* This script is going to be unconventional.
* This script is going to be funny.
So if you’re asking me… which in point of fact you are… I would say generally thumbs-down on title page loglines and thumbs-sideways on cover page quotes.
But don’t quote me on that… because I never say never!
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