Writers Tricks of the Trade MARCH-APRIL 2015

PRESS CONTROL THEN CLICK BUY TO PURCHASE A BOOK WRITING THE KILLER LOGLINE THAT’LL MAKE 'EM WANT TO READ YOUR SCREENPLAY ©CHRISTINE CONRADT 2015 CHRISTINE CONRADT SCREENWRITER Being a screenwriter isn’t just about writing a screenplay. You also need to know how to write other important stuff like treatments, synopses, onepagers, and loglines. Think of these items as your screenplay’s ‘sales tools.’ ONLINE WEBINARS It takes about two hours to read a screenplay. Producers, directors, agents, managers, and actors are all busy people who have no interest in wasting their time reading a screenplay that doesn’t fit with what they’re looking for. Loglines and one-pagers allow them to decide if it is worth their time to read your screenplay. WHAT IS A LOGLINE? A logline is a one-sentence blurb that accomplishes two things: It tells the reader what the screenplay is about CREATING STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS BY CHRISTINE CONRADT $79.99 It entices the reader into wanting to read the screenplay Think ‘TV Guide.’ When you scroll through all the movies playing on TV, find a title you like and press ‘info,’ they give you the logline. That logline is what makes you decide to watch the movie or keep scrolling. The same goes for your screenplay. SAMPLE LOGLINES This is from a Lifetime movie I wrote titled ‘Missing at 17’: Writing and Selling a TV Movie by Christine Conradt $69.99 After inadvertently discovering she’s adopted, 17-year-old Candace runs away in search of her biological mother only to become involved with Toby, a dangerous bad boy who delivers much more than the help he promises her… Let’s run it through our check list: Who is the protagonist? __________________________________________ What’s the important detail about her?_______________________________ MAR-APR 2015 PAGE 8 WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

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