Great story testing resource

[Coldpizza]

Hi guys.
A friend of mine set up this website:

http://logline.it/

It is designed to help storytellers improve their ideas based on loglines.
It is such a simple and effective website which I find again and again as a great resource if your about to start work on that little gem, want to polish an idea or need some feedback.

Hope this helps, Nir.

[Gillvane]

Hi guys.
A friend of mine set up this website:

http://logline.it/

It is designed to help storytellers improve their ideas based on loglines.
It is such a simple and effective website which I find again and again as a great resource if your about to start work on that little gem, want to polish an idea or need some feedback.

Hope this helps, Nir.

I don't know how helpful this really is. The devil is in the details, the execution of the story.

Harry Potter and Star Wars could have almost the same log lines.

Child with hidden talents has his family murdered, goes to live with powerless uncle, is taken under the wing of a powerful master, grows up to develop his own power and seeks revenge on the one that murdered his family.

But the details make for some very different stories. There's also been plenty of stories with that log line that are crap.

So I'm not sure if a bunch of people like the logline or not it makes a lot of difference.

[Randall_Oelerich]

I don't know how helpful this really is. The devil is in the details, the execution of the story. ...So I'm not sure if a bunch of people like the logline or not it makes a lot of difference.

Exactly. A sheriff hunts for a killer shark menacing his coastal village. That could become a boring B-horror, or one of the greatest films (Jaws) ever made.

[nycineaste]

It's also noteworthy that 4 Christmases, used as an example of a great high concept all throughout "Save The Cat", was a total disaster in the execution.

I think the easiest way to get control over your story (give it a strong "spine") is to sum it up as a single dramatic problem (Jaws-shark invades beach town), a single character (Forrest Gump), or a single theme (Pulp Fiction). Or you could identify the single summary Action, if you wanna be all deep and Aristotlean (Batman SAVES GOTHAM, in Blue Valentine, they BREAKUP).

[PopcornFlix]

This is a great site to let other writers use your ideas for free.

An idea (like a logline) can't be copyrighted or protected in any way. Only the execution of the idea (the screenplay) is protectable. Any story ideas you post in a public forum are fair game for any other writer. New writers often get this backwards -- pitching their ideas to everyone, yet jealously guarding who gets to see their script.

[Allan Black]

This is a great site to let other writers use your ideas for free.

I think this is true, and I don't think many folk would display their new ideas .. I'm sure many have seen theirs up on the screen, albiet it modified.
Unfortunately it happens to songsters who send their demos, ideas and lyrics to name singers.

Cheers.

[MikeFunktastic]

This is a great site to let other writers use your ideas for free.

An idea (like a logline) can't be copyrighted or protected in any way. Only the execution of the idea (the screenplay) is protectable. Any story ideas you post in a public forum are fair game for any other writer. New writers often get this backwards -- pitching their ideas to everyone, yet jealously guarding who gets to see their script.

Hehe, totally agree. In fact, that's exactly what I'll be doing when I use this site and its many cousins.

[Gillvane]

This is a great site to let other writers use your ideas for free.

An idea (like a logline) can't be copyrighted or protected in any way. Only the execution of the idea (the screenplay) is protectable. Any story ideas you post in a public forum are fair game for any other writer. New writers often get this backwards -- pitching their ideas to everyone, yet jealously guarding who gets to see their script.

That's absolutley not a problem because ideas are worthless.

You could tell a million writers the log line for a story about a young boy that goes to wizard school, and they would not write Harry Potter.

Again, the idea isn't new at all, and doesn't need to be. Young boy has family killed, has hidden talents, is raised by his Uncle, then tutored by a powerful master so he can seek revenge.

George Lucas did this before J.K. Rowling. Oh no J.K. stole Georges idea! And George stole his idea from the monomyth, which is well documented.

You can do it too. The characters, setting, and details of the plot are what will make it an amazing story, not the "idea".

No one has an original "idea" anyway. They just have original executions of an idea. The script you write is important, the idea is not.

You can tell a million people your "idea" but they won't be able to write your script and vice a versa.

Look at it the other way around. If I gave you the log line, could you write The King's Speech?

I"m going to say probably not. So why would anyone worry if you read the idea?

[PopcornFlix]

So why would anyone worry if you read the idea?

In the studio business, if they have a similar idea, they don't want yours. So if you post your idea about a flying donut salesman, and someone else writes their version of the script first, it will lock you out. They don't even have to buy the script. Readers (always looking for an excuse to read one less script) say, "we just saw one like this. Pass."

In my experience, you need both a high-concept commercial idea AND great execution to sell. In fact, it's easier to sell a great concept with lousy writing than great writing with a lousy concept. Many scripts get purchased each year just for the idea, and are promptly rewritten by studio pros.

Keep you ideas a secret, but get as many people as possible to read your scripts.

[Allan Black]

Hey PopcornFlix .. I'll buy that.

Cheers.