![]() ![]() You’ll notice that my blurb is posed as a question. You can also be a bit more descriptive and add sub-plots. When you do your blurb you can add names-particularly of the main character-though, not too many. Sooner or later he’s gonna have to hold up his end of the bargain.” ![]() “What if someone offered you everything you’ve ever dreamed of and all you have to do to get it…is die? When Billy Colson gets involved with an ambitious real estate agent’s scheme to collect millions in insurance payments, he finds himself in an ever-deepening web of lies, deceit and violence. The blurb I’m including here is from a script I wrote called Good Faith. You’re going to have to rewrite them in different sizes-so hold on to each one. The annoying thing with blurbs is that when one is required each agent/manager/ producer will often ask for a blurb of a different size. BLURBĪ blurb is simply a longer version of your logline. A logline’s purpose is to get the reader to request the script-not tell them the whole story. ![]() And then the third act is only a few words, “to find her again.” See, you don’t have to spell out the end. In this case, “…when he fails to get her name he must go to as many parties as he can find…” Notice how this suggests a scene – the first party – and then several scenes – his attending many parties. The second act in a logline is usually shorter than the first. It’s not disproportionately larger in your script, but it will be in a logline because you have to convey what the story is about-which is what the setup does in your script. “A socially challenged young man meets the woman of his dreams at the first party of the Christmas season…” That’s pretty much always going to be the case with your loglines because the set up is when you tell the audience what your story is about. Notice that the largest amount of space is dedicated to the first act, or the setup. “A socially challenged young man meets the woman of his dreams at the first party of the Christmas season when he fails to get her name he must then go to as many parties as he can to find her again.” Here’s an old logline of mine from a comedy I wrote called Party Boy. At the point where your story breaks into the second act, there should be a compelling verb like has to, needs to, or must. ![]() Like your script, it should have a beginning, middle and an end. It is sometimes called an elevator pitch-in other words, what you would say if you were in an elevator with the head of a studio for ten seconds. This is a single sentence (very occasionally two) about your movie that is very much like what you’d read in the newspaper or in a TV Guide. So, here are some things to be thinking about. If you’re at all like me, part of you is thinking, ‘How do I do that? If I could have told the story in two pages, I would have.’ But, being able to write these shorter forms is not only something you have to do, it’s something you have to do well. You’ve whittled it down to a lean mean one hundred and two pages and now you’re asked to cut it down to a one or two-page synopsis, or a single paragraph blurb or, worst of all, a single sentence logline. You’ve just spent months or even years crafting your screenplay. A performative style might sell well but it can also compromise the integrity of the subject.One of the most dreaded tasks of screenwriting is writing about your work. When you set out to make a documentary, you will need to consider what style is best for you. Is it a subjective piece sharing the filmmaker’s opinion, or can the audience decide for themselves? Is there be a ‘voice of god’ narration, or is the presenter part of the action. Next time you watch a documentary, consider what mode it fits under. In short, all documentaries will fit under one or a mix of these modes.
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