Movies aren’t sold because of a creative or unique storyline. The reason comes down to a compelling business plan that describes the audience for the movie and how it will make money. The whole goal is to help the studios decide if they want to invest. Most don’t want to take a risk on something new or different that may not have a clear audience or expected return.
Their decision often comes down to one line in the pitch: the logline. This is a brief description that sums up the theme of the movie. It’s often no more than one or two sentences. Sometimes it’s even phrased as a question that the movie will explore. Loglines for some popular movies include:
- Toy Story: What if toys came to life when humans weren’t around?
- When Harry Met Sally: Can men and women be friends?
- Finding Nemo: There are 3.7 trillion fish in the ocean. They are looking for one.
- The Hangover: A comedy set in Las Vegas about three groomsmen who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy during their misadventures and then must retrace their steps to find him.
- Jurassic Park: During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.
With that one sentence or question, you not only get a broad sense of the movie, but your brain is also intrigued. It helps you understand what the movie will explore without giving the outcome. You are immediately grounded in the concept and point of the movie. It helps you relate to the concept of the movie before you even see it.
How often have you sat through someone communicating and wondered, “What was that about?” Maybe it was a presentation or story, but you left scratching your head and wondering, “What am I supposed to do with this?’ It wasn’t your fault—it didn’t stick the landing.
When communications or stories leave you confused, it’s often because the speaker wasn’t even sure of the takeaway. The lack of clarity on what you were supposed to take away resulted in your lack of understanding. We often focus on what we want to say and neglect to think about what we want the audience to take away.
How often are you putting together a presentation by piecing together existing content instead of thinking through an overall structure and what you want to say? Most of us have grabbed random slides and content from different communications thinking we can stitch them together into an overall narrative. But when shared, the content falls flat and lacks structure. Stories feel like they are randomly placed in the presentation and don’t connect the audience to the idea and desired outcome.
When you are creating a story or a presentation, you need to define a question or a sentence that thematically captures what you want your audience to experience and take away. It’s what you want the audience to take away or do because of the message.
You may never say this sentence out loud, but by defining it, you gain clarity on the outcome and takeaway. This helps you be more intentional about the purpose of your story and presentation. As you build them out, it validates the points you include and how you move the idea forward. It helps you determine what has earned a place in the story or presentation and what can be removed.
The logline is also the key ingredient for telling real-time stories or when you don’t have a lot of time. Impactful stories come from clearly defined outcomes. The logline provides the focus for what you want to get across and only takes a few minutes to define.
Remember how you had to define a hypothesis before you started your scientific experiments in school? This is the same idea. You can’t define the logline after you create the story. Doing it before helps ensure your messages reinforce that point.
Next time you are about to share a story or communication, ask yourself these questions before you begin developing them:
- What question does this set out to answer?
- What are one or two sentences that summarize the theme of this?
- What is a sentence that describes what I want my audience to take away?
- What is at stake? What is the higher-level problem or challenge this sets out to address?
Starting here helps distill your thinking into clarity. It gives you a guide as you begin developing the story or communication. It also makes it easier for the audience to follow the story or communication.
Loglines enable you to end messages on a strong note. Even if your time is unexpectedly cut short, you can jump to the takeaway. This ensures you are reinforcing the outcome you want for your audience. It will help you spot and stick your landing each time.
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Karen Eber is the CEO and Chief Storyteller at Eber Leadership Group, a leadership development company. She is also an international consultant, keynote, and TED speaker. She is publishing “The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories that Inform, Influence, and Inspire” with HarperCollins, Fall 2023.
By: Karen Eber
