I recall mentioning to my mother, once when I was quite young, that I was fascinated by a model train set I'd seen in a shop. A birthday was coming up. No surprise, there next to the cake and 12 candles was the train set. It's what moms do.
Like many of my hobbies over the years, trains seemed simple enough at the outset. Later I would abandon many other hobbies -- stamps and owls and dragons and other forms of collecting, telescopes, bird watching, glass cutting.
I just signed up for an online class in screenwriting at UCLA. We meet once a week online, using Skype audioconferencing, Thursday evenings at 6pm -- Pacific Time. I was up eagerly at 3:30am this past Friday morning to prepare. Blessedly, once America moves from daylight savings to standard time, I'll shift to 5am.
Lesson 1 was about "loglines," which are something like those little snippets of descriptions you hear in an advertisement about a movie. We all know the voice -- overly dramatic, quite baritone. They're also those little one-liners you see in the cable TV or TV Guide listings.
"In a world where witches rule, friends are flawed, and short people sing songs about nothing at all, a lonely girl and her sweet little dog seek answers in a mystical land governed by a magical wizard."
Works for me, but only with pictures and a sense of humor. OK, how about this one:
"After a twister transports a lonely Kansas farm girl to a magical land, she sets out on a dangerous journey to find a wizard with the power to send her home."
Maybe better for a pitch to a producer.
Wikipedia on Loglines
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| Not my train set... |
Like many of my hobbies over the years, trains seemed simple enough at the outset. Later I would abandon many other hobbies -- stamps and owls and dragons and other forms of collecting, telescopes, bird watching, glass cutting.
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| This bottle don't cut... |
Lesson 1 was about "loglines," which are something like those little snippets of descriptions you hear in an advertisement about a movie. We all know the voice -- overly dramatic, quite baritone. They're also those little one-liners you see in the cable TV or TV Guide listings.
 |
| There's no place like home... |
Works for me, but only with pictures and a sense of humor. OK, how about this one:
"After a twister transports a lonely Kansas farm girl to a magical land, she sets out on a dangerous journey to find a wizard with the power to send her home."
Maybe better for a pitch to a producer.
Wikipedia on Loglines
