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09/22/2006: More About the About


I dined with a dear friend last night, who is writing for one of the new fall shows. She happened to bring along an outline for one of their episodes. I noticed that it had a feature I'd never seen before on such a document. Usually there's a "logline" at the top of an outline, a sort of "TV Guide" summary. But now, I was seeing TWO little headlines at the top of the first page. They read something like this (story details totally changed to avoid spoilers)...

What it's about: Our main character's boss quits, and she has to hide his absense from her co-workers for a whole day.

What it's REALLY about: Her love for her boss fades, as she realizes the considerate man she loved doesn't really exist. No other virtue can make up for a lack of kindness.

Call it the "logline plus" system. I love it. The writers of this show find it useful because the outline is sent to studio and network executives who need to be able to make a quick evaluation of the document. But of course it's also invaluable for the writer.

It's a great idea to have both of these written out at the top of every document you produce as you write your spec. The "really" line, of course, is what I was talking about in the last post. This is the reason to write the episode. The other line, the more traditional logline, lays out the literal events. Having both of them under your eyes as you work is going to help keep you on track. Maybe print them up and tape them to the computer? Or maybe that's a bit much. Just keep them around somewhere.

On another topic, I got a sweetly determined letter recently from Stephanie in Platteville, who declares her intention to move to LA and make a writing career happen! She's got more courage than I had, I'll tell you that. Best of luck to you, Steph! I'm rooting for you!

Lunch: BBQ pork and noodle soup from a Thai restaurant. Yummy.