BDM125, 4 March, Storbyboarding: Thrashing out the Logline

 I'd really like to be knitting while watching the last few episodes of season 5 of The Good Wife but Dammit!  I care too much...

 

So, this is the fabulous book recommended by our Storyboarding tutor Rachel on how to write good screenplays.  My flatmate, Ruby, fortuitously owns a it so I get to cuddle up in bed with the hard copy and a note pad.    Three things are due Friday at 5 pm: 1. The Treatment 2. The Character Bio and 3. The Story Worksheet.  The Treatment is made up of the Logline, the Working Title and a third thing that I cannot remember.  It'll come to me by Friday at 5, maybe sooner.    First, the Logline.

I'm working my way through the book and taking notes as I go based on the story idea I talked about in the previous post.  According to Mr. Snyder, the Logline should have four things:  

1. Irony 

Irony is supposed to drag us in because it creates an emotional hook.

Ironic Logline: The subject of a $100 million dollar painting falls in love with the subject of a $20 graffiti scrawl.    I just need to come up with a better way of saying who is who than "subject".  No ideas yet.

2. an Image that sums up the whole movie

If we can "see" the world of the movie based on the Logline, we'll want to see it.  

   Captured image Logline: A $100 million dollar painting up for auction's character has 20 minutes to save the graffiti character he loves before the gavel hits the block.

3. a clear idea of who the audience is and how much it's going to cost

 Now I start to struggle... who should see this and how much will it cost to make?  No ideas.

4. a Killer Title.  

It says what it is and we'll want to see it because of that.   Many warnings against any film titled "For Love or Money".   Legally Blonde is held up as the ideal Killer Title.  What's a pun/play on words that involves Spray paint?  Or Paint by Numbers?  I need a rhyming dictionary.  Words and phrases that rhyme with spray: (759 results)  

Baby Paint?  Love. Cache Paint? High quality  C'est la Paint?  French Chez Paint? Okay Paint?  Play Paint?  Two characters having fun.  Stray Paint?  Bombay Paint?  Set in India or features Indian images.   Bouquet Paint?  D'Orsay Paint?  That references that beautiful museum in Paris with the Symbolists and Van Gogh and more 19th century art.  Foul Play Paint?   Oooh, a whodunnit/rescue drama.  A snobby art critic tries to cleanse the neighbourhood of "inferior" art.  Francais Paint.  

                             Ha!  Naughty graffiti lady from Montmartre, Paris,  photo courtesy of moi. 

Good Day Paint.  Green Bay Paint.  Set in Wisconsin.  Ugh.  NO.  Hooray Paint.  Passe Paint.  Today Paint.  X-Ray Paint.  Cast Away Paint.  Everyday Paint.  Fiance Paint.  New Year's Day Paint.  Valentine's Day Paint.  Pine Away Paint.  Rainy Day Paint.  Breaking Away Paint.  Going Away Paint.  In a Bad Way Paint.  Running Away Paint.  Midsummer Day Paint.  Queen of the may Paint, Queen for a Day Paint.  Spirit Away Paint.  Wasting Away Paint.  Wearing Away Paint.  Dwindling Away Paint.  Independence Day Paint.   Exponential Decay Paint.  In a Well Mannered Way Paint.  Monet Paint. 

Paint by Numbers.  Feint by Numbers.  Saint by Numbers.  Taint by Numbers.  Except that sounds like the new word for anus.  Never mind that.  Pained by Numbers. 

Nothing amazingly clever is coming to mind.  Mr. Snyder's next piece of advice is to test market the idea by pitching to strangers over and over.  If I can hold the attention of a total stranger, then the idea is clear.  Each time I pitch it, the idea will get stronger and stronger and will change into a better story.