How to Write an AI Logline for a Movie Using ChatGPT

paper with "logline" on it

Key Takeaways:

  1. Decide on the parameters of your logline (the main character, inciting incident, objective and antagonistic force).
  2. Choose an AI writing program and open a new document.
  3. Use my AI logline prompt (see below).
  4. Rerun the prompt if the first output isn’t great.
  5. Tweak the logline to make it your own!

Click here to go directly to the steps!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has already disrupted many industries, and screenwriting and novel writing are no exceptions.

The traditional process of writing movie loglines tasks the writer with distilling their entire story into a single sentence, and as anyone who’s ever tried it knows, it can be a challenge. AI content generators are now being used to help writers create fantastic loglines for their movies and books.

As a novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker myself, I know how hard writing can be. I’ve been trying out different AI writing programs to see how they can be best used for creatives, and one use that stood out to me was the writing of loglines.

In this article, we will discuss how to use artificial intelligence writing programs (like ChatGPT, Jasper AI, or Sudowrite) to help you write a creative logline for your next creative project!

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What is a Logline?

A logline is a brief summary of a movie, short film, or book that tells the reader the plot and the central conflict.

It’s usually one or two sentences long, and it’s a great way to get a quick sense of what a story is about. It should be easy to understand and make the reader want to know more about the story.

Writers often use a logline to pitch their ideas to publishers or producers. It is also a valuable tool for marketing and advertising purposes.

In short, a logline is a concise way to summarize a complex story in just a few words.

How do I Write a Logline?

Overall, my best tips for writing a logline are:

  • Keep your logline short and to the point
  • Brainstorm your best movie ideas before you write the logline!
  • Think about the key ingredients of the story elements of your book or movie before writing the logline
  • Focus on the main conflict in your story (the central problem that moves the plot forward)
  • Don’t use character names in your logline
  • Don’t give away the entire script or the whole movie!
  • Avoid naming similar books or movies in the logline

Keep the following logline formula in mind as you use AI to help you write a logline:

When INCITING INCIDENT,
a PROTAGONIST must OBJECTIVE
despite an ANTAGONISTIC FORCE.

If you want more assistance with writing a logline the old-fashioned way (with no AI help!), check out my article on writing a logline for more information. If you are looking for examples of effective movie loglines, check out this article.

How to Use AI to Create a Logline

Now that you know what a logline is and what an AI writing assistant can do, let’s look at how AI can help you write a great logline.

Before we start, please note that I’m using the word “help”!

Artificial intelligence is a beneficial tool but does not replace the human writer. You will still need to understand story structure, character development, and the idea of conflict to write a great logline.

With that said, let’s look at how to use AI to help you quickly and easily write a movie or book logline!

1: Decide on the parameters of your logline

how to write a logline

The first step to creating a logline for a story is to decide on the parameters of your story.

A good logline distills the essential story elements of your screenplay – protagonist(s), antagonistic forceinciting incident, and objective – into a clear and concise teaser.

Reread your story or screenplay and make sure that you can specify the following aspects:

  • Protagonist(s) – The story’s main character(s).
  • Inciting Incident – The event that sets the protagonist(s) on their journey. This is the first turning point, where the main character’s ordinary world upends.
  • Objective – The main goal of the protagonist(s).
  • Antagonistic force – The character, force, or obstacle preventing the protagonist(s) from reaching the objective.

Try to add as much detail as possible about each aspect of your story.

Once you have written down these aspects of your story, you can start writing your logline!

Let’s look at an example from a famous movie (The Wizard of Oz):

  • Protagonist: lonely Kansas farm girl
  • Inciting Incident: a twister takes her to a magical land
  • Objective: find a wizard who has the power to send her home
  • Antagonistic Force: a dangerous journey

2: Open a new document for your AI logline

This step is where you’ll need to sign up for an AI writing program. While I’ve tried quite a few, the two I recommend to fiction writers most are Jasper and Sudowrite.

Jasper is my favorite AI writing tool overall, if you are looking for a multi-purpose tool that is mainly going to help you with marketing tasks.

If, however, you are looking primarily for assistance with creative writing, such as short stories, novels and screenplays, Sudowrite is your best bet!

Try out Jasper if you are looking for a multi-purpose AI writing tool that can help with both marketing and creative tasks.

Unlike Jasper, Sudowrite is a specialized AI writing tool for creative writers! It’s best if all you want AI to help you with is stories and screenplays.

If you are using Jasper AI:

Jasper

In Jasper, you’ll want to click on Templates, Documents, and “Freeform With Any Template.” Or, you can use “Jasper Chat”, which works much like ChatGPT.

3: Use my prompt to generate your logline

In your opened document, copy and paste the following prompt. Make sure to type in your own parameters where it says, “state yours here.”

<write a logline for the following parameters: main character – state yours here, inciting incident – state yours here, objective – state yours here, antagonistic force – state yours here>

After you enter your own parameters, put your cursor after the final > and press “control J.”

Here’s what happened when I used this prompt in Jasper (the part in the red box was what I gave as a prompt, and the logline below was what Jasper generated for me):

Jasper AI logline

Now, this logline that Jasper generated is not great. So, let’s go on to step 4!

4: Try rerunning the AI prompt

Artificial Intelligence is far from perfect. You may need to adjust your parameters if the logline you get is not quite what you are looking for.

For example, you may need to add extra information about your protagonist (it may give a better logline if you say a “young cocky hockey player from Norway” than just a “hockey player”).

Or, you may need to rerun the AI program. It will often give slightly different loglines each time that you run the command, and you will likely prefer one option to the others.

When I re-ran the Jasper command, I liked the third logline the best (the one right under the red box)!

Jasper logline

5: Tweak the logline to make it your own!

Remember that AI is just an assistant to you, the human writer! Please ensure that you use your creative talents and skills to make the logline the best it can be.

Ensure that you add details or adjust the meaning of the logline so that it is true to the story you are writing it for.

I believe that this logline generation method can help make the process easier and faster, but you should not let AI do all the work for you!

In the end, I moved the elements around a bit and went with this logline:

After a twister carries her to a magical land, a lonely Kansas farm girl embarks on a dangerous journey to find a wizard with the power to send her home.

How to Use Sudowrite to Create a Logline

Another AI software you can try is Sudowrite. Sudowrite is a specialty AI writing tool made just for creative writers, such as novelists and screenwriters!

Sudowrite

Sudowrite is a fantastic AI that can help you generate AI screenplays and novels and can also help you write a logline! Don’t forget to use proper screenwriting software to write the rest of your script!

Here’s what I got from Sudowrite when I used the same logline prompt as above:

using Sudowrite to write a logline

I think that’s a pretty good logline too! I do love that Sudowrite is more specialized for creative writing – there’s a lot you can do with it, way more than just loglines!

How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Logline

Here’s the output I got when I asked ChatGPT to write me an AI logline for the Wizard of Oz. It’s pretty good, but would benefit from some human tweaking!

chatGPT logline

The nice thing about ChatGPT is that you can ask the program to rewrite the logline in different ways.

Look what happens when I ask the program to rewrite the above logline with the prompt “write this more powerfully”. It is a fantastic logline!

ChatGPT AI logline

What AI programs can you use?

As noted above, I like to use Jasper for writing loglines. Let’s take a closer look at both Jasper and Sudowrite.

Best Choice overall

Jasper

Jasper logo
  • Jasper is awesome at generating loglines, as shown above.
  • Has a free 5-day trial.
  • Jasper has various pricing levels, starting at $39 per month.
  • Great for writing loglines, generating story ideas, characters, and settings.
Best Choice For Creative Writers

Sudowrite

Sudowrite logo
  • The free plan allows you to generate 4k words, so you see if you like it!
  • Write in almost any language (will match the language of your inputs).
  • The Hobby/Student Plan includes up to 30k words generated per month and is only $10/month!
  • Great for helping generate story ideas.
  • Sudowrite helps with rich vocabulary and descriptions too (among many other things)!

Final Thoughts

Although AI programs are not perfect, they can be a great tool to help you develop your movie or book logline.

I hope the steps above help you write a fantastic logline for your next story!

Interested in the intersection of AI and creativity? Check out these other interesting articles!

5+ Best AI Voice Generator Tools: Ranked & Reviewed

Artificial Intelligence In Film: Impact & Influence

How to Turn Text to Video Using AI [Easy Videos!]

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