This week Ben and Dan are discussing loglines. Loglines are one sentence summaries of movies. Essentially this one sentence should encompass your entire story and get people to read your screenplay. It is important to start at a 10,000 foot view and drill into specifics with each step of the screenwriting process. Other loglines from movies are discussed and they create a logline for their movie “Hinterlands”. After nailing this in the first 10 minutes they discuss the screenplay and feature film The Shawshank Redemption.

The key takeaways are the changes in pacing from the written screenplay to what made it into the movie. Much of the deleted content would have distracted from the tone of the movie. Ben and Dan dig into the art of proper foreshadowing and timeline. In 1994 The Shawshank Redemption earned a ton of Academy Award Nominations. It stands the test of time and still holds up. Originally adapted from a Stephen King novella, Frank Derabondt did an amazing job. The Shawshank Redemption is in Ben and Dan’s top ten movies of all time.