A logline and a one-page synopsis. They cost nothing, they take an afternoon, and they are the part of the diagnosis you can do yourself. If a story will not survive one sentence and one page, the notes will only tell you that more expensively.
Document one: the logline
One sentence. Who wants what, what stands in the way, and what it costs them.
Not a tagline, not a mood, not a question. A logline that says “a woman confronts her past” has said nothing — every film ever made is about someone confronting something. The test is whether a stranger who reads your sentence can tell you what happens in the film, and whether they want to see it.
Three things it has to carry:
- A protagonist with a want. Not a feeling, a want — something they would take action to get.
- An obstacle that is not weather. Something that pushes back, ideally something with its own reasons.
- A cost. What it will take from them to win, or what they lose if they do not.
Document two: the one-page synopsis
The whole story on one page, ending included.
A synopsis that hides the ending cannot be diagnosed. It is not a trailer and it is not bait — it is the document that shows whether the story has a spine, and the spine is only visible if you can see where it ends up. Withholding the ending is how a writer hides from the problem rather than from the reader.
A good one tells a producer who the protagonist is at the start of the film, what they believe, what happens to force them to act, what they fight through, and what they end up believing by the close. Two pages, three positions, one emotional spine — and if it fits on one page, better.
Why these two, and in this order
They are the cheapest test of whether the next draft will work. The synopsis is short, so fixing it is quick; and when the synopsis works, you have the outline for the next draft. When it does not work, the script will not work either, and you have found that out in an afternoon instead of in three months.
Bring them with your script
Send your own versions along with the screenplay whatever service you book. Karel writes a logline and a step outline for your script regardless — those two are included every time — and if you send yours as well, you get his notes on those too, at no extra cost. Comparing the two versions is often the fastest way to see what the script is actually about.