Does the logline have to be in a particular format?

No. One or two sentences that say who wants what and what stands in the way. Named characters help; the drafter will use the names you give it.

Can I draft more than one beat sheet from the same logline?

Yes. Each draft costs two credits and replaces the current sheet. Add a director’s note to steer the next draft somewhere different.

What happens to scenes if I redraft?

They stay in your library. The new beats are not linked to them, so relink by reshooting or keep the old scenes for a different flick.

Who owns the film I make from my logline?

You do, under the terms of service. Copyright on generated work depends on the country, so take advice locally for commercial use.

How many beats can a flick have?

Between eight and twelve on the sheet. The drafter writes eight for sixty seconds, ten for two minutes and twelve for three.

Road Movie · 2 minute target

Logline to film, with every step in between

A logline is a promise. A film is the promise kept. Between them are a beat sheet, a cast, a set of scenes and a cut, and Flicks walks that whole chain with you rather than skipping it.

Turn a logline into a beat sheet See public flicks

Salt Flats, a cut in the Road Movie genre. Logline: Two estranged sisters drive their late father’s pickup across the desert to scatter his ashes at a drive-in that closed thirty years ago.

Writing a logline that drafts well

A logline that produces a good beat sheet names a person, a want, an obstacle and a clock. A retiring projectionist (person) wants to lift a reel from the vault (want) before the building is demolished (clock) with an usher who might talk (obstacle). The drafter reads the genre skeleton against that sentence and writes beats that set the want in act one, complicate it in act two and pay it off in act three. A logline with no obstacle produces a beat sheet with no middle, so give it one.

Keep it to a sentence or two. The field holds four hundred characters, which is plenty. If you have a longer treatment, put the extra material in the director’s note, which is sent along with the logline when the sheet is drafted.

Reading and rewriting the beat sheet

The draft comes back as eight to twelve beats, each with a line of action and dialogue, a shot size, a location and the people in it. Read it like a script. If a beat is doing nothing, delete it. If two beats are doing the same thing, merge them by rewriting one and removing the other. If the drafter invented a character, either cast one from the library in that slot or rewrite the beat without them.

The sheet keeps a running total of seconds, including the title and credits cards, so trimming a beat from twelve seconds to eight shows up in the runtime immediately. Nothing on the sheet costs anything to change.

From beat to scene

Shooting a beat sends its line, its shot size and the genre tone to the renderer, along with reference images for the cast, their costumes and props, and the set. The result is a single continuous shot of the seconds you set, in 16:9, with sound. You see the price before you shoot, and the price is the same whether the take comes out well or not, so read the line once more before pressing the button.

A beat remembers its newest take. Reshoot as often as you like; earlier takes stay in your library and can be deleted when you are sure.

From scenes to a film

The cut takes every beat with a finished scene, in sheet order, and packages it between a title card and an end-credits card that lists the cast and your own credit line. It is a 1920 by 1080 file with stereo sound. Add a poster for three credits, a trailer for two, publish the flick and it has a page of its own with everything on it.

Made the same way

Each with the logline or beat that made it

Cut · Heist1:02

The Last Reel

Logline: A retiring projectionist and a nervous usher have one closing night to lift a reel of unreleased footage from the cinema vault before the chain demolishes the building.

Cut · Road Movie1:58

Salt Flats

Logline: Two estranged sisters drive their late father’s pickup across the desert to scatter his ashes at a drive-in that closed thirty years ago.

Cut · Survival1:04

Blue Ice

Logline: A glacier guide separated from her group by a whiteout has one flare, a cracked thermal camera and six hours of daylight to find the orange tent.

Questions

Does the logline have to be in a particular format?: No. One or two sentences that say who wants what and what stands in the way. Named characters help; the drafter will use the names you give it.
Can I draft more than one beat sheet from the same logline?: Yes. Each draft costs two credits and replaces the current sheet. Add a director’s note to steer the next draft somewhere different.
What happens to scenes if I redraft?: They stay in your library. The new beats are not linked to them, so relink by reshooting or keep the old scenes for a different flick.
Who owns the film I make from my logline?: You do, under the terms of service. Copyright on generated work depends on the country, so take advice locally for commercial use.
How many beats can a flick have?: Between eight and twelve on the sheet. The drafter writes eight for sixty seconds, ten for two minutes and twelve for three.

Start with the sample logline, or your own

The studio opens with this logline, genre and runtime filled in. Change anything.

Turn a logline into a beat sheet