THE GREAT AFW LOGLINE COMPETITION!
The Great AFW Logline Competition IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you to everyone who entered. Stay tuned for the October 30 announcement of the winners!
The Great AFW Logline Competition Yay!
WHAT YOU SUBMIT: YOUR BEST EVER STRONGEST LOGLINE!
COMPETITION OPENS: October 15 2023
COMPETITION DEADLINE: October 25 2023 (midnight ET) or at 100 entries, whichever comes first.
SUBMISSION LIMITS: ONE LOGLINE PER ENTRANT. (Seriously, no lists, pick your best, you’ll be disqualified and kicked to the curb in seconds if you try to double up there.)
WHAT YOU WIN: The top five logline entries win participation in The Logline Lab November 4, 2023 with author & award winning screenwriter Max Adams.
SUBMISSION FEE: free ||
SUBMIT YOUR LOGLINE!
LOGLINE COMPETITION ENTRY
THE RULES:
1. One entry per participant.
2. You understand that submitting to the AFW competition means you will be added to the newsletter — that’s how we announce the winners, it behooves you to be on that mailing list and you can dodge out any time so buck up.
3. We do not provide or promise notes, review or feedback on competition entries. The end.
4. The deadline for the competition is October 30th, 11:59 PM ET — or when we reach 100 competition entries, whichever comes first.
5. Final judging is up to Max Adams, no ifs ands or buts. Also, getting rude with Max is an automatic disqualification. But you wouldn’t do that. You are a delight. Yay!
6. You understand entry into The Great AFW Logline Competition grants AFW the right to post your name and logine on social media and in the AFW newsletter promoting winners and winning loglines and concepts.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q: Why is it free?
A: It’s a logline, we’d feel predatory asking for cash to read a logline — if we get snowed under with bad loglines we may change our minds though.
Q: What do I win?
A: The top five logline competition winners get free admision to a two hour Zoom logline lab with Author & Screenwriter Max Adams.
Q: What if I don’t win?
A: Well that sucks, but you get a $10 discount on 2023 AFW labs so you are not entirely robbed. Yay!
Q: What if I win and can’t make the November logline lab?
A: If you can’t make the November lab, we have a December lab. If you can’t make either, we’ll talk, though what we talk about may be about your priorities.
Q: Do you give feedback on the submitted competition loglines?
A: No, sorry. We can’t provide feedback on every logline submitted to the competition.
Q: When are winners announced?
A: October 30!
Q: How are we notified?
A: Winners are announced on site at https://theafw.com and in the AFW Newsletter.
Q: What if I’m not signed up for the AFW Newsletter?
A: You will be if you submit a logline to this competition. You can unsubscribe any time though.
Q: Who’s judging the competion?
A: Author and Award Winning Screenwriter Max Adams and people Max thinks know what they are doing.
Q: Aren’t you just looking for loglines to steal?
A: Um. No. We have great ideas of our own. If we think you have great ideas, we will tell you so though.
Q: Any pointers?
A: Yes. Lead with title and genre. Differentiate between feature and pilot — or short. Make the protagonist the subject. And avoid “mystery.” Nobody with a pile of 50 scripts to read is going to ask for a script to find out what the “dark family secret” is. Spell that out.
Q: Why are you doing this? What’s in it for you?
A: We sleep better at night knowing there are fewer terrible loglines in the world.
Q: What if I don’t win? What’s in it for me?
A: A $10 discount on the November/December logline labs. Yay! And, if you take the logline lab? Logline skills! Yay!
Q: What if I don’t want to enter the competition, what if I just want to take the Logline Lab?
A: Sign up for the lab!
Q: What if I don’t want to enter the competition, what if I just want to take the Logline Lab and ALSO get the entry ten bucks off discount?
A: Sorry you are out of luck. Only people who submit get the discount. Crazy person! Submit! Or, you know, send an enqiry through the submittal portal. That could work too…
Just want to learn more about The Logline Lab?
THE LOGLINE LAB:
A Two Hour Lab with Screenwriter Max Adams:
LAB SUBJECT: The Logline
LAB DATES: 11.04.23 || 12.02.23
LAB TIME: 7 PM EST
LAB FEE: $59.00 ||
LAB LOCATION: The is an online Zoom lab
Schedule:
FIRST HOUR: 45 Minute Lecture & Presentation from Max Adams & 15 Minute Break
SECOND HOUR: Analysis & Review of Example Loglines & Attendee’s Pre-Submitted Loglines
*Optional Half Hour Q&A with Max Adams to Follow
AFTER REGISTRATION —
You will receive your Zoom dits in email the day prior to your zoom lab date. Please white list theafw.com email to make sure you receive your confirmation email and lab dits — and please try to register a day in advance. We do not want to be flinging email back and forth an hour before the lab starts and will not be accepting new registrations in the hour immediately preceding the lab and mid-presentation.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE —
Max to include your logline with logline examples we work with in the lab, please pre-submit your logline to contact@theafw.com with the subject line “Lab Logline” — you must be registered with the lab to submit & we can’t include all submitted loglines but we will try.
WE WILL BE COVERING:
- The five core building blocks of a logline that must be included to impart concept to industry professionals
- The two logline concept models: plot driven concepts & situation driven concepts
- Additional building blocks — and when & why to use them
- Why metaphor is not your logline’s friend
- Why adjectives are not your logline’s friend
- Language that supports tone & concept
- Burying the lead — don’t!
- Bringing genre home
- Using title for impact
- Mental real estate & how to use it
- Location specifics & how to use them
- Time period specifics & how to use them
- Big ticket story elements
- And more —
YOU WILL TAKE AWAY:
- An understanding of the core elements every industry professional being pitched must get in a logline in order to consider and/or champion a story and concept — and the knowledge needed to put those pieces together for the fast pitch, the long pitch, and the query pitch when reaching out to and pitching industry professionals.
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Ratings and Reviews
Louis Bernstein
Your Logline, that one paragraph that presents your script to the movie and TV industries, is often the most important part of your pitch. Without a good Logline, your amazing screenplay or pilot may just be gathering dust. In this course, Max presents the essential elements of an effective logline, and demonstrates how to fine tune your logline to create the most bang for the buck.
Basil Jaber
Valuable information is provided that will benefit you greatly if you hope to one day catch the attention of agents/managers. Queries all begin with the logline and Max will help dissect yours to guide you in the right direction. (Note: if you’re going into the class with your own logline, the more you know about your story the better Max can help you craft it)
One person found this helpful.
Kevin Scott Murphy
Loved the deliberate and very focused tenor of the workshop...no fluff, all business as this is the single most important thing you can learn to do right out of the box that is directly related to the initial selling of your script concept to a producer, director, and an actor.
One person found this helpful.
Tara Zucker
What a great workshop! I left with a solid understanding of what to include, and how to tailor a logline depending on what kind of story it is. As a bonus, I learned how to think about expanding to a longer pitch, and what elements to include depending on who I would be pitching to. Amazing!
One person found this helpful.
Marjorie McRae
Max is an industry professional and a great teacher, her knowledge, experience, and passion for writing is evident. This class is essential to the craft of writing and Max is the one to learn from; she goes over the building blocks of a logline and works one on one with submitted work.
One person found this helpful.
Chad Mellor
Everyone with a dream of breaking into the industry needs to take this lab. Distilling the entirety of a story into a single sentence is very difficult, but Max not only takes the time to thoroughly workshop a logline for your current project in the lab, but she also gives you the tools needed to get there yourself on future project once the lab is over. There's no one better than Max.
2 people found this helpful.
patricia burroughs
Max's Logline Lab was just what I needed to get a handle on what I've been doing wrong. Like I said above, fabulous!
2 people found this helpful.
Leah A Baxter
I’m so glad I decided to take this workshop! Max knows the industry and explained how to craft a clear and compelling logline, which is critical to getting read. I highly recommend this workshop!
3 people found this helpful.
Ally May
2 people found this helpful.
Jade Shine
Different stories need different types of loglines and Max makes it simple to grasp and implement. Her class moves at a great pace and she gives individual attention to help you elevate your loglines to where they need to be to attract the attention of producers, directors, and talent.
4 people found this helpful.
Mary Albanese
I have done logline workshops and sessions with other people, but Max's logline lab is the best, full stop. If you want your loglines clean and clear, insightful and informative, taking her logline lab will be time very well-spent.
4 people found this helpful.
Ana Maria Montoya
I needed this workshop--as a working, repped screenwriter. Listen, writing a LOGLINE isn't like writing a pilot or screenplay. It utilizes different skills. (You're a SCREENwriter, not a LOGLINEwriter, I'm assuming.) I love how Max breaks down how to write a juicy logline that entices someone to read your script. Make this investment in your career as a gift to yourself and your dreams!
4 people found this helpful.
Jason Wallach
I enrolled as the effective formation of powerful and effective loglines was elusive. In the course of the workshop, I had submitted loglines for 3 different screenplays and received significant clarity and adaptation of effective new loglines. Very helpful.
4 people found this helpful.
Maegan Langer
Loglines intimidated me before I took Max's lab. Boiling a hundred or so pages of story down to a single sentence is harder than it looks. Max taught me how to pick out the most important elements and put them together in a way that's clear, concise, and attention-grabbing. This lab gave me the tools to write compelling loglines for any project. Highly recommended!
4 people found this helpful.
Joan Philo
I learned a ton structuring a solid hitting logline from Max. My loglines will never be the same. I walked away with "mental real estate" giddiness and couldn't wait to change another logline I had with an instantly recognizable place/object/personality. Max sizzles!
2 people found this helpful.
Your Instructor
MAX ADAMS is an author and award winning screenwriter. She has written for Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures — and a couple others to remain unnamed because no one around here wants to get black listed.
Max is a former volunteer AFI Alumni reader and WGAw online mentor, has appeared as a speaker at, among other places, AMPAS, USC, and Film Arts Foundation, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of Utah and a former lecturer & instructor at New York Film Academy, is the author of The Screenwriter’s Survival Guide AND The New Screenwriter’s Survival Guide, is the founder of two international online screenwriting workshops and has the dubious distinction of having been dubbed “Red Hot Adams” by Daily Variety for selling three pitches over a holiday weekend — which made her agents cry.
[In a good way.]
She answers now to both “Max” and “Red Hot” in crowds and dog parks.
Testimonials
CK LOVE
SCREENWRITER
I believe BLOOD IN THE BONE, my feature Femmenoir, would never have been selected by the Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards if I didn't have the brains and support of the AFW screenwriting support group and wisdom of our fearless leader Max Adams.
Tonia Kempler
Writer/Director
Thank you. You have completely given me confidence and skills I didn’t have before. Couldn’t have done this without taking your classes.
Alvaro Rodriguez
Screenwriter
Max Adams is the kind of smart, engaging teacher that made me want to be a better writer — and she helped me do it.
Kerry Valderamma
Writer/Director
Max Adams is one of the most knowledgeable and talented people in screenwriting that I know, all writers need to hear what Max Adams has to say.
Debi Yazbeck
Writer/Director
You laid the foundation, Max. Best teacher ever!
Ana Maria Montoya
Screenwriter
If you want someone to challenge you to dive deep and pull the BEST out of yourself, Max is that whip-smart coach, teacher, and mentor.
Toni McGee Causey
Author
The brilliance of taking Max Adams’ classes is you start seeing improvement in your writing almost immediately.
Julie Howe
Author/Screenwriter
I’ve taken all of Max’s classes and quite simply, her focused methods and attention to detail blow every other screenwriting class out of the water.
Jennifer Mulligan
Screenwriter
Max Adams has been a keen mentor, champion and cheerleader. Her online classes have provided me with very specific and important screenwriting tools. My short script, Minerva’s War, was a 2014 Finalist at the Lady Filmmakers Film Festival in Beverly Hills as a direct result of learning and applying these techniques.
Tony Ferrendelli
Screenwriter
Max Adams has helped to completely transform the way I write scripts. Placement of several scripts in multiple competitions is a direct result of the skills I have developed through participation in Max’s classes and workshop.
Al Finocchio
Screenwriter
Max is as smart, tough, and entertaining as she sounds in her book. It’s hard to imagine a better mentor.
Patricia Burroughs
Author/Screenwriter
The input I got from Max Adams lifted my script, ‘Redemption,’ from a SemiFinalist to a Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting award winner.
Della Vance Greenawalt
Screenwriter
Max Adams’ classes are the best I have ever taken. In every class I have experienced a “light bulb” moment that raised my scripts to another level.
Gwenda Bond
Author/Screenwriter
Max’s workshop was a transformative experience for me as a young writer.
Nancy Bilyeau
Author/Screenwriter
I carried Max’s advice over to my fiction and have now sold & published five novels.
Joan Philo
Screenwriter
It’s so big what you are to screenwriting and what you give to others and how you collect and champion writers who do more than write, they produce. That’s huge in this business of writing and what sets you above the rest.
Peter Andrews
Screenwriter/Playwright
If you want to take the next step in your writing, Max makes the difference. She’s hands-on in classes that balance essential skills with insights you won’t get anywhere else.
Stacy Baker Masand
Screenwriter
You know that saying, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know?’ That was my experience before taking classes at The Academy of Film Writing. Hands down, my writing transformed more after taking Max’s courses than any other time period or curriculum.
Dan Goforth
Screenwriter
For a screenwriter, Max Adams’ 5150 Workshop is one of the best things you can do to improve yourself and your work. If you’re lucky enough to catch an open spot, TAKE IT!!!
Kristen McNaule
Writer/Director
AFW’s 5150 workshop has given an incredible boost to my writing, thanks to the guidance of Max Adams.
Max Adams' logline session was like catching a shooting star in a cosmic comedy show. His wisdom twinkled like constellations, and by the end, I felt like the universe's favorite punchline. If life is a script, Max Adams is the director you want, guiding you with a wink and a galaxy of insight."scfi and horror catchy and great advice from a real pro