I’ve been thinking a lot about my mission with this community. At its core, I want to help you write visceral, primal characters — people with real human needs, real internal fractures, and stories that hit the audience in the gut. But before we dive into wounds, meaning, and transformation, every writer needs one simple tool to ground the work: The logline. This is where the path from good scripts to holy shit scripts start. Most people think of a logline as something you need at the END of the process, for a pitch. But a precise logline can be invaluable during the writing. And while I’ll critique the formulaic nature of Save The Cat now and then, STC has a pretty clean definition of a logline. We’ll go deeper in future posts, but let’s steelman this one first. According to Save the Cat, a strong logline needs four things: 1. A clear protagonist 2. A clear goal 3. A clear obstacle or antagonist 4. The irony — the hook That last piece is the part most writers skip — and it’s the reason many loglines fall flat. Example: Groundhog Day Protagonist: Phil Connors (cynical weatherman) Goal: Escape the time loop Obstacle: Himself — his selfishness keeps him in prison Irony: A man who never appreciates the moment is forced to relive the same one forever Logline: “A man who can’t appreciate the moment is forced to live the same day over and over until he learns that meaning isn’t found in the next thing, but in showing up fully for what’s right in front of him.” Three More Famous Examples 1. Toy Story 2 Protagonist: Woody Goal: Get back to Andy Obstacle: A collector who offers eternal preservation in a museum Irony: To return home, he must choose a love that will eventually break his heart Logline: “A cowboy doll must escape a toy collector and return to his owner, even though it means choosing a love he knows will one day leave him behind.” 2. Signs Protagonist: A grieving former priest Goal: Protect his children Obstacle: A global alien invasion

1. Tomorrow — Phil Stark Live on Zoom Thursday @ 10am PST Phil Stark joins us — writer of Dude, Where’s My Car?, That 70’s Show, South Park, and now a therapist working with creatives. It’s rare to find someone who understands both the craft AND the mental load of this work. If you’ve ever felt the psychological whiplash of writing, pitching, or rewriting, this is your room. Bring questions. I’m carving out a long Q&A for him. 2. Enrollment Open — The Emotional Authorship Intensive The system behind turning “good” scripts into “holy shit” scripts. If you saw my recent TikTok rant — Good Scripts vs Holy Shit Scripts — you know how strongly I feel about this. Writers aren’t struggling because they “don’t know structure.” They’re struggling because they’ve been fed pablum by technocrats who’ve never lived the writing life. In that TikTok, I laid out exactly what I’ll teach next week: Scripts don’t come alive because you hit beats. They come alive because your characters carry visceral emotional truth. That’s the gap between “This is well written” and “Holy shit, you have to read this.” Most writers never cross that gap — which is why I built this Intensive. You’ll learn the system behind every major rewrite I’ve done (Shrek 2, The Smurfs, Rugrats, Jimmy Neutron, Disenchanted): • The Wound • The Lie • The Healing And how those three elements make your plot inevitable. Three sessions. Live coaching. Case studies. Plus a 1:1 treatment review for Founding Members. 👉 Enrollment: $397 -- this price won't return Go to Classroom: Click Emotional Authorship Intensive to join. Why these two events go together Phil will speak to the mental side of writing — the part that quietly sabotages drafts, ambition, confidence, and momentum. The side that tries to protect us, yet keeps us from really leaning into our inner voice. Unless we learn how to work with it. The Intensive is about the emotional craft — the engine that makes a story hit with inevitability and force. The Intensive will force you to really lean into that voice, so your characters take on deep vulnerable human dimensions, even if they're giant green ogres or stuffed toys with secret lives in the room of a boy named, Andy.

Join us this Tuesday to get clarity on your story or just hang and have a cup of joe and shoot the 💩 w your fellow scribes!

I couldn't resist myself. The thread I posted earlier from Reddit is exactly everything wrong with writing instruction today, and why I created this community. Check this out and comment here and on TikTok if this rings a bell with you and why you're here! My entire philosophy of teaching in one rant: Good Scripts vs Holy Shit Scripts In fact, this is exactly why I'm teaching the Emotional Authorship Intensive next week! If you haven't signed up for that yet, there's still room. Check it out and let's take your work to the next level! Here's the thread describing that seminar in detail.

This Reddit post could literally be an ad for my message in this community! Read this and drop your thoughts below!