Screenwriting : Logline Spelling Error by Carlv Coleman

I seriously doubt it but I would fix it as soon as I discovered it.

Eh, maybe/maybe not.

I say YES! It can make a person think the script may be riddled with them.

It happens if it was already sent nothing you can do about it and no use in worrying or beating yourself up.

Absolutely. Simple spelling errors reflect badly on the writer, biasing readers against anything that follows.

Oh yeah

Try not to, but if the idea is good who cares, right? However, if the writer is not careful on "the only sentence that will probably be ever be read", well... That is as far as you get - as in, they assume you don't know how to write, you are sloppy, you didn't care enough to proof read it, and other preconceived notions they have. Why? Because 99.9999% of all screenplays are garbage, if not garbage, they are just a derivative work of some existing work. Yeah, hurdles :)

I like putting these questions in a different context and see if the answer is obvious. If my doctor couldn’t give an injection, would it dent my confidence in him?

I was told recently that if your logline doesn't catch them the rest of the screenplay will never have a chance.

Well Marty the reason I asked is because Stage32 support said it wouldn't hurt anything. You see, I couldn't edit the error and I contacted support. So the question wasn't ridiculous after all. By the way, ' Marty', where's your photo?

Victoria is right

Carlv, the issue goes much deeper than an occasional typo. Firstly, your logline is a post script marketing tool - 'most everyone in here has the cart before the horse. Secondly, pay attention who you are pitching to. I produce what I call fait structured, character driven shorts for Actors looking to break into the film industry and I like lite, comedic paranormal scripts. Send me those & we'll talk - darken my door with anything and we won't. A typo or two doesn't matter; I got an Editor and a spell checker. But there are extremes - if you can't read, write or speak any known language, I can't help ya.

I guess that depends who the reader is. But obviously you should aim to avoid errors.

Having read many loglines and several screenplays posted here on Stage32, I have seen many typos, as well as other errors. What I find more distracting than the occasional typo is bad grammar, because that interferes with smooth understanding. I also frequently see words misused, i.e. the writer uses a word that doesn't mean what the writer thinks it means.

I think they might object 40 word logline more...

When I was a paid reader, screenplays arrived by messengers and nothing else. Never read loglines attached to scripts. I’d guess 95% submissions were typo-free. The 5% typo crowd were by famous writer-directors and nobody dared to give them a “typo” note. Not even their own reps fixed.

I know all my screenplays contain some typos, misspelled words and some shitty grammar. If a producer passes on a script because of those things they are pretty stupid.

Dan, if you don't care enough about your scripts to make sure they are typo free, I hate to say it but that may mean you are pretty --- No offense

I have Final Draft 11. I love the program because it formats 99% of the screenplay correctly. The other 1% of the time it doesn't "CONT'D" or type "MORE" to character dialogue all the time, and several times it will make the characters in bold print. The bold characters happen when I save in PDF. So I will never be able to present a perfect screenplay to the industry!

I'm an English teacher, so for me ALL typos are abhorrent. I mean, I make errors all the time, but I always to try to cover myself so i can put my best foot forward.

Doreene. I didn’t say I didn’t care. I just said you’d find some. It is pretty hard to find every single one. A script doesn’t have to be perfect so I don’t lose any sleep over stuff like that.

Carlv. Final Draft should not do that. You might try reloading the software.

Doreene - try not to get anal over a typo or two. We all try hard to avoid 'em but those little suckers sneak in ever now & again.

Carl - what you're saying sounds more like 'operator error' to me.

I'm serious. When I save final draft to PDF, 2 or 3 words are boldface, and 2 or 3 page numbers too.

Carlv Coleman. That shouldn't be happening. Call technical support and they should tell you how to fix that problem.