I’m in Los Angeles for a couple of weeks and something I’m reminded of is the importance of tag lines in the movie promotion biz. On the billboards advertising upcoming movies these little catchy soundbites or slogans seem as important as the movie title itself. They personify the plot and the mood of the film. Not easy to do! More and more often you’ll find these slogans on a book jacket. Sometimes the best ones are more memorable than the title of the book or film itself.
Since I’m in Hollyland I dug through for some classic tag lines to share with you:
The one I remember best is from Love Story: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Here are some others:
“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.” Jaws 2
“In space no one can hear you scream.” Alien
“Houston, we have a problem.” Apollo 13
“It’s 4 A.M. – do you know where your car is?” Repo Man
“One Man’s Struggle To Take It Easy.” Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
“They’ve saved the best trip for last…But this time they may have gone too far.” Back to the Future III
“Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.” Army of Darkness
“What if someone you never met, someone you never saw, someone you never knew was the only someone for you?” Sleepless in Seattle
Choose a story you’ve written and come up with several tag lines. This exercise is a good one for us writers, who tend to get so caught up in the characters and story that we find it hard to summarize. But it’s excellent practice, really important if you’re trying to pitch to an author or editor, and it also helps you to know the spine of your story. You don’t have to be catchy or funny for this practice to be successful, by the way. Have fun with this: don’t agonize.
Read your phrases out loud to a friend and ask them what they think your story is about.