Monday, November 8, 2010

Getting an editor's attention in a lift

Imagine yourself stuck in a lift with the editor of your dreams. You don’t want to pitch to her, after all, being confined in close quarters with a writer has got to be every editor’s nightmare.

But you’re clutching your manuscript.
She leans closer, taps it with a long red fingernail, and asks:
“So, what’s it about?”
You got in on floor 4, and when you reach G, the chance is gone.
Have you got a snappy one liner prepared? If not, check out these movie taglines for inspiration. All of them encapsulate the movie that spawned them. See if you can identify the movie from the tagline, and if not, I’ve put the answers in at the bottom. Enjoy!

The Taglines:
1. Love means never having to say you are sorry.

2. The following three are all for the same movie:
Collide with Destiny
A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets
Nothing On Earth Could Come Between Them.

3. For anyone who’s ever been set up, stood up or felt up.

4. The most magnificent picture ever!

5. It’s all about love, actually.

6. Here comes the bribe

7. "What if someone you never met, someone you never saw, someone you never knew was the only someone for you?"

8. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

9. "In space, no one can hear you scream."

10. Sometimes what you’re looking for is right where you left it.

Answers:
1. Love Story, 2.Titanic, 3.Bridget Jones’ Diary, 4. Gone with the Wind, 5. Love Actually, 6. The Proposal, 7. Sleepless in Seattle. 8. Jaws 2, 9. Alien, 10.  Sweet Home Alabama.

10 comments:

Kat said...

man. I love sleepless in Seattle, it's def time to see that again this Christmas. Proper melty!

I've never completely understood the 'love means never having to say you're sorry' strapline. Sometimes I think it means:

you should never hurt the one you love because you love them so much

and other times I think it means:

sorry isn't necessary when you're truly in love, because your love will know you are sorry without needing to voice it

or I could even interpret it as:
actions speak louder than words.

All that said, I still love it as a strapline. :o)

Romy Sommer said...

You are so clever, Sally! I'd never have thought of all these. Forget NaNo word counts, I'm heading off right now to work out the tag line for my WIP.

Maya Blake said...

Oooh, I'm so glad The Proposal made the list! I just LOVE that movie. In fact I love all of them, even though I've never seen GWTW :)

Jackie Ashenden said...

Maya, you've never seen GWTW? Get thee to a video shop. :-) Great post, Sally! I can never think of these things though... maybe I should just try harder.

Lacey Devlin said...

Great post Sally! 1, 3 and 7 are my favorites

Caroline said...

Of course you could *always* (accidentially)lean on the alarm button, thereby stopping the lift. Then you'll have oddles of time to bombard said editor with your precious MS! Caroline ;)

Sally Clements said...

yes there are some good ones in there aren't they? Caroline, my plan is to have such a fantastic logline that the editor presses the button to stop the list - and asks for more! (but that's a whole other blog post!!)

Joanne Coles said...

Ow wow, Sally, I love this post! These taglines are really fab.

But seriously, Maya, you've never seen GWTW??? Where on earth have you been living? I make it your mission to watch this film before the end of the year (you may need a couple of sittings!). Do you accept?

Sarah Duncan said...

Nice taglines. I believe Alien was originally pitched as Jaws in Space. The other one I love is for Artemis Fowl - Die Hard with Fairies.

Maya Blake said...

Jackie & JoC, GWTW is one of those films I keep promising myself I'll watch one day, but have never got round to it, you know? I WILL make it part of my Christmas viewing though, how about that?