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AN ENTIRELY IMPOSSIBLE ROLLERCOASTER
By Liron Vardi
A storm crash-lands a by-the-book U.S. Marshal in the Rockies with the rogue MI6 assassin in his custody. She’s dangerous, volatile, impossible - and his only shot at survival, if they can survive each other first.
SYNOPSIS:
Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Hansson’s first day off in years doesn’t last past sunrise. One call from his boss Jackie yanks him out of bed and saddles him with a time-sensitive assignment: escort Angel Green, a notorious British assassin fresh from heart surgery in Seattle, back to ADX Supermax. What could possibly go wrong?
He’s a by-the-book, kind-hearted, OCD-prone city boy; she’s the perfectly wrong match: impossibly calm, unsettlingly brilliant, and dangerously curious about her new toy.
Fate’s twisted sense of humor makes the already tense flight catastrophic. A storm reroutes their jet. A bird strike finishes the job: crash-landing them into the Montana Rockies, killing everyone onboard, except Brian and Angel. With no comms, no cavalry, survival becomes a power struggle: where to go, what to eat, who holds control. He keeps her chained. She starts unlocking him in other ways.
The Rockies are brutal. Hunger, wolves, falling trees, bottomless cliffs, and subzero nights threaten to wipe them out. But their real obstacle is the clash between them. Slowly, unwillingly, they begin to need each other: a flask of whiskey leads to the first real conversation either of them has had in years; buried secrets surface and crack them open; and an awkward huddle by the fire becomes a fragile truce. He offers unexpected medical skill and a rare moment of safety for her tortured soul. She teaches survival and keeps him alive with instincts honed on a darker path. The line between captor and captive blurs - into rivals, into allies, into a dangerous trust. Little by little comes the realization that the only way through is with someone you didn’t choose… but maybe needed all along.
When civilization looms, Brian makes an impossible choice: he lets Angel go, risking everything to give her a shot at freedom. She vanishes into the frozen wild, leaving behind her prison notebook - a decade of unspoken thoughts. Back home, Brian is left with silence that refuses to settle… until a mysterious package from Angel arrives - breadcrumbs scattered across continents. Following her trail to the Scottish Highlands, he finds her waiting with the next entirely impossible rollercoaster. The story ends where it truly begins.
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AN ENTIRELY IMPOSSIBLE ROLLERCOASTER sounds interesting and unique, Liron Vardi! It’s like a Suspense Thriller Disaster movie mixed with a Buddy movie. I'd definitely watch this!
I think your logline needs some work. Here’s a logline template that might help: After/when ______ (the inciting incident/event that sets the plot in motion), a _______ (the main flaw the protagonist has to overcome in the script or an adjective that describes the protagonist’s personality) _______ (the protagonist’s job/career/role) tries to/attempts to/fights to/struggles to/strives to/sets out to/fights/battles/engages in/competes/etc. _______ (goal of story and try to add the obstacles here) to/so/in order to ________ (stakes).
The inciting incident can also be at the end of the logline: A _______ (the main flaw the protagonist has to overcome in the script or an adjective that describes the protagonist’s personality) _______ (the protagonist’s job/career/role) tries to/attempts to/fights to/struggles to/strives to/sets out to/fights/battles/engages in/competes/etc. _______ (goal of story and try to add the obstacles here) to/so/in order to ________ (stakes) after/when ______ (the inciting incident/event that sets the plot in motion).
Loglines are one or two sentences. A one-sentence logline sounds better, and it takes less time for a producer, director, etc. to read it. Try to keep your logline to 35 words or less. Long loglines can make producers, directors, etc. pass on a project.
Avoid using “must” in loglines. “Must” usually means the protagonist is forced to do whatever they need to do in the story instead of doing it willingly. You might need to use “must” in a logline though, like when the protagonist is forced by another character to do something. Using “must” to choose between two options is fine.
Names in loglines are usually for biopics, well-known stories, and franchises (like Mission: Impossible).
Sometimes I put the location and date that the story takes place in instead of the inciting incident if it’s a Period Piece script.
All stories don’t follow this logline template. Biopics, documentaries, and Experimental scripts might not follow the template. The series logline for a TV show can follow this template, but the pilot logline and episode loglines for the show might not.
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Hi Maurice - thanks so much for the feedback! I totally get the value of the clean one-sentence format, and I could use something that sounds like this:
"After a storm crash-lands his prisoner transport in the Rockies, a by-the-book U.S. Marshal and the rogue MI6 assassin he was never meant to escort struggle to survive the wilderness — and each other."
But...
The challenge I’m running into is that the story’s dynamic changes completely if readers assume the assassin is a man.
It’s a psychological survival thriller centered on a male U.S. Marshal and a female MI6 assassin - the tension, power shifts, and humor all hinge on that contrast. But using phrases like “female assassin” feels clunky or reductive, and I haven’t found a natural way to signal gender without breaking rhythm or tone.
If you’ve seen elegant solutions for implying gender organically in a logline, I’d love to hear them. That’s really the sticking point for me - keeping it lean and cinematic without losing the relationship dynamic that defines the story.
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You're welcome, Liron Vardi. I think"female MI6 assassin" sounds fine, and I think that's a strong logline.
"After a storm crash-lands his prisoner transport in the Rockies, a by-the-book U.S. Marshal and a female MI6 assassin he was never meant to escort struggle to survive the wilderness — and each other."
I think you could save "rogue" for the synopsis and pitch. You put "prisoner transport" in your logline, so I don't think you need "rogue."
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