A synopsis review from Circalit.

I didn’t know what to send in,  and only had a very short synopsis from TSK, so  I used that or I would have lost the review.

Here is what was said on the short synopsis of…..

For many years since their arrival on Earth, the Aonise have forged a tense peace treaty with humanity, living in the ghettos of their city as rival clans. Yet when a terrorist’s virus designed to eliminate them spreads to humans instead, Taliri, the son of the last Aonise king, is forced out of hiding to end the crisis. He must now unite his fractured people and try to prevent an all-out war.

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Logline

This log line neatly summarises the central premise of the script, as well as introducing the reader to the wider implications of Taliri’s battle. Although this would be suitable to use for script reports which need to succinctly summarise the series (perhaps when a company have already read the project and it is being sent onto other collaborators/executives) it does not sell the project. It is fairly routine and does not indicate to the reader that there is anything to make this script stand out from others of the same genre. I would also advise that the central character, Taliri, is mentioned and there is a comment on the cohabitation of humans and Aonise on planet Earth.

Synopsis

Obviously this is a much shorter summary than would normally be expected on a full script report. Taking the time to properly summarise the script would be a worth-while task as a well-executed synopsis can be instrumental in promoting a project. It will be important that the writer puts his voice into this, and that the reader is able to gain some insight into his writing style, as well as his ability to articulately summarise the project giving them a good understanding of the plot and inspiring to read it in its entirety as well as considering the series.

The writer introduces the alien race and their relationship with the humans on planet Earth however it would be worthwhile considering a visual description to help the reader engage with the script. We have no way of knowing what sets the Aonise apart from the humans, how they live, what they look like and this information would go some way to answer some of the other questions regarding their relationship with humanity. Again we are told that the Aonise are living in the ghettos of human civilisation and this instantly demarks them as the inferior race. What would be interesting would be to know how they came to accept this situation and why they are resigned to living on the fringes of society. The conflict between humans and Aonise underpins the entirety of the drama and without some information regarding how this fragile cease-fire came to be the reader is left alienated from the action and fails to engage with the story. In a similar vein it would be worthwhile including some information about the virus that inspires Taliri to reach out to the human community. This catalyst has enormous implications and the reader needs to know what inspires these changes.

In conclusion the writer should consider composing a longer synopsis which would enable the log line to be more of a selling point. The synopsis should echo the style in which the script is written, giving details about the episode and perhaps even information about how the series will progress. The writer may wish to include some form of an episode breakdown, an indication to series length and over riding story-arcs. He should also consider including some form of character description, both physically and mentally, in order to engage the reader.

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It was still really helpful.

D