A rigid and rational psychiatrist finds herself questioning her beliefs when a potentially dangerous man is brought into a mental institution claiming he was abducted by extraterrestrials. Under the guidance of her unconventional supervisor, the young, inexperienced psychiatrist must decide if the patient will be involuntarily hospitalized or if he is telling the truth.

Hi NatureBucket,

Personally I find more scope to this if the psychiatrist is the protag -- it lends itself to a more compelling ride if we are forced to question whether or not this guy is telling the truth or not... we'd get that from the psychiatrist's POV -- just imo...

Also, the purpose of a logline should be to describe, as succinctly as possible, the main ACTION of the film... as dpg mentioned, what you need to focus on is what your protag actually does as a result of a decision --this prompts action, which is what readers want to see in a logline, and what paying audiences want to see in a cinema.

I can't see any real stakes here atm either, as, if the Dr has no pre-existing belief in extraterrestrials, or any valid proof from the patient (or any emotional influence, like the 'L' word...) then I can't really see a dilemma -- She's 'rigid and rational', and would simply be doing her job (duty) by committing him. If any of these elements existed in the logline (i.e. she begins to investigate his claims of the abduction and comes across some clues that convince her he may well be telling the truth/ she falls in love with him/ has witnessed some kind of unexplained alien type sighting in her own past etc etc etc...) then I think the logine/ story would have potential.

My examples below are probably not what you have in mind story-wise, but just to show a potential couple of angles etc...

'After falling for her seemingly delusional patient, an ?ber rational psychiatrist helps to break him out of a high security hospital in order to rendezvous with aliens that he claims had previously abducted him.'

or

(obviously a tad long...) 'After discovering her violent patient is telling the truth about his family being abducted by aliens, a highly strung psychiatrist breaks him out of a high security hospital in order to rendezvous with the aliens before he is committed for life.'

Anyway -- best of luck -- does have potential and has hints of Terminator 2/ Close Encounters/ and even Bram Stokers Dracula (well -- the stuff that deals with the mental patient etc...;))

>>>but maybe I need to make that sound more interesting?

I would have to yes.

You're (later) rewritten logline, by focusing on the patient, seems to make him the protagonist. Now I'm confused. Who is the protagonist, the patient or the psychiatrist?

Also, getting involuntarily committed seems to be small potato stakes, and rather benign, in comparison to the infinitely bigger stakes and threat if the patient happens to be right.

What's your genre, a psychodrama about psychiatrist is in jeopardy of succumbing to her patient's paranoid delusion, a folie ? deux? Or a sci-fi movie about an encounter with extraterrestials?

He was only violent because he was left out in the middle of nowhere, with no clothes, after he was abducted and was forced to break into a house and defend himself from the scared homeowners who thought he was deranged. I'll have to research this, but I think if someone does something illegal because they were put in a life threatening situation by someone or something else, the charges would be dropped.

It's better.

But if he's commited it would be because he's voilent and considered a danger to people, and being right about the abduction wouldn't get him off, because he was still voilent and, unless I'm mistaken, would remain commited until he was no longer considered a danger to himself or others.

It could, but only indirectly. I think that if you go that route, then it would be her career and/or reputation that is at stake if she makes the wrong call.

I've rewritten the log line based on both of your notes. What do you think of this version?

Arrested for breaking into a house naked and assaulting the occupants, a mental patient has 72 hours to convince two psychiatrists that he was abducted by aliens or he will be involuntarily committed.