As Nazi forces ready a counterattack after the first wave of the Warsaw Uprising, a scrappy Polish courier must cross the occupied city with three boy-scouts turned soldiers to recruit their battalion for a dangerous mission — liberate a concentration camp before the SS can kill its inmates.

BTW: assuming that in real space and time, it was a just a troop of Polish boys, I don't think it mandatory to designate a main character in the logline. It could be an ensemble story. (Unless there was an alpha character, a prime mover who was responsible for galvanizing the group and lead the liberation attempt.)

A high concept story sells itself without needing to slavishly adhere to all the usual rules for constructing a logline.

Wanted to add also that I agree that the liberation of a concentration camp would be far higher ambition than aiding a ghetto uprising. Higher stakes and originality do make this a high concept.

Good point about the notion of a single plot this also strongly relates to Aristotle's argument for a unity of action of a plot in the Poetics.

That's why I didn't specify a concentration camp rather only mentioned the Warsaw uprising in my suggestion.

Wanted to add also that I agree that the liberation of a concentration camp would be far higher ambition than aiding a ghetto uprising. Higher stakes and originality do make this a high concept.

I think Aristotle's dictum in the "Poetics" of one plot in the forefront per drama is still good advice. So the plot should either about the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto or the boy scouts' attempt to liberate a concentration camp. Not both. (Although the Warsaw ghetto can be a background event.)

Since the history of the Warsaw ghetto is familiar (to anyone familiar with the Holocaust) and has already been the subject of many books and dramas, but the liberation of a concentration camp by boy scouts probably isn't, the strongest selling point of the concept is what is new, unfamiliar. Boy scouts trying to liberate a concentration camp is high concept.

Interestingly enough I found the idea of a David and Goliath story in the Warsaw uprising, fact or fiction, enough to raise interest. I would dare say that specifying whether its based on a true story or not is unrelated to the logline.

A good story structure doesn't need the elaboration of its origin for it to be interesting, this is better kept for a pitch or treatment. I found when pitching a story I'm working on that after I told people the logline they were intrigued to know more and only then I told them it was based on real events the effect was far greater than telling this during the logline.

However DPG's version of the logline reads very well in it's brevity and gives a good idea of the action in the story and uses known facts to its advantage. I think that the subject matter inherently has high stakes and a publicly known body of knowledge therefor best to rely on the built in knowledge base of the reader for economy's sake in the logline.

Readying a counter attack is less a decisive and clear an event, in the mind of the reader, that could spur a story than say someone overhearing an order for the SS to counter attack or seeing a mobilization of force to the Ghetto's entrance.
I am actually working with an individual at the moment who's father escaped the very Ghetto you are writing about. One of the problems they had after the uprising was not knowing definitively when or where the counter attacks were going to take place.

Perhaps the courier could intercept a message specifying the SS attack and then he decides to take action.

Had a stab at it myself:
After a scrappy Polish courier learns of an SS plan of attack, he must cross Warsaw with three boy-scouts turned soldiers to inform the Ghetto rebellion before the SS can kill all the inmates.

Hope this helps.

>>what difference it makes specifying which concentration camp they liberate?

While it may not be absolutely necessary for the logline, if it actually happened, your going to have to name a camp in the script. So I'm curious.

If a group of boy scouts actually tried to liberate a concentrate camp, that's the material for a compelling story. Dare I say a high concept story, one that sells itself with little need for elaboration or explanation. So:

Based on true events, in the final days of World War 2, a young Jew rallies a Polish boy scout troop to liberate a concentration camp.

or perhaps...

Based on true events, in the final days of World War 2, a young Jew rallies a Polish boy scout troop to liberate the concentration camp to which his family has been sent.

I suggest prefixing the logline with "based on true events" to signal you're not just making it up whole cloth. Once again, as with so many other Holocaust stories, truth is stranger than fiction.

Although, of course, as with many other Holocaust films, creative liberties may be taken. But not too many: if the scouts weren't rallied and led by a Jew from the ghetto, I wouldn't gild the lily. It's good enough of a story that some young Poles had the courage and conviction to do the right thing. (In contrast to the many Poles -- not all, but too many -- who did nothing or aided and abetted the persecution of the Jews).

fwiw.

I appreciate you looking this over!

A (relatively) minor concentration camp was in fact liberated by a battalion of former boy scouts in the early days of the Warsaw Uprising. There aren't very many sources about the people who actually did it. The courier and the three soldiers are my inventions, but they have historical analogues.

If I may, I am curious what difference it makes specifying which concentration camp they liberate. Could you elaborate on the importance of that for the purposes of a logline?

Is it based on real people, 4 boys from Warsaw, who really tried to liberate a concentration camp in the closing days of World War II? And if so, which one?