The Power of a One-Liner

Why less is more and more is less and that's more or less what I wanna say

This week, I fired off a quick game show idea — just a few lines.

I sent it to a network exec I’ve pitched so many times I could probably recite her rejections by heart. Usually it’s, “Fun, but we can’t sell that now,” or “We’ve already got something like that.

This time, though, she wrote back excitedly and wanted to see more!

One simple logline — as we call it in showbiz — was all it took to pique her interest. Usually, I send her a full one-pager packed with details and overthinking.

Of course, now that she’s actually interested, I have to get my act together and make her one of those.

It got me thinking about how wildly uneven the ROI on ideas can be. You can grind for months developing detailed formats — only to watch them go nowhere.

Or you can string the right sentence together and — BOOM — you’ve got traction.

Sometimes one simple line moves mountains. Other times… you move mountains and nobody cares.

And if you’ve ever overbuilt an idea — a deck here, a spreadsheet there, maybe even a theme song just in case — you know the feeling. You’ve done everything except find the one sentence that actually gets people excited.

But if you can distill it down to one irresistible line, you might just be onto something.

As a comedy writer, I’ve always loved one-liners. They’re the stand-up version of loglines: small, sharp, and punchy.

Here are some one-liners I’ve written over the years:

If you can make a difference in just one person’s life… that’s really not enough.

I’m not a great delegator… so I usually ask someone to do it for me.

If you’re voted Class Clown at clown college, does that make you valedictorian too?

Both comedy and creativity reward the same skill — saying more with less.

While we’re talking one-liners, I’ve got to share a clip from one of my all-time favorites, the late Mitch Hedberg — a master of getting big laughs with few words.

And the power of one-liners goes way beyond comedy. The best ideas don’t start with decks or data — they start with a sentence.

Steve Jobs said, “1,000 songs in your pocket.”
George Lucas said, “A space opera about good vs. evil.”
And someone said this masterpiece of clarity: “Snakes on a Plane.”

That’s it — four words. You know the plot, tone, and emotional journey. You can practically hear Samuel L. Jackson yelling it.

That’s the magic of a great logline or title: it’s clear, visual, and alive.

If your one line makes people feel something — curiosity, excitement, laughter — you’re already halfway to yes.

HomePlay

Don’t add more — take away.

This week, take one project that feels stuck and distill it down to a single sentence — or as few words as possible.

Does it make you excited? More importantly, does it make other people excited?

Can you remember what lit you up about this idea in the first place?

And if you need inspiration, just remember:
you don’t need four pages to make people care.

You might just need four words — like Snakes. On. A. Plane.

So find your one-liner. Who knows, it might open doors you didn’t even know were there.

And if not — hey, at least now you can fit your whole pitch on a T-shirt.

Cheers to your creativity,
Gil

P.S. Wanna connect about a TV or film project?
Need a speaker or comedian for your next big event?
Got any good one-liners to share?

Hit me up at gil@gilrief.com or visit gilrief.com.