Coming up with great titles

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  • Coming up with great titles

    do you have any tricks or extra tips for coming up with cool titles for your projects?

    i find that sometimes i dont actually come up with the title until i'm actually writing the screenplay sometimes.
    One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

    The Fiction Story Room

  • #2
    Re: Coming up with great titles

    titles can entice someone to read your logline/story which is a good thing.
    but in truth the you and/or producers can change the title at any time, even in post production.

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    • #3
      Re: Coming up with great titles

      I've been involved with several threads on this topic over the years. Title is really, really important. It needs to be the equivalent of READ ME NOW!...

      I look for plays on words, relevant nouns, etc that might entice a potential reader to give it a chance. At the same time you want to convey genre if possible. All in less than five words--one if you can.

      One I came up with in another thread that someone may end up using is Hauling Ash.

      Some others from DDers over the years that are pretty good... Six Bullets for Six Bastards and Illegal in 50 States.



      R.O.T.

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      • #4
        Re: Coming up with great titles

        Originally posted by RogerOThornhill View Post
        I've been involved with several threads on this topic over the years. Title is really, really important. It needs to be the equivalent of READ ME NOW!...

        I look for plays on words, relevant nouns, etc that might entice a potential reader to give it a chance. At the same time you want to convey genre if possible. All in less than five words--one if you can.

        One I came up with in another thread that someone may end up using is Hauling Ash.

        Some others from DDers over the years that are pretty good... Six Bullets for Six Bastards and Illegal in 50 States.



        R.O.T.
        Agreed, the screenplay is what gets them to make the movie and the logline is what gets them to request the screenplay and the title is what gets them to open the email to read the logline.

        So, the title is extremely important and if unrepped it is as important as the logline and screenplay.

        The title is the logline

        Last night in San Pedro

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        • #5
          Re: Coming up with great titles

          I love thinking of titles, I assume most writers do. If it doesn't come naturally, sometimes the only tip is to ask around.

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          • #6
            Re: Coming up with great titles

            Originally posted by Bono View Post
            I love thinking of titles, I assume most writers do. If it doesn't come naturally, sometimes the only tip is to ask around.
            Ouija Board. Works every time.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Coming up with great titles

              Terry Rossio once wrote a great article about the importance of "mental real estate" (link below) in your stories. Basically, having a recognizable person, place, thing, situation, etc. in your script is essential.

              I feel the same way about titles. No matter how clever it may be, it should still somehow tap into our mental real estate.

              http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp...al.Estate.html

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              • #8
                Re: Coming up with great titles

                I suck at titles. If I'd been the person creating this thread, it'd probably be called How to Make Really Good Names for Scripts.
                "Only nothing is impossible."
                - Grant Morrison

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                • #9
                  Re: Coming up with great titles

                  yea i agree with everything that's being said. i have the story concept in my head but have been racking my brain for the past 2 days trying to come up with a cool title.
                  One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

                  The Fiction Story Room

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Coming up with great titles

                    Originally posted by Juno Styles View Post
                    yea i agree with everything that's being said. i have the story concept in my head but have been racking my brain for the past 2 days trying to come up with a cool title.
                    You could post it in the story development forum or logline forum and ask for title help

                    Last night in San Pedro

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Coming up with great titles

                      Originally posted by thatcomedian View Post
                      You could post it in the story development forum or logline forum and ask for title help
                      yea actually i'm probably going to do that once i get my logline down that i'm cool with, but still interested in what other people's tips and tricks may be when coming up with titles for any screenplay. it normally just kinda comes to me, but it'd be cool if there's some cool excerises or questions a writer can ask themselves in order to help speed up the creative process for creating a title that pops.
                      One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

                      The Fiction Story Room

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Coming up with great titles

                        Setting - "Pearl Harbor", "Solaris"

                        Main Character's Name - "Scarface", "Hoffa"

                        Play on Words - "Two Girls & A Stanley Cup", "The Devil's Advocate"

                        Song Title - Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn)

                        Thematic - "The Hurt Locker", "State of Play", "Deep Impact"

                        Action Oriented - "Hard Target", "Hard to Kill"

                        Something In The Script - "Bandslam: High School Jam", "Event Horizon"

                        The fun thing is to go to the IMDB and look at the working titles and foreign release titles for movies already produced. You'll be surprised at how the final title will sometimes be 180 degrees from the working, or foreign release titles.
                        Positive outcomes. Only.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Coming up with great titles

                          Song titles work great for me.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Coming up with great titles

                            I take a random word from my script. Then stick it in front of "The" Unless the random word ends up being "the" then I gotta rethink some things

                            Just try not to do titles that scream B-rated movies. Envision maybe of something if you heard the title of it you would want to see that in theaters. I've picked scripts to read just based on titles alone. Bad habit I used to have.
                            Quack.

                            Writer on a cable drama.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Titles

                              As I wanted a title that would reflect the bilingual nature of my Canadian film project, I chose one that could be read with equal ease in English and in French:

                              Jekyll & Canada

                              A memorable character, in a different setting, with a special mission.

                              The ampersand made that possible.
                              JEKYLL & CANADA (free .mp4 download @ Vimeo.com)

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