Title help please?????

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  • Title help please?????

    Let's just get to the point: I SUCK AT CLEVER TITLES.

    Why is it that I can consistently churn out 100 page scripts, but I can't think of a good sounding word or phrase to define them?

    I need help, and you all have come through for me before. I'm just finishing the 4th draft of my family treasure hunting story, and so far, it's named just that: UNTITLED FAMILY TREASURE HUNT.

    In a nutshell:

    The story is based on an old legend that a 1930s mobster went on a nationwide crime spree, robbing vaults all over the country. The loot was all shipped back to his hideout and buried. Jewels, bonds, priceless antiques- you name it, he stole it. What he didn't realize was that he inadvertantly robbed a vault belonging to Thomas Edison and wound up stealing the schematics for what was going to become Edison's greatest invention yet. Long story short, the mobster died and the loot was lost before he could sell it all off, leaving a huge stash of stolen items hidden somewhere...

    The story follows the adventures of a nerdy science teacher as he tries to locate the stash, not for the millions in treasure, but to find Edison's lost invention. When he finds proof that the lost invention, along with the millions in treasure, might be buried somewhere in his neighborhood, all of his neighbors catch "treasure fever," and a chase to find the lost stash errupts into a wild, neighbor-against-neighbor scavenger hunt. Think "The Goonies" meets "National Treasure" meets "The Burbs."

    My original title was COMMUNITY CHEST, which is still sort of relevant I guess, but I'm not sure it still works. The first draft had them searching strictly for lost Spanish treasure, so the idea of a treasure chest worked in the title, but now it's less about treasure and more about the invention.

    I want a title that somehow captures the zany aspect of the neighbor vs neighbor battle to find the loot, but one that also nails the National Treasure-style adventure. I toyed with "Finding Edison," but it just sounds flat (and too much like a drama, ala Finding Neverland).

    You guys always come up with great, snappy titles. Of course, I expect some smart ass answers too. A little bit of both would be fine.
    Goonies never say die!

  • #2
    Re: Title help please?????

    Stealing Edison.
    Writer / Director available for your project.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Title help please?????

      I know this is off topic, but what did you come up with for the lost invention?
      Never mistake motion for action. ~Ernest Hemingway

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Title help please?????

        What is this lost invention exactly?
        Writer / Director available for your project.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Title help please?????

          I want to know what the invention is, too, because it might suggest a title. Best I can think of now is Edison's Vault.

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          • #6
            Re: Title help please?????

            Originally posted by Bellabell View Post
            I know this is off topic, but what did you come up with for the lost invention?
            Please don't tell me it's a time travel machine, as then it would sound too much like The Prestige.
            Writer / Director available for your project.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Title help please?????

              The Treasure of Menlo Park
              "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

              My YouTube channel.

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              • #8
                Re: Title help please?????

                You've already given us a lot in your synopsis, but maybe we need to know more about your protag. Is it the nerdy scientist? Is he alone? You says Goonies, and I think kids – is he aided by his top students? Or his own children?

                Can the invention be used for evil? Why wouldn’t one of the neighbors if they found the treasure, give the invention plans to the scientist if they only care about the treasure? Who’s the antag?

                What’s the name of the neighborhood? Does most of the action take place on one street? What’s the street’s name? Use the name to make a pun or phrase that also hints at treasure.

                Here’s a few off the top:

                Finders Keepers
                Losers Weepers
                Loot thy Neighbor
                Looters Street
                Loot Lane
                Fool’s Gold (street name is Fools)
                Last edited by gregsonfilm; 09-16-2007, 07:46 PM.

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                • #9
                  Re: Title help please?????

                  Backyard Jackpot?

                  Finding the Magic Machine?

                  The Last Blueprint?
                  If you really like it you can have the rights
                  It could make a million for you overnight

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Title help please?????

                    Meet Pandora
                    "The screenplay is first and foremost a selling tool." - Katzenberg

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Title help please?????

                      If you were to focus the entire neighborhood on the Edison invention it would help narrow the goal and perhaps a title - there almost seems like too many spoils to go around. Perhaps when they find it, there could be previously unheard of spoils for all. Anyway, just a thought...

                      Possible titles:

                      The Thomas Edison Affair.
                      Edison Fever.
                      The Edison.... (whatever the thing is they're after).

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Title help please?????

                        I don't have any good title suggestions but I wanted to say that I really like your idea. I think Community Chest and Finding Edison are both pretty lousy titles though. This story seems like it would be a good candidate for a zany, somewhat long and very specific title. Something kind of silly like Thomas A. Edison Get Off My Lawn or The Strange Glow From Mulberry Lane, but actually, you know... good. The People Vs. Thomas Edison. Alternating Currents. The Family Filament. These are all clearly awful but I'm just throwing out ideas.

                        You might attempt a play on the "Wizard of Menlo Park" nickname with a street or subdivision name in place of Menlo Park. Or something more abstract like Incandescent might work.

                        Patent Pending is a potentially useful movie title. Maybe not for this movie but somebody should use it.

                        I think it's going to be difficult to find a National Treasure-style, two word title that totally nails your story because you have so much going on. It's hard to sum up the neighborhood rivalries, family adventure, and Edison in one succinct phrase.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Title help please?????

                          Treasure of Suburbia

                          Loot Thy Neighbor
                          TimeStorm & Blurred Vision Book info & blog: https://stormingtime.com//

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                          • #14
                            Re: Title help please?????

                            Yeah, The Edison Papers.

                            Unearthing Edison.

                            My Kingdom for a Backhoe.

                            How to Beat the High Cost of Digging.

                            Buried Pleasure. Oh, wait. That's coal mining porn.

                            The Fantastic Find.

                            Diggers with Attitude. (okay, that was wrong. funny, but wrong.)

                            Thomas Edison's Amazing Fantastic [blank]ing Machine.
                            If you really like it you can have the rights
                            It could make a million for you overnight

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Title help please?????

                              Shove Thy Neighbor.

                              Corona
                              I love you, Reyna . . .

                              Brown-Balled by the Hollywood Clika

                              Latino Heart Project's MEXICAN HEART...ATTACK!
                              I ain't no punk b1tch...

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