Screenwriting : Titles by Ann Burr

I strategically think out my title upon having the big picture. I always seek the title that completely defines the entire movie. So people can be like, oh that's why it is called such and such. It sounds like you might be looking at themes to configure your title. Thank you for sharing Ann and I wish you the best of luck.

Sometimes my ideas come in a neat little conceptual package that includes the title. Sometimes the title comes to me first and the story idea comes from the title. I could never complete a script without having a title. When a good one is elusive it can be painful.

Sometimes the title inspires the screenplay, sometimes by the time I get the script finished the title no longer represents the script and I have to come up with something new. I saw a sign in a park that said it was closed during Hours Of Darkness and thought that'd be a great title (because it has multiple meanings). The original idea for the script was that it would deal with people who worked the graveyard shift and take place entirely at night... but when I finished the script there were probably as many day scenes as night scenes... so it went through a title change. Titles are important. They're like your whole story summed up in one or two or three words! The first thing anyone will know about your script is the title.

Titles are important but they're also the easiest thing to change. you can get plenty of good title suggestions from your circle of readers.

Hey Ann! I shoot for HEADLINE TITLES… I consider the title the most important part of the marketing package. A lot of thought should go into it. The title should be the headline of your story, and it should scream genre. If the newspaper were to do an article on your story, what would the headline be? A great tool for actor bait is to use your lead's name. Hope this helps. Have a great weekend!

I'm slightly superstitious so I never name it until I'm done the first draft.

Funny story when I wrote my "The Sealed Seven". Through the first two or three rewrites I had my mind set on the Seven Seals and was designing a poster for it and all. I then realized when I went to check the registry with the copyright office The Seven Seals already existed. Oh God! Did I subconsciously write something similar. You talk about anxiety, 18 months for nothing, I was going to cry. Anyway, no it is nothing like that movie from 1957, anything to do with Navy Seals or the movie Seven. So "The Sealed Seven" wasn't taken researching the copyright records and I took that instead. It works just as well. It's at the Nicholl Fellowship and eagerly awaiting the end of July. I want to "pitch" it. It has just been under wraps so long and sometimes it just may be smart not to let something out publicly other than occasional title mention. We'll see where it goes. It's registered with WGAW and Copyright office. I just got a damn good feeling about it. Quarterfinals will be no big deal to me but if it makes to Semi's then I may get excited. I'm not disillusioned to the fact that it may never get produced but sometimes after writing actual screenplays for a while and reading so many. You just know you might have something . Unlike Monique I love Friday the thirteenth, step on cracks, walk under ladders and befriend black cats. I do have a lot of damn quirks about me though. LOL!

Titles are important -- they can seem amateurish and put off a reader if you're not careful. But don't over analyze it : )

Creating the title of a screenplay sounds easy, but it's so important to come up with something simple and catchy. When I look for titles, I try to hear how it sounds. "Hey, let's go to the cinema and watch 'Werewolf on the Moon'" doesn't sound like something that would convince my friends to join me. It's why I like the titles of Christopher Nolan so much. His movies (Inception, Memento, Insomnia, Interstellar) sounds like an advertise for Thesaurus, but they roll nice over the lips and excite me for some reason to watch the movie.

I actually started to post this very question. I'm starting a new TV drama pilot and I was curious as to the thoughts of others when it came to titles. These are all great and interesting answers. As for me, sometimes the title comes along right away and with others, I'm well into the script before I come up with one I'm comfortable with. Sometimes, it's just better for me to get to work rather than taking too much time thinking of a title in the very beginning. I also like to see where the script goes rather than to come up with the title first, because then I subconsciously restrict myself if a title is already in place. Now if I have much of the script thought out, then coming up with the title in the beginning isn't a hinderance at all.

Titles are important for the first-impression factor to a producer and to go with the logline as a 1-2 punch, but they will almost definitely be changed by studio or producer. In the big picture they're borderline irrelevant anyway. The Godfather could have been called The Corleones, The Mafia, Vengeance, Becoming A Don, Michael's Journey, The Gun In The Men's Room, Like Father Like Son, Sicilian Pride, whatever, and it would still be in the IMDB Top 10 and the AFI alltime Top 10 and everything else...

@Dave, interesting thought. I suspect you're wrong, but I wonder. I could see Michael's Journey in the top 250, but top 10? What about Michael's Journey 2? What if it had bombed on release? What if even the book hadn't been a success? Would there even be a movie adaptation of the failed novel called Michael's Journey?

I'm with Alle. I give my projects working titles and let the real title come to me later. Sometimes the working title ends up being the real title but most of the time I end up with a different one after I've worked on it awhile. The biggest thing is not to let it stress you. The title is unimportant until you reach the point where you're ready to sell so until that point, why worry about it.

I love titles! They are extremely important! A script title is your headline. It should set the tone and give an indication of what the story is about. A title should intrigue and utilize a hint of irony. Be clever. Never be derivative. No, please DO over think your titles. :)

I usually end up changing it at least once during writing & pre-production. The one that I'm shooting this fall (Detours) was originally called About Us. I knew it wasn't right, but it took weeks of (off & on) brainstorming with several people (who had read the script) before I hit on the title that just felt right.

Personally, I'd rather NOT let either the title or the logline set the tone. I'd rather change both as needed to reflect the script itself. Although absolutely I pick a title before I start...I just leave myself open to change as needed.

I agree with Mara. But I think the title it's like the label of a can of soup, it's chicken primarily (drama,comedy ) and then you can add other small ingredients to flavor it up. Hopefully to entertain and carry your messsge through the characters struggles and overcoming obstacles...hopefully.

I find that there's a certain point in the development process where, if I don't have a title, I don't know what it is I'm writing. Generally speaking, titles come pretty quickly for me though. They don't set the tone, but are set by the tone. And, as I say, if I don't have one yet, it's because I don't know what the story is yet.

That's a tricky one. I like to forge titles in advance. But during the writing stage I can find that I have to change it. Because it doesn't "belong" to the script anymore.

I think a title that describes the meaning of the work, at anytime, it will or should become clear, this could be through drafting, if you haven't found what's suitable, locate it down to the most obvious, then see if you can jazz it up. :)

Best title, which one you find

I got the title of the screenplay I'm working on from a street sign. It captured the meaning of the world I wanted to tell a story in. In most great films, the title captures the story, or at least the tone. "Dracula", "Saving Private Ryan", "Jaws", "Inception"