The Title

Choosing a title for your script can be tricky. Often something just sort of flies into our minds and it sticks by default. Some writers come up with the title first and inspired by that, write the script. Some script titles reflect a line of significant dialogue or an important plot twist, either directly or as an allusion.
I do know this: when a reader or exec picks up your script, naturally the first thing we read is the title. And based on that alone, we make a couple of assumptions. If your script is a comedy, the title should sound a bit funny. Owen Wilson has a movie in development called Stalker: A Love Story. If your script is a horror or thriller, the title should sound a little creepy. The title is a hint of what’s to come. Sometimes a title will simply be a bit intriguing; I’m not quite sure what to make of it. But I know that at some point in the script it will become clear to me what it means.

Titles can be poetic allusions, clever word plays or fairly straight up descriptors. Make sure when you title your script that you cover as many bases as you can:

Does the title hint at the genre?
Is the title as succinct as possible?
Does the title in some way embody the theme or dna of your script?
Will the title look good on a poster and will it intrigue passersby?
If the title isn’t clear immediately, will it rise to the surface within the script?

The title is the shingle you hang on your script’s cover. It says: Read me, I am a terrific romantic comedy. It says: Wow am I gonna look great on a movie poster – can’t you picture Halle Berry? It says: Check me out – I am epic. It says: I am a clever writer and this is a great script.

What if a title has been used before? Well, movie titles aren’t copyrighted but still, unless the movie was a million years ago and grossed $25 at the box office, you probably want to come up with your own title. Look up the title in the IMDB and see when the last time it was used and in what context. If you are really attached to the title and it was a TV movie in 1978, go for it. But if you have a moving family drama do not title it ORDINARY PEOPLE because that’s just dumb. Or even WILD AT HEART – audiences have long memories and so do execs. Come up with a variation of a title you love.

Make a list of the themes within your script and then brainstorm offshoots of those themes. Go through your script pages and look for significant dialogue that you love – can you pluck that dialogue out and use it? Think of AMERICAN BEAUTY – the way Alan Ball used the imagery of the rose throughout the movie but also the perfect, beautiful way it alludes to the plot from a thematic point of view.

A few great titles I have read at production companies:

Twice the Hero
Slanted and Enchanted
Napster: Downloaded
The Last Duel

Of course I have read spec scripts with terrible, clumsy, long titles that didn’t make sense. Or titles that just lie there limply and don’t tell me anything about the script and don’t even make me care.

But actually for the most part, I think you guys are doing okay. You may have never given much thought to the role your title plays but I encourage you to do so. Here are just a few titles off the top of my head that do a great job of describing the movie.

Pillow Talk
Operation Petticoat
How to Marry a Millionaire
Adaptation
Psycho
The Exorcist
Red River
A Bridge Too Far
Toto the Hero
Au Revoir, les Enfants
Fun With Dick and Jane
Being John Malkovich
Elf
Blades of Glory
Saw
American Beauty
North Country

Can Rouge Wavers send in movie titles that remain absolutely baffling even if you loved the movie? That should make a fun list.

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