Screenwriting : Movie Titles by Martin Reese

I don't think I have an answer to this, but I've wondered about it myself. I think if your movie is made, the person making it might change the title, but it seems to me that the title might be the first thing that makes an impression. I recently had a script entitled CRAZY S.O.B. and I thought that maybe that would turn people off, so I intend to change it.

Yes, you’re overthinking. Focus on craft from page 1 to end. Readers at prod companies and agencies never see loglines and they write their own after reading

From the standpoint of a spec and writing sample, the title, logline, and premise all work together in tandem. So, yes, it is important—just like ALL aspects of the screenwriting craft. A great title is yet another opportunity to communicate tone and meaning to your reader audience of one at a time. ;)

Usually short is best because it helps the public remember the name. Same with logline. Make both easy for the public to remember when they tell their friends, "You've gotta go see that movie. It's about..." Word of mouth is your best and most effective advertising. (Exceptions ~ Planes, Trains, and Automobiles & Throw Mamma from the Train, but they are so catchy, they're easy to remember.)

Yep a title is super important.

Shawshank Redemption as an example. Great film bad title. Then you have great ones “Jaws” for instance. If it is a book or a film, the title is all important.

I have a story set in the future. Corruption rules all aspects of life. A moral man is forced to engage with the corruption he hates to save his son who is a terrorists pushing back against the corruption. I can’t think of a good title. I am not going to circulate it until I have a title that works.

My personal favourite was “A wolf in a sheep’s suicide vest”, a contained horror I wrote.

Titles are a key component and often titles get changed once green lit. I think it is funny how Simon Pegg just put a heaps of nouns and adjectives in a hat and pulled them out to make Hot Fuzz because so many action films are just two words like that. Lots of cases of good films with crap titles and vice versa. But like a logline, it has to somehow catch your interest.

I have struggled with titles and often what I start with changes. Am writing a script about a selfish lonely corporate flyer who walks away from it all to become a barista to re-find his connection with people. Have started with the title "grounded" cos it relates to his dilemma and also coffee beans.

Another script I am working on is about a woman and her kids who go to court. They park in court basement but earthquake happens and they are trapped as building collapses. A police officer parked in basement crawls out his car and decides to help them. They talk, share, connect and we learn why she is at court that day. He provides hope and assistance. But then we learn he is not a cop. He is actually a criminal in back of the car. But for life of me cannot think of a title. Have tried for 4 weeks and nothing I am happy with. So I'll come back to it at end of script.

Some writers start with a title and cant move on until its nailed because they are linear in approach. For others, titles and loglines come last after script is done.

I was hoping that Hostage would have a title change, but it didn’t.

Buried Truth, Due Process for the court story.

Coffee Break?

I am crap at this.

After writing a 100-page story, a 10-page treatment, a 2-page synopsis, and a 25-word logline, it's time to put on The Title Hat. Don't overthink it. Who is your story about? What is your story about? John Wick? Annabelle? The Lion King? The Big Lebowski? Cinema Paradiso? Dear Comrade? Crawl? Midsommar? Super30?

Don't overthink it. Don't make it florid or ambiguous. If you're in the pitching arena, and your title is confusing, the last thing you want an industry person to think in your first 30 seconds is "what the heck does that title mean?" while you're trying to establish a pitching flow. Oh man...that's not good.

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Martin!

Agree with Bill Costantini , don't overthink. Be clear and simple, "Scream" "Alien" "Rocky"... Only one word, yet we'll remember those till the end of times. That's what a good title does in my opinion, it creates an indelible stamp in your mind.

I agree with @Bill @Louis. Overkill can make a title redundant. It is frustrating as a writer to want to portray the deepest echelon of what we feel is behind our works of art but only use a few simple words. Not all readers will “get it” if we do our own spin. A few banal bullets reaps higher reward.

Yes, sir, simple. I remember one I wrote and the title just stood out to me, but yea can't be that simple can it? I spent two months coming up with the "Perfect Title" put in lots of thought and it had to be right, right? Nope. I shopped it around and low and behold, I had at least four people suggest a simpler title, and yes, sir, it was the exact same one I had to start with. Lesson learned. I seem to always learn the hard way.

Tim: when we're A-Listers, we can come up with mega-cool film titles like Oh Brother Where Art Thou? (a reference to a previous film); No Country for Old Men (book title based on a line from a poem); and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (also from a line in a poem). Or we can simply name a film 8 1/2 (because it was Fellini's 8 1/2th film, and, well..he was Fellini).

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, all!

Bill Costantini , Yes, sir exactly.