What’s in a name?
What’s in a name? Apparently, EVERYTHING.
An English teacher told me in high school, “Never name your story until you are done writing it.”
There are two reasons for this, well actually three. But the two he gave were:
If you name your story, you might find yourself writing towards that title. It might put you in a box and constrain your imagination because you’ve sort of locked yourself in. If the title is The Monster Under The Bed, then you either need to have an actual monster under the bed or make sure your story fits that title as a metaphor. What if that’s just not working?
You don’t know what you have until you have written it, so how can you name it? You might find that a line in the screenplay is the title. If you haven’t written it yet, how will you know? You might find when you read the script at the end, the title just comes to.
The other reason is like it or not a title is a marketing tool. You need a title that is going to clearly connect with the right audience and let them know that this is a film they will love.
So how do you come up with this title after you write your script if a phrase from the script doesn’t stand out to you or if a title doesn’t pop into your head after you are reading back your hundredth draft?
Search for slang terms. I wrote a play once about people on the subway. I could not come up with a title. Someone suggested that I simply go on Google and search for subway slang terms. I did it and found the title, Straphangers.
Ask someone in the advertising world to read your script and take them to lunch to have a title pow wow. People really are willing to help and even if you don’t like their exact suggestions, it might point you in the right direction to go in, help your brain focus and come up with the perfect answer.
Look up idioms and metaphors. Much like slang terms, this might lead you to the answer.
Think of films in the same genre as your film script or films that you use as references for your script. Looking at those titles, might make something click in your brain. I don’t mean come up with a similar title and try to piggy back on those films, though you could. That does work sometimes but I really mean just do that to get your brain on a path.
Look at the stills you are thinking of using for your poster. What do they say to you? What adjectives or phrases would you use to describe them? Make a list and stare at it for a while. Something might just leap off the page.
In the end, your film title will likely change numerous times before the film is complete and even after it is complete and you are about to send it out to festivals and possibly again after festivals if you hire a sales agent or get a distributor. Don’t stress. Have fun with it. You wrote a script. You are amazing!