Since I’m working on a new pilot I’ve been thinking a bit about titles lately and what the heck I want to call my new pilot.
Titles are fun…but tough. Sometimes you have an awesome title that inspires you to write something and other times you have a great concept and can write the whole thing but when you're done, you're still stuck with just Untitled.
What the heck do I call this thing?
This is clearly something writers struggle with at every level (baby and up). Just looking at the recent pilots, several changed their titles (Rookies became The 2-2, The Rememberer became Unforgettable, Damage Control became Scandal, etc.). Now, the reason for title changes for pros aren’t always creative…there are sometimes bigger (read: legal) reasons for networks and studios to change a title…but other times it’s just about trying to find that one perfect title.
Here are some thoughts I’m trying to keep in mind so I pick the best title:
Get specific!
I remember Blake Snyder mentioning this in one of his Save The Cat books. He talked about the movie Four Christmases. Sure, they could have called the movie Yuletide or Noel or some other generic word that evokes the idea of Christmas, but Four Christmases is specific. He also mentions a fake title...something like Love or Money, as an example of the sort of title that presents a concept that is SO generic dozens of movies could have it. You don't want that.
I agree that vague concepts make pretty mediocre titles. I know someone who recently revealed a project they had been writing and the title they picked was SO generic it could have been for pretty much every other piece of writing in that genre. My Significant Other also mentioned seeing a driving billboard the other day (one of those billboards on a truck) and it was advertising some YA book called Dangerous Children. I couldn’t help but think this was a sub par title. While I like the contrast of dangerous and children (you don’t usually think of children as dangerous) this was SO generic it could have been the title for a bunch of other books like Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, or ANY book where there are children who do something dangerous. All in all this title tells me ZIP about what the book is actually about.
So yeah, get specific and pick a title that could only be for that movie/show/book…I like to use the “no other” test for this. Imagine the title Humans Vs. Robots…could have been used for several existing sci fi works, but there is no other Battlestar Galactica and no other Terminator. Likewise, there is no other Harry Potter…no other Hunger Games…no other Jurassic Park...no other Bridge to Terabithia…no other Great Gatsby…no other Ugly Betty…no other Gossip Girl…no other Gilmore Girls…no other Shawshank Redemption…no other Jerry Maguire. Find that thing, character, element, that makes your script/book/idea/whatever special and unique…and if you can’t find one…maybe you need a new idea?
A little something extra
Another Blake Snyder tip I recall is that a great title will have irony, an unusual contrast, or a double meaning. His prime example was Legally Blonde which is great because it’s not only a riff/play on words of the term "legally blind" but it also refers specifically to the story of a “dumb blonde” going to Harvard Law.
I think Mad Men is a great title for similar reasons. Think of all the meanings you can get out of it…(Mad Men as in Madison Avenue men, as a play on the phrase “Ad Men,” and of course "mad" as in crazy). Also, there are no other Mad Men…another reason it’s an awesome title.
Anyway, just something I’m thinking about…but I think it’s also wise to keep in mind that what you write is more important than the title. There might be no other Gigli but that doesn’t make Gigli a good movie. Likewise, plenty of acclaimed books, movies, and TV shows have done just fine with fairly generic titles:
The Killing (couldn’t any crime show be called this/or some form of this?)
Friends (could be the title for pretty much any sitcom)
Election (could be used for any movie with an election)
Pride and Prejudice (pretty much good for any romance/rom com)
War and Peace (that pretty much covers everything…right?)
But then again, for every Pride and Prejudice there’s also a Love Happens.
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