How not to choose a movie title
I’ve written about the importance of a good title before. A great script with a crappy title faces an uphill battle. That’s why I always make sure I have a title I like before I type “FADE IN,” even if I later change my mind.1
So yes, I’d pay for a great title. Today’s LA Times article about companies that consult on movie titles sounded promising, until…
Last summer, Lockhart and Barrie tried to persuade Sony to change the title of “Hancock,” a big-budget action comedy starring Will Smith as an alcoholic superhero known as John Hancock. They told studio executives they thought the current title was vague and pitched alternatives such as “Heroes Never Die,” “Unlikely Hero” and “Less Than Hero.”
There’s spit-balling, and then there’s just spitting. I’d rather have an inscrutable one-word name than any of those crappy alternatives.
I helped out on that movie as it was transitioning from “Tonight, He Comes” to “Tonight He Comes” — the removal of the comma helped soften the double-entrendre. But by the wrap party, it was simply “Hancock,” which serves it well.2
By the way, the Josh Friedman who wrote the LA Times article is not the Sarah-Connor-Chronicling neighbor and erstwhile blogger.
- I never really had a title for that zombie western, which I should point out, never sold. Readers had [great suggestions](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2005/a-movie-by-any-other-name#comments), though. ↩
- One added advantage of a single-word title is that it requires no translation for international audiences. Except in Germany, where Go is called “Go! Sex, Drugs & Rave’N'Roll.” Shudder. ↩
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May 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
What movie HAVEN’T you worked on Jon!?! :-)
May 12th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Woops, forgot the H… sorry John.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
“Go! Sex, Drugs & Rave’N’Roll”?!? How does that even happen? Always been curious.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
It’s funny to have a script going around called, ” Tonight, He Comes” handed to you as a lowbie on the movie chain.
After the initial snide (and obvious comment), the boss’s comment of “Will Smith is attached to star,” becomes quite humbling.
I learned something from this script.
I still stick to my guns that the original title was awful, particularly given the content of the script. But — now I am curious — Was it the choice of title (the obvious double entendre) that helped get this script through more doors than most?
Of all the scripts I read during this time period, this is the one I remember most.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I remember reading that the studios wanted to change Beetlejuice to “House Ghosts”. Tim Burton vehemently protested, and at one point deadpanned the title be “Scared Sheetless”, and they ACTUALLY CONSIDERED IT!
May 12th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Hancock really is a better alternative compared to the other possibilities. The title Hancock in a way suggests the movie is about a guy called Hancock, who happens to be a superhero. Not vice versa. Well, at least they didn’t pitch “AlcoHero”.
By the way, the thing with the German movie title you mentioned is nothing compared to those titles I was able to dig up some time ago.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
It reminds me the fun fact about one producer who wanted to change the “back to the future” title because he noticed that the movies with “future” in their title all failed at the box office…
And from IMDB : The studio disliked the title “Beetlejuice” and wanted to call the film “House Ghosts”. As a joke, Tim Burton suggested the name “Scared Sheetless” and was horrified when the studio actually considered using it.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Re: TV, not films… I remember seeing Amy Brenneman talk about the process of naming her show, “Judging Amy”. I think she came up with that title, but then the network hired a consulting company to come up with others. The best they came up with was “My Mother The Judge”. So they went back to hers.
Which would be fine if the show were set in 1960, I guess. (Not that I’m a fan of the title they ended up with, but it’s marginally catchier.)
May 12th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
“…no translation for international audiences. Except in Germany…”.
Or Mexico. Here they named it “Living without limits”…
May 12th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I like Hancock better than the other alternatives, too. Actually, I just like Hancock as a title period. But how often are these alternatives used exactly as proposed vs. just recognizing that there’s a problem with the original title?
May 12th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
It’s hard to find a truly good title.
I, for one, think Hancock reminds me too much of insurance (which is a sad reflection of the impact of TV commercials on my childhood — it should remind me of the Declaration of Independence). From the name, I had’t the faintest idea what kind of film to expect until someone told me it was “Tonight, He Comes” repackaged.
Cloverfield at first made me think it was a new Intel chip project, and then made me think too much of about in Los Angeles (which I realize is horrifying, but I’m not sure that really makes it a good idea to name a monster movie after a street in LA).
Go!, sadly, makes me think of the Chinese strategy game, and how difficult it is to write an AI that can play it well (as opposed to one that plays Chess). But that’s just because I’m a total nerd. It’s still not a bad title.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Yeah. I think here in Germany there is one Guy that is hired to make Hollywood-Movies less good visited by naming them like that. Happens all the Time. Sucks
May 12th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
With Big Willie’s mug on the poster you can get away with Hancock. But nevertheless, it’s a terrible title. Totally non-descript and un-enticing. I first thought it was a film about or set in the LA neighborhood of the same name. I have the PERFECT title for it – but I doubt the powers that be are willing to reprint all P+A this late in the game – though this title is so frigging good, it might just change their minds… so, how much ARE you willing to pay, August??
May 12th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
One of the proposed alternate titles for “Taxi Driver” was “Manhattan Madness”. Another was “American Psycho” (this was back in 1976).
But at least “Taxi Driver” has a taxi driver in it. Naming a film about cloning “The Island” when it doesn’t take place on an island was, retrospectively, a mistake.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Scott:
The funny thing about “The Island” is that the studio desperately wanted to change it. Michael Bay vehemently fought for The Island and now realizes his mistake.
I just finished my new spec TV script with the place holder title of Zombie Nation. I had every intention of changing it but my agent thought it was perfect. To me it sounded silly and a bit on the nose but after some more feedback I realized that it is perfect.
Sometimes we can get so close to a movie we don’t realize how bad or good our titles are.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Some titles I love to hate: ‘First Monday In October’ (that gets your blood racing) ‘I Am The Cheese’, ‘The Apple’, ‘Hope Floats’ (better get the plunger) ‘The Perils Of Gwendoline In The Land Of The Yik Yak’, ‘Colossus: The Forbin Project’ (how opaque…) ‘The Phantom Menace’ (a menace which turns out to be so elusive, it never bothers to show up in the movie) and the mouthful: ‘The Quiller Memorandum’.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
What’re you guys talking about? Hancock is a great title, and it definitely peaks your curiosity as to what the movie is actually about — especially since Smith is in it.
To each his own, huh? I suppose something like “Anti-hero” would be more effective and get your ass in a seat.
geez.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
The titles that you remember are the ones that stand out, not the ones that try and equal a mass audience divided ticket price equation. Thank god they stuck with Hancock. Imagine if they had called The Big Lebowski: Stoned Bowler. Wait a second…
May 12th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
What a heinous choice of titles… I remember a story about some university hiring a team to rename them, I can’t remember the university now so let’s call it arses — the team came up with ‘University of arses’ and got paid a rather stupid amount of money!
I really enjoy the title process. I will always try to have a working title because if I don’t have one, I assume my idea isn’t strong enough. If it’s not inspiring me to ger excited enough to think of the perfect title, it must be crap.
If I then have what I deem to be a great title, I find it weirdly more exciting to write… and then when I’m writing, if something suddenly leaps out at me, I’ll change it because it must be awesome to beat off the already wondrous title.
Finding a title is like finding the perfect outfit.
You’d pay?! You’re John August! Don’t make me puke lol I’ll give you one for a credit haha
Dear oh dear… disillusioned
May 12th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Oh and I forgot to mention “Go! Sex, Drugs & Rave’N’Roll.â€?
You can’t argue with a title like that in a land where David Hasselhoff reigns supreme.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Hancock’s not bad. Not great, but at least it’s something most folks will know how to pronounce.
Quantum of Solace, on the other hand. I keep waiting to hear that the movie title has been changed, but every time I say it’s a bad title, my writerly Bond fan friends try to explain what it means and where it came from. I’m sorry, but it’s still not only a bad title, it’s one of the worst film title’s I’ve ever seen. They could make it “Solace,” and that would be cool, and still reference the same thing.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Saw this on the guardian website today…
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/drama/story/0,,2279598,00.html
May 13th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Sorry that I have to destroy this cliché but Hasselhoff does NOT reign supreme in Germany. In a way, he even never did (see Wikipedia article about him). In fact, everybody I know cannot take Hasselhoff seriously. Hence, you could say that in Germany there is some form of taste – which strangely doesn’t enter the realm of movie titles.
Believe me, we all wonder and wonder again why a movie was named as it was named. Just yesterday we scoffed at this suckfest of a title for the movie “Drillbit Taylor” with Owen Wilson, which is named “Ein Mann für alle Unfälle” here in Germany. Roughly translated it would mean “A man for all disasters”. Shudder.
I believe that this tendency toward shitty movie titles in Germany can be found in the wish to make a title as easy and as marketable for the stupid people as possible.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:04 am
Hello John! I’ve not been on the blog world for quite some time, but lately I have this question regarding screenwriting. I would like your opinion regarding this by commenting on my latest entry. You see, I am also collecting answers from other screenwriters, too. Your opinion would be very much appreciated.
Another thing: thanks for making those scripts available! They’re a big help to getting used to reading these. And of course, in making these.
Here’s the link to my blog. Thank you! http://graphiteleaves.blogspot.com
May 13th, 2008 at 3:27 am
You gotta love the crappy way they translate movie titles here in Italy… Granted, sometimes it’s difficult, but…!!! Examples?
The texas chainsaw massacre – Non aprite quella porta (Don’t open that door)
Prom night – Che la fine abbia inizio: l’ultimo giorno di scuola, il primo incontro con la morte (Let the end begin: last day of shool, first meeting with death)
Superhero movie – Superhero movie, il più dotato dei supereroi (the most endowed of all superheroes)
And so on…
May 13th, 2008 at 5:17 am
Not to toot my own horn, but I am awesome at titles, and I too have to have a name I like before I can start writing.
By the way, “There’s spit-balling, and then there’s just spitting.” I love it and I am totally stealing that.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:29 am
Well… You can’t talk about shitty title translations without mentioning Portugal. Here “Go” was translated to “A Vida Começa à s Três da Manhã”… Which means “Life Starts At 3 AM”… Clerks 2 was distributed as “Nunca Tantos Fizeram Tão Pouco” which means “Never So Many Done So Little”… It’s crazy.
I’m also having trouble finding a title for my short about two soldiers trapped in a trench that find out that only one of them can get out alive… Oh well…
May 13th, 2008 at 6:38 am
madmind: lol I’m sorry… I do love the Hoff though.
Gd00: Those titles are amazing!
May 13th, 2008 at 7:26 am
I hated “Tonight, He Comes”.
But only because my twisted-superhero spec was making the rounds the same time as it was, years ago.
(That said, I never really “got” the script. Maybe I just wasn’t picturing Will Smith hard enough.)
May 13th, 2008 at 11:08 am
LMAO @ “Tonight, He Comes”
Anyway, IMO titles have to be both specific and vague, which is tough to do. It should be specific enough so the audience knows what the movie is about, but vague enough to be able to conjure up all sorts of ideas in the audience’s heads as to what might happen, etc., thus building excitement and anticipation.
Of course, that’s hard to do. Which is why we get so many terrible titles every summer.
Anyone know the latest on the “Shazam!/Captain Marvel” title?
May 13th, 2008 at 11:09 am
@João Duarte Silva:
I’m always a fan of the Bond movie translations overseas. They inevitably end up being something like James Bond Is On A Very Dangerous Mission.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:43 am
the germans changed “Bend it like Beckham” to “Kick it like Beckham”. luckily, in switzerland (german part of) we often have the original title AND the original language with subtitles. so much better.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Seth Lockhart is the same douchebag who trawls the internet for scripts to “manage” while also promoting his other “businesses” to his “clients”. That fact that he got his name in the LA Times just goes to show how much of a rag that thing is.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Not to drag another comment thread into this one, but as for your Zombie Western, how about “Brains, come back!”
I’ll show myself out…
May 13th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
“Tonight, He Comes” reminds me so much of “I Am Legend” in that it feels rather melodramatic.
I’m just finishing a drama spec and really struggling with the title. I’m thinking something like…
“Tonight, He Is A Legend.”
May 14th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
“Tonight, He Comes” is rather melodramatic – I can’t imagine a voice-over narrator saying that without an audience giggling. It still doesn’t beat the melodramatic title that was almost used for ‘Vertigo’: “Darkling, I Listen”.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I’d like to muster a quantam of solace for these folks who sell their titling services, but it’s rather difficult when they suck so badly at it. My fave part of the story is that they’ve NEVER suggested a title that actually got used. So after, what is it? – 3 years? – why keep hiring them? The lowliest unpaid intern couldn’t do any worse, and might well do better.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Best foreign title story ever: The original title for “The Producers” was “Springtime for Hitler,” but Mel Brooks couldn’t convince the studio to go with it. He did get to use the title in Sweden, however (translated, of course). So, EVERY Mel Brooks film released in Sweden since then has been called “Springtime for (fill in the blank).” Such as:
Young Frankenstein: Det våras för Frankenstein (Springtime for Frankenstein) High Anxiety: Det våras för galningarna (Springtime for the Lunatic) Silent Movie: Det våras för stumfilmen (Springtime for the Silent Movie) History of the World Part I: Det våras för världshistorien (Springtime for the World History) Spaceballs: Det våras för rymden (Springtime for the Space)
Brooks, of course, thinks this is freaking hilarious.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Last month I was doing some writing-procrastination daydreaming, thinking, “What genre crossovers haven’t been done yet?” After a few lame combos, I came up with “Cowboys vs. Zombies”. WOO! Awesome! I spent about a week obsessing over the idea – no-one had ever thought of this before!
Then I do some catching up on my RSS feeds and spot this.
Damn you, John August, for bursting my zombie bubble.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:59 am
great post. I’d also suggest to anyone searching your proposed title on the database and also googling it. I’ve had to re-thunk titles before because they were previously protected from movies that never saw the light of day. :)
June 25th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Hancock is a terrible title and is the subject of much mockery (see IMDB’s Hancock board). Plus, an inscrutable title attached to an inscrutable marketing campaign makes for confusion. I’ve personally heard people asking if Hancock, based on the posters around town, is a movie about skiing. With the advance bad reviews, this movie will under perform and everything–from the marketing campaign to the title–will be examined and the blame game will begin in earnest. Worst of all, with all the chatter about Will Smith becoming a Scientologist, Hancock might just well be Will’s “Oprah couch jump,” and second summer bomb.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:54 am
Bizarre really.
Maybe there are too many US connotations to Hancock… but for me in the UK – I think it’s a great title. That, with the poster of Will Smith makes me want to see it.
It’s a damned better title than Shazam!