Naming Your Baby: How to Find a Great Title to your
Screenplay
by Gordy Hoffman

How exactly does one work on the title of their
screenplay? I recently came up with such a wonderful
idea for a movie, one of those miraculous moments,
like finding money on the sidewalk. I told somebody,
and they said, “Great. What’s the title?” Suddenly,
and rather horrifyingly, my beauty of an idea is
crippled. Instant orphaned bastard! You wanna strangle
the person. You feel insulted. What’s the title!? Why
would you even ask that, like, right after I told you
this incredible gem?

Well, of course they would ask that. Every movie needs
a name. But unlike nearly every other aspect of
screenwriting, there are no techniques to titling your
script. We can practice the three act structure,
workshop our dialogue, check the arcs of our
characters, but what craft is there to naming your
movie?

The first movie I wrote that was made was entitled
LOVE LIZA. The movie was about a man whose wife has
committed suicide. She has left him a note, and the
movie is the story of his struggle to open this letter
and read her final words. I remember finding this
title fairly quickly, the name clearly referencing an
element of the letter left behind. But what I found to
be most interesting about this title was the lack of
punctuation----the title wasn’t LOVE, LIZA. When the
press kits started to be put together, I had to keep
reminding everyone there was no comma between LOVE and
LIZA. The comma-less title takes on a different
meaning in the context of the movie. I was lucky to
find a title that meant one thing before you watched
the movie, and meant something else after you’re done.

Sometimes titles come long before the screenplay has
even started. I have come up with great titles that
have no idea at all behind them. They function as
stakes in the ground. I got so angry with someone for
complaining about the shoes I was wearing that I vowed
to write a movie called WRONG SHOES. Soon after, I
came up with an idea of a girl taking her video camera
to her cousin’s bachelorette party, and starting
casting, with an intention to write, develop and
workshop the screenplay, WRONG SHOES, with the cast.
Once we got into the second draft of the screenplay,
the title, WRONG SHOES, didn’t fit the tone of the
story, and we found another, and renamed the movie, A
COAT OF SNOW. This title strikes people a myriad of
ways, and even after watching the movie, the audience
is left to fit its significance.

So how do you get a great title to your screenplay?
Well, the first thing you gotta do to find the great
movie title is write a screenplay. You can find a
great title before you write a screenplay, but then
you don’t really have a title problem, you have a
missing screenplay problem. I asked a flight attendant
once what the snack they just handed me tasted like
and they said, “Plane food.” I loved that. I thought,
that would be a great title for a movie. Who knows
what the story is, but there it is, a great title. But
no script.

Let’s say you have an idea, you have your outline, or
your scribbling on napkins, polaroids, whatever, and
you’re ready to start writing. Do you need a title
right now? Of course not and why not. If it’s gonna
distract you and make you miserable and pull your
focus, you should definitely not worry about a title
at all. The reason it’s distracting you is because the
writing of your screenplay is making you
uncomfortable. So if you’re fretting about what to
call your movie before you’ve started writing, you
don’t have a problem with a missing title, you have a
writing problem.

If you’re ready to sit down and start writing, and
picking a title isn’t gonna make you crazy, go ahead
and make one up. Writing a screenplay is a long, hard
path, and putting a name on your work is good. What do
you call the name of your labor? It’s called a working
title. Working titles, like WRONG SHOES, get you
working on your screenplay. Working titles often get
swept away later by a much richer name. Working titles
allow you to function, reminding us that everything we
put down on paper is not final. I often wait to work
and become immobilized by wanting something to be
perfect RIGHT NOW. It doesn’t work that way. Creation
is mysterious, and like great endings, titles come to
us on the road to something else. Working titles
function as a lamp to that road. We are in play.

Let’s say you’re done with your draft and your title
still doesn’t feel right. It’s been your working title
for a while now, and it’s worked, but you know there’s
something missing, and you need the real one. Well, if
you’re thinking about a good title and you don’t have
a good title, then your screenplay needs a lot of
work. It’s time to let it sit for three weeks, then
give yourself another raft of notes. You can drive
around in your car and think about how your movie
ends, or what it’s called, and you might think a light
bulb goes off, and you’ve got the great title, but
it’s only a sign of discomfort with story.

I write something now and don’t know what it’s called,
but I have a working title, which doesn’t work so
much, so I often call it “my next movie.” I know the
absence of a good idea forces me forward to the
greatness that lies ahead. I know from my experience
that my fumbling in the dark for everything, story,
title, ending, line, is the hard, true and honest work
of real writing. How can I sit through this? I want to
know what my title is, and I want it to be
magnificent. In the end, it’s called patience.

About the Author
Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the
Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA, Gordy Hoffman
wrote and directed three short films for Fox
Searchlight in 2002. He made his feature directorial
debut with his script, A COAT OF SNOW which world
premiered at the 2005 Locarno International Film
Festival. A COAT OF SNOW made its North American
Premiere at the Arclight in Hollywood, going on to
screen at the Milan Film Festival and the historic
George Eastman House. Recently, the movie won the 2006
Domani Vision Award at VisionFest, held at the Tribeca
Cinemas in New York. A professor at the USC School of
Cinematic Arts, Gordy is the founder and judge of the
BlueCat Screenplay Competition. For more articles
written by Gordy Hoffman on screenwriting, visit:
www.bluecatscreenplay.com



So if you’ve got a super title to your script, now's a
great time to enter BlueCat. Do you have an awesome
title? Why not? How is your title serving your
script?

Grand Prize: $10,000
Four Finalists: $1500 each

Every entry receives written script analysis.

One Finalist receives a live, staged reading of their
script at BlueCat's annual SCREENPLAY LIVE at the High
Falls Film Festival in NY.

Entry Fee: $45

Deadline: MARCH 1st

BlueCat Screenplay Competition
Hollywood CA 90028
www.bluecatscreenplay.com
www.myspace.com/bluecatscreenplay
www.myspace.com/screenplaylive


WHY ENTER BLUECAT?

*Our 2006 Winner, Young Kim is in pre-production to
direct his winning script, six months after being
named winner of BlueCat

*Our 2005 Winner, GARY THE TENNIS COACH, starring
Seann William Scott and directed by Danny Leiner,
recently wrapped in Austin. Winning BlueCat writers
Andy Stock and Rick Stempson signed with UTA

*Every writer who enters BlueCat receives written
analysis on their screenplay

*Winner receives $10,000 and Finalists receive $1500,
the largest cash prize for a screenplay contest that
provides feedback to all writers

*One Finalist receives a live staged reading at the
High Falls Film Festival, held at the George Eastman
House in New York, all expenses paid

*Loglines of all Semi-Finalists and Finalists are
featured on our site throughout the year

*Founded by award winning writer-director Gordy
Hoffman


SUBMIT YOUR SCREENPLAY
http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/submissions/submit_your_screenplay.php


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