Top tips for titles

Things I have learnt :

- Woody Allen once said that when writing a script, make sure to give all your characters short, simple names because you don't want to be typing Dr. Von Frakkenstein or Valror the Oppressor over and over again (not the examples he used).

With the invention of scriptwriting programs like the excellent (and free) Celtx, this is no longer a problem, they fill in the name as soon as you start typing. Feel free to call your characters Eduardo Estaban Sanchez Sanchez Hernadez the 3rd. Just make sure you don't give another character a name beginning with 'E' because the software will bring up all possible character names beginning with that letter as viable options.

So if you're like me and you've named prominent characters: Maxine, Malaki, Micky, Malaki's Father, Man 1, Man 2 and Maureen, you end up with a speedtype selection of names that goes off the bottom of the screen. Variety is what's needed. Just a little tip there.

- Never write alone. Yes write alone, by all means but as soon as you've finished writing a significant part get someone to check it. Unless you are indeed David Mamet then I suggest that you have someone to give your script to as it progresses so that can pick out the flaws as it goes. Hey maybe even David Mamet has someone he goes to that can point out some awful dialogue or a situation that is just a little bit to...well... as if it was in a movie.
You may find it harder to go back and change a script once it's finished and have to completely redo the thing structurally - if you modify it on the fly you become more adaptable.

Put off writing. Writing isn't just about putting the words down. Read all you can about your chosen subject and immerse yourself in the world of your story before you approach a blank page. This isn't procrastination. There's nothing more daunting than a blank page unless your head is brimming over with ideas, then the page doesn't look so blank after all.

Give yourself limitations. 6 people in a room. That's the old classic set up. Infinite variables are contained within that statement. Cube, Reservoir Dogs, 12 angry men (12 men in two rooms). The limits I've imposed on myself for 'Jerusalem' are ones of Reality (I tend towards the more fantastical by default), Genre (stick to a formula and maneuverer within it), 90 pages (I really want to make a tight movie).


What's in a title?
My script started out as 'Park Hill Has Eyes' for reasons explained in earlier posts. It does exactly what it says on the tin - obviously it had to change. It then became 'Steel City' a name given to Sheffield because of it's industrial background in making cutlery. Although inspired by Sheffield, I didn't want the place in the script to be associated with anywhere in particular so that had to go aswell.

But what to call the script? Is it important to name a script so early? You eventually have to get the title just right, it's one of the most important aspects of the film. It gives the audience an inkling of what's in store, or can be effectively be used to misguide them as with 'Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe' (it's not the tomatoes you should be paying attention to, they are in fact a green herring).

As my script took form certain elements lead me to call the place where it's set 'Albion' as it became a kind of mirror to the rest of England. Briefly that's what it was called, but if I rented a movie called 'Albion' and there where no sword fights I'd be disappointed - so it changed to Jerusalem to invoke that jingoistic hymn (rather than the original poem) by William Blake. That fit the script perfectly and fed more ideas in to the screenplay itself. Great.

If I went to see a film at the cinema called 'Jerusalem' and it didn't have sword fights in it, I'd be very dissapointed.

Jerusalem survived quite a while as the title but had to go, I'm not a big fan of one word titles and I wanted to have a memorable name for my movie like 'Evil Dead' or 'Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia' or 'Last House On The Left'. Something that people would copy.

The Hills have Eyes, Night of the Living dead, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things. I like the roll those titles have. I like that '70's vibe.

'Bad Day On Jerusalem Hill' is what the script is called at the moment - it aludes to 'THHE', keeps the important Jerusalem part and completely understates the events within as 'a bad day'. Hell yeah it's a bad day, someone has a high pressure hose jammed in to their lungs.
Also it has a bit of beckoning mystery. Just what constututes a bad day? What is Jerusalem Hill?

For the moment I'm happy with this title, but I'm quite prepared for it to be changed by the time it gets released (I'll always refer to the film as if it will get made, no point reiterating "maybe's" and "perhaps'") in to something a bit more palateable like 'Defiance' (what a bad title) or 'Chav! The Movie'.