Who doesn’t love the hit TV show ‘Friends?’ Well, imagine having to look forward to an episode of ‘Six of One.’ Or ‘Insomnia Cafe.’ Weird, right? Even though I’m pretty sure that we’d get used to those names if we heard them over and over again over the years, they just sound plain bonkers right now, don’t they?
Would ‘Friends’ have become an iconic show if it was called something else? My mind says ‘probably,’ but my gut says ‘no.’ There’s a lot in a name. And it can make (or break) a project.
Finding the perfect title for your show or film is a delicate balancing act. And way, way harder than it sounds. The Hollywood Reporter stresses that you can’t be too witty, but you have to avoid being too generic, as well. Titles also can’t be too long, lazy, or too vague. With a list of advice that long, it’s no wonder so many shows fail to captivate their target audiences.
Keeping titles simple and to-the-point yet dynamic seems to be the main goal. So if you’re unsure what to name your next visual masterpiece, consider giving it a single-word title.
But the words you use can’t just sound cool—they have to actually be related to your show. When somebody hears the title, they immediately have to understand more or less what the show’s going to be about. Is it serious? Goofy? Seriously goofy?
Humor and playing around with double meaning can also work wonders. As can ‘modernizing’ the name of your show to fit the current context of important events: you can draw inspiration from current social, political, and other issues to link your title to the audience.
#15 Happy Days
