No worries dude. Didn't think you were disagreeing. Your feedback so far has been awesome. I appreciate it.
If you want to take a look at the scripts when I've finished I'd be more than happy to email them to you.
If you'd like to show me some of yours I'll be happy to take a look and discuss it with you.
Cheers again! 
Yep pm me an email addy
In regards to titles (and incidentally, most things in life) ... KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Don't try and be too clever, just keep it simple.
Titles are important in my (rarely humble) opinion ... I usually start with those and then figure out what the final endeavour might be all about! I think I included something on the importance of titles in the link plugged below. Hasta Luego ...
Quote: Hardcorr @ October 27, 2007, 10:00 PMNice one. Each to his own eh amigo!
Out of interest, how many have you written? Have you sent any off? Got any feedback? Have you ever completed a series before?
It's an interesting way of working. How long do you spend on any one project?
Sorry for all the questions!
Personally I've been working on this for a month. Some episodes take a week to write, some only a couple of days. They're still in first draft stage, but apparently the art's in the rewrites. I expect to do about 9 at the most.
The first proper sitcom I started writing 'Street Theatre' I wrote about 3 or 4 episodes, I sent one to get critiqued by Marc Blake and he was mainly positive, but I was still in the early stages and I spent to much time on the same sitcom.
I've wrote a pilot for a sitcom named 'Mary-Ann's A Bitch' and a basic series plot. Another first draft pilot for a sitcom called 'Brothers Up In Arms' with a very detailed series plot.
But the main one is my sitcom 'Welcome To Stripe' (I posted some extracts of it in the Critique forum and it got some great feedback), with this I wrote a pilot episode, took a good couple of months if not more trying to perfect it and also a very detailed series plan and then sent it off to various production companies around end of August time. I sent the first 10 pages to Baby Cow and they requested to read the full script, they generally liked it, said it was funny but didn't think all the plots were consistent enough in terms of funniness compared to the others, but they said that was just personal taste and other companies may feel differently. Anyway I was really chuffed with their comments since it's the first script I've sent out. Also the script has been passed onto the director of programmes at Channel K Productions. Still awaiting feedback from the other companies I sent it out too.
And right now I've started work on a new sitcom titled 'Judging Jacob' which I'm really enjoying. I think I improve with every new script I write, which should be the case and when I've got this one done I'll write a fine detailed plan of the series and then send this one off too.
When you put it in that context, Martin Holmes, I see where you're coming from. You're not just a writer, you're a god-damn ideas factory!
Quote: Jeremy Smith @ October 29, 2007, 5:49 PMIn regards to titles (and incidentally, most things in life) ... KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Don't try and be too clever, just keep it simple.
Yeah, I ended up empolying this method, with a little help from a friend, and thanks to the avice from the nice BSG forum regulars. Thanks again.
Re: keep it simple - agree but the title is always your first point-of-contact with a buyer and an audience. A good title that has had thought and effort put into it will hopefully entice that prospective customer into looking further. A bland title that says nothing or fails to grab is already losing potential hits.
You want a title that will grab and at the same time convey the mood and tone of the piece. Bottom is a perfect title - it tells you the social position of the characters, the tone of the humour, and it's a generally 'funny' word - if words can be funny in isolation. Fawlty Towers supplies the grandeur of Fawlty's aspirations, the surname of the lead and there's a pun in his attitude to other people and his physical height - Fawlty TOWERS.
I'm not saying that the writers thought of those connotations consciously but the connotations are there and would have told the writer they had 'it'.
Title is the hook but after that the script must do the hard work. Keep it simple but that doesn't mean blood, sweat and tears should not be put into the search. At the moment The Slaggs have a script who's title still eludes us. It'll come to us in the end but so far it's been a five week brainstorm without success.
Re: Losavedra getting titles first and then working out a premise. That's neat but I've never been in that position, all my titles came retrospectively. I wish it wasn't always that way.
Titles ofthen come from a number of common sources, first names for example if you want the audience to empathise(sp!) with that character, Joey or in novel terms Rebecca for example. You could call these the WHO titles. There is also the WHAT titles such as crime and punishment, war and piece etc in sitcom think porridge or not going out etc.
There are titles which are quotes from other sources, these are ofthen used as metaphors for the meaning of the piece.
Some titles give a clue to the mood and tone of the work, the mighty boosh sounds surreal and it is for example.
hi ppl i am new on here and have been flicking through
hardcorr if you dont have a title for your sitcom set in a bar how about "a slice of lemon"
And then you get the creative genius of Ricky Gervais and the wacky, multi-layered titles he comes up for his sitcoms and stand-up shows.
Surely a bar sitcom should be called 'Bar Stud' or as Ricky G would call it: 'Bar'
The truth of it is, if the show is good - the title takes on the qualities of the show. If Fawlty Towers hadn't been funny, it would have been deemed to be a crap title.
I don't think we should get too het up about titles - you can always change them later.
PS I haven't read all 300,000 posts on this thread so I apologise If this has been said before.
Apology accepted. Don't do it again.
Quote: Lazzard @ October 30, 2007, 12:22 PMI don't think we should get too het up about titles
How often have we scanned a list of new films outside a cinema? Or programmes on Sky and seen a title that grabs us and thought "Oh, I'll check that out, it sounds interesting."? Most of us have done that or overheard that conversation in pubs etc. The thing that evoked the positive response was the title alone. Why spurn a great opportunity with a throwaway title? In a competitive overcrowded market good titles should shout, "Look at me."
In my opinion, titles are worth every investment of effort as a writer primarily because its the first advert for your work that people see. Plus if you become successful, you have to live with the titles you choose for the rest of your career. No waking up and thinking "What possessed me to call it that?"
Quote: Lazzard @ October 30, 2007, 12:22 PMIf the show is good - the title takes on the qualities of the show.
And I'd have to disagree that a crap title becomes retrospectively good if the show is later considered a great show. A good title is a good title irrespective of the quality in the pages behind it. The converse also appears true: there have been plenty of great shows with crap names.
Quote: Martin Holmes @ October 26, 2007, 6:17 PMJoking aside, I just think those Chuck Norris 'jokes' have been played out far too much, it's a very 'studenty' thing, it kind of reminds me of the type of people who think The Hoff is cool but wait for it...only in an "ironic" way. see also: 80's TV Shows and people who describe themselves as 'random'.
Sorry to resurrect an old thread here but I was researching tips for coming with titles (I'm struggling) and I spotted this little gem of a post.
I know me and Martin had a bit of a ruck on one thread, but the fact you posted this made me very happy.
Reading a book on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' recently and there was a page where potential titles for the series were mooted. 'Curb......' was on a shortlist with two others that were called 'Half Empty' and 'Best Foot Backwards'.
Several others were also considered such as 'Life Be Not Proud', 'Kicking And Screaming', 'Push Comes To Shove', 'The Shame Must Go On' etc etc. Shows how difficult it is coming up with something you're really satisfied with. Let's face it, even Seinfeld was originally called 'The Seinfeld Chronicles'.