Explainer: What are working titles, their meaning, significance, and examples
What is the most important part of a film? Its pulsating, pounding heart? Is it the cast? The music? The story? The grand visual effects? Sure, all of these carry optimum consequences but what supersedes them is the title of a project; it is, after all, a window into the movie's world. This is where a project's working title becomes extremely significant.
This is what it means
Understand it through Studio Binder's definition, "[It's] a temporary title given to a manuscript, film, or television series during its development stage. This title is not set in stone and can change multiple times during the creation process ." "The working title provides an initial framework or direction for the project and can be instrumental in defining its tone and narrative."
What role does it serve?
A working title can serve multiple purposes; it can provide a vision to the entire team, help generate curiosity, buy the makers more time, and also birth an air of confidentiality. It's not uncommon for the makers to ponder over more than a handful of titles, and as the film/show progresses, their opinions about what the project should be called keep shaping up.
What's in a name? Everything
While films are two to three hours long and most of us finish them in a single sitting, the process that goes behind their making isn't so smooth. Producers have to ensure that the title is not already registered by any other filmmaker, and sorting out legalities can take weeks. Hence, a working title comes to the makers' rescue in such cases.
Here are some noteworthy Hollywood examples
Do you know the film you today know as the modern-day classic The Dark Knight Rises was once called Rory's First Kiss? Production company Warner Bros. tried to trick viewers, but the audiences were quick to notice the film's logline, "directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale and Gary Oldman." Similarly, F.R.I.E.N.D.S was once called Insomnia Café and Lost was labeled Nowhere.
You must have noticed this trend with these Indian films
Prominently in South Indian cinema, films receive titles quite late, with the movies being defined by the actor's cinematic outings so far. This trend was noticeable recently when Varun Dhawan's Baby John was marketed for a long time by the title VD18. Similarly, Akshay Kumar's Sarfira was known as Startup for several months before it finally zeroed in on this title.
