Working title

A working title is a temporary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing.[1] It is often styled in trade publications as (wt)[2] and is synonymous with production title and tentative title.

This article is about preliminary titles of creative works. For the film production company, see Working Title Films. For the band, see The Working Title.
"Production title" redirects here. Not to be confused with Production logo.

Purpose

Working titles are used mainly because an official title has not yet been decided upon or to intentionally disguise the real nature of a project.

Usage as production titles

Working titles are primarily a practical matter, just to prevent confusion as ideas for release titles can keep on changing for a variety of reasons.

For example, while James Bond films are commonly produced under numerical titles such as Bond 22 until the official title is announced as part of its marketing, release titles may also change because of significant changes to the plot during production, as happened with Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, whose working title was Kingdom of the Sun. In some cases a working title may ultimately be used as the release title, as in the case of leading man Samuel L. Jackson insisting on title Snakes on a Plane, after he learned the title was going to be changed to Pacific Air Flight 121 upon release.

Usage as a ruse title

Fake production titles are frequently used by high-profile films or television series to prevent undesired attention by the press or fandom, price gouging by suppliers[3] and casual or targeted theft. Notable examples of ruse titles include Blue Harvest (Return of the Jedi), Red Gun (House of the Dragon),[4] and the Batman films Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, which were produced under the titles The Intimidation Game, Rory's First Kiss and Magnus Rex.[5]

See also

References
  1. Librarians, Reference. "Research Guides: Organizing Academic Research Papers: Choosing a Title". library.sacredheart.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  2. Andreeva, Nellie (23 November 2022). "'Dune: The Sisterhood' Creator Diane Ademu-John Steps Down As Co-Showrunner Of HBO Max Series". Deadline.
  3. Bloom, Jim, Production Supervisor; Ch. 9, bonus material disc of the 2004 Star Wars Trilogy DVD box set.
  4. Albrecht, Louis (2020-07-18). "HBO's Game of Thrones Prequel House of the Dragon is looking for two female leads". Redanian Intelligence. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  5. Nolan Fans article "The Dark Knight Rises As Magnus Rex"
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