Screenwriting : Navigating a Title change. by Adam Brandt

Adam Brandt

Navigating a Title change.

Cheers, Succession, Friends, The Simpsons, 2 Broke Girls, ER, etc...

I was pattying burgers last autumn when my project began taking shape. Sloppy Seconds just stuck with me. Is it the perfect title? This path from idea, to first draft, to 12th draft, to crafting pitch material has taught me so much. When people ask, why Sloppy Seconds, it turns into a longer story than I'd like to tell.

It's a Father yearning for a second chance. It's a group of food truckers getting a second chance to have a successful food truck park. It's a Son hoping to have a second chance at bonding with his father. In season 2 the truckers would name the new food truck park Sloppy Seconds Food Truck Park.

Does Sloppy Seconds do enough to sell a project?

As I sit here today, I've began leaning towards a new title.

FIXXINS or FIXINS

What do you think of when you see or hear this word?

Look forward to your opinions! Thanks

Debbie Croysdale

Sloppy seconds sounds comedic & ambiguous. I’d do more like “Eleventh Hour Chuck Waggon.” Sense of demise plus tells us who they are, what story is about.

Jim Boston

Adam, I'm cool with "Sloppy Seconds." (But "Fixins" doesn't sound too bad.)

Dan MaxXx

Ppl dont pay $ for titles; they pay for execution.

Maurice Vaughan

Now that you mention it, Adam Brandt, I think you do need a title change. "Sloppy Seconds" is a sexual term (at least one of the meanings).

I like "FIXINS." It has a double meaning. Food that comes with the main dish (https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/all+the+fixings) and Lee Sr. fixing his relationships with his wife and son.

Adam Brandt

Maurice Vaughan you nailed it. That's my exact thinking. I don't believe Sloppy Seconds is as commercially viable due to the sexual connotation.

Spot on about fixing relationship!

Christopher Phillips

Sloppy Seconds would work if it was like a sequel. Like Food Truck Wars: Sloppy Seconds. But, since they don't serve leftovers on the trucks, it would be weird to have that in the title.

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