Published: August 16, 2021 | Last Updated: October 4, 2024
There are over 57,000 production companies around the world. So, how in the hell are you supposed to devise a name for yours? To help you out with ideas, here are 12 ways to name your production company.
1. Use a Variation of Your Name
Naming your production company after you will let clients know you are the visionary behind their favorite productions. However, while this method might work well for a well-known producer branching off and launching their venture, it might not work as well for a no-name production company that wants to stand out.
Using your name in your production company is the best way to use it sparingly. For instance, LucasFilm is short and sweet and combines only Lucas’ last name with another qualifier, in this case, the word film. If it’s good enough for Walt Disney Studios (see what I did there?), it’s good enough for you.
2. Use Your Area of Expertise
Let’s say you are a production company focusing exclusively on commercial work. Or you are a narrative hound that only wants to work in storytelling. Or even more granular, you want to focus only on historical docu-drama miniseries for prestige networks like AMC or HBO. Use this focus as your naming convention.
For instance, J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot Productions is the perfect name for a sci-fi-focused film company. Likesise, Cartoon Network Studios tells you exactly what you will get.
Illumination and Imagine Entertainment focus on the creativity behind what the companies do, and Screen Gems takes a very blunt approach to their mandate: we make successful films.
If all else fails, you can always combine the first two points on this list, i.e., your name with your production company’s focus and intent.
3. Make it easy to remember
Try to create a name that’s easy to remember and type in Google. Here are three ideas you can try to make it catchy:
- Use 1 to 3 words
- Make it only 2-5 syllables long in total
- Make it rhyme
Try to think of some of your favorite brands. How many words are they? How many syllables? Do they rhyme? You’ll find that many live up to at least one of these three bullet points–especially the first two.
4. Use an initialism
Let’s say you’ve come up with a name that combines your interests and your name, creating your ideal personal brand.
However, it feels too long for some reason. You can abbreviate it into an initialism that your production company will be known by.
The most famous example of this tactic is MGM Studios – which stands for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a name that doesn’t have the same ring as MGM.
While this can make your name easier to roll off the tongue, it doesn’t necessarily solve your first problem: it doesn’t tell clients, audiences, or future partners everything you want them to know about you and your interests immediately. That’s why, in your additional branding, you would include the full name in the subtitle.
5. Use former work as a reference
You can use your old work as inspiration to name your new entity. Steven Spielberg and Adam Sandler’s production companies are the two best examples of this.
Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment was named after Steven’s first commercial release in 1968, a short indie film about a man and woman “amblin’” around the desert as they attempt to hitchhike. It’s a clever homage to his first film.
As for Adam Sandler’s production company Happy Maddison was named after the combination of two of Adam’s biggest starring roles: Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison.
6. Use your love for film as a reference
Many commercial filmmakers and videographers started as film lovers. Use that love and admiration as inspiration for your name.
You could use a snippet of a quote from your favorite movie or a reference to a fictional place or character. You could even borrow a phrase from the title of a favorite TV episode, a subtle nod to your particular tastes.
Make sure that the quote in question isn’t trademarked, though. A way to use a quote you like is to paraphrase it and pay homage to the original while still adding your creativity. This is a grey area, though.
7. Turn your creative aspiration into a name
Many production companies have aspirational names that point to the type of work they are trying to create. This could be a name that evokes the beauty of the medium, similar to the independent production company Magnolia Pictures.
Perhaps you want a name more focused on your industry’s groundbreaking technical aspects, so a name similar to Millennium Pictures or Relativity Media would fit the bill.
If you want to be seen as an iconoclast going against the mainstream, brainstorm words that immediately evoke that type of imagery, like “rogue” or “maverick,” to incorporate into your name.
8. Capture the magic of nostalgia with a location or item from your past
Many producers have named their production companies after cities or locations that are important to them. For example, A24 is named after a highway in Italy, and Annapurna is named after a city in Nepal. Kerry Washington named her production company Simpson Street after where she grew up.
You could also name your production company after an item from your past, like if you had a favorite toy growing up or an old-timey artifact now outdated. The best example of this is Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope.
The Zoetrope was an important breakthrough that enabled the creation of film, so it makes sense to name a production company after the industry’s origins. It is creative and aspirational.
9. Use an ironic understatement as inspiration
Many creatives like to be ironic with their naming conventions. The best examples are Anonymous Content and Working Title Films, which play off the idea of keeping a low profile or not being very creative.
In both instances, the companies have become well-known for their strong brands with well-known and creative titles, and therefore, the irony has only intensified.
Read about irony in film.
10. Use a grandiose, evocative metaphor as inspiration
Paramount Pictures is the best example here. Think of being “paramount” – conjures grandeur, being of peak importance, and is meant to imply the company is at the top of its industry.
You can grab a thesaurus and look up similarly evocative words to unconsciously imply your eager pursuit for excellence.
11. Use camera equipment as a naming convention
While it might not seem very creative, it will help potential clients and partners immediately understand what you do. This is also an industry-insider approach to naming your company.
For instance, you might name your production company after the folks at Focus Features or Oscilloscope Laboratories, which were inspired by technical industry terms.
You could also name your company after industry jargon, like C47, Barn-doors, Glass moves, or other on-set terms. Just make sure you use generic gear and not specific brand names. While your favorite camera might be a Sony, I’m pretty sure naming your company Sony Pictures will get you in all kinds of trouble.
12. Use a name generator
If all else fails, you can always use a TV and Film Production business name generator. Copy-paste “TV and Film Production business name generator” into your favorite search engine, and you’ll find plenty of name generator sites you can use as inspiration.
Some of the names generated use puns that combine the word “Film” with other words like “romance” or “memory.” Others suggest words with subtle nods to essential concepts, like “film layer,” which could subconsciously imply that your business works on multiple levels. Other words like “span” imply a rich working history, while “verge” implies cutting-edge work.
If you have the creative itch, it shouldn’t be hard to brainstorm ideas with a few of these starting points to jump off from. Go ahead and take it from here!
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