@DaMan wrote:

Item: The Favourite
Type of Problem: Incorrect_content

Thanks for your report!

Extra Details: Mod call please.
What is a DRAFT title ?
And where did this come from? "The Balance of Power"

Apparently, the original screenplay by Deborah Davis was called "The Balance of Power" in 1998:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/yorgos-lanthimos-director-the-favourite-movie-lobster-killing-sacred-deer-film-a8702136.html

I guess amory used the word "draft" here on TMDb to emphasize that Davis' screenplay was a first version that was later adjusted by director Yorgos Lanthimos and screenwriter Tony McNamara by stepping "back from [Davis'] focus on historical accuracy and contemporary politics, and homing in on the powerplay between the three women." I'm not sure if "draft" is the proper English word for it - I can't think of a better one, though. Do you have a better word for that?

Also Korean...
The Feverlit: The Queen's Woman what is feverlit?
And alt: The Feverbury
Feverbury?

Those Korean terms are used on several (unofficial) Korean websites/databases and used for (unofficial) trailers and teasers, for example:

http://tenasia.hankyung.com/archives/1559459
https://movie.daum.net/moviedb/main?movieId=119036
https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%8D%94%20%ED%8E%98%EC%9D%B4%EB%B2%84%EB%A6%BF:%20%EC%97%AC%EC%99%95%EC%9D%98%20%EC%97%AC%EC%9E%90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQHgkKrr8Vk

However, at the moment, I can't find it on the official website/Youtube channel of the Korean distributor (20th Century Fox Korea):

http://www.foxkorea.co.kr
https://www.youtube.com/user/FoxMoviesKR

I guess it's not released in South Korea, yet - so we have to wait for the official title. What I found was a facebook entry on the official facebook page that uses the hashtag <#더페이버릿>:

facebook link

I don't speak Korean -> that's all I could find right now.

I will give it more thought, but at first it seems you got it. "original screenplay title" ?
So it was a 5 part radio drama in 1998? Not sure "screen"play would be accurate.

@DaMan wrote:

I will give it more thought, but at first it seems you got it. "original screenplay title" ?
So it was a 5 part radio drama in 1998? Not sure "screen"play would be accurate.

Where did you read that it was "a 5 part radio drama in 1998"?!?

I found a longer interview with Deborah Davis here:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/2018/11/05/deborah-davis-talks-to-awards-daily-about-the-favourites-twenty-year-journey-to-the-big-screen

To quote:

"I wrote the first draft in 1998 and I had no experience in scriptwriting. I took myself to night school to learn. I took that first draft to Ceci Dempsey and she was very interested in it, but at the time she wasn’t ready to take it on. She said to always keep in touch with her and just at that point, I was accepted into the University of East Anglia to do a scriptwriting course and I was helped and influenced by my tutor who was really interested in The Balance of Power as it was then called. I went back to Ceci in the early 2000’s and she said she was ready to take it on. She had never ever wavered in her support and passion for this project. In 2007, she took it to Lee Magiday who was head of film. I carried on writing drafts for them. In 2010, Lee had this extraordinary [idea] of attaching an avant-garde director to this British costume drama and that was Yorgos and the rest, as they say, is his-tory.

[...]

At what point did it become The Favourite? You mentioned it had other titles before that.

It was Ceci who came up with the name. She went through Sarah’s memoirs and she found key phrases and she found The Favourite and Yorgos wanted it too."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d97q3

@DaMan wrote:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d97q3

I didn't find that before, excellent!

I wonder why Deborah Davis didn't mention the radio play in the interview that I quoted?!? And why she called it The Balance of Power - all the other sources have no The at the beginning?!?

Anyway, I think the main question is if the radio play was adapted from her screenplay or if it was originally written as a radio play by her for the BBC? Weirdly, I find several sources for both, and even sources using the term "working title":

1.) "original screenplay":

• UK Brit List of unproduced screenplays in 2009: https://www.screendaily.com/other-festivals/uk-brit-list-topped-by-george-kays-good-luck-anthony-belcher/5006384.article
  
• article about film production company Element Pictures in 2018: https://www.screendaily.com/features/becoming-the-favourite-the-story-behind-awards-contender-element-pictures/5132416.article
  
• official production notes for the movie in 2018 (pdf): http://dps03o6uurl7v.cloudfront.net/THE_FAVOURITE_Production_Notes_FINAL_Illustrated.pdf
  

These all state that it was an original screenplay by Deborah Davis. The last source mentions the original radio broadcast from 2008 - but does not claim it was written for radio.

2.) "radio play":

• the director of the radio play, Jeremy Mortimer, stated a few days ago on twitter that it was written for radio: https://twitter.com/Jeremort/status/1078604049912602624
  
• article about the UK Brit List from 2009 claiming it was developed for radio: https://theplaylist.net/brit-list-reveals-hottest-unmade-20091006
  

3.) "working title":

• a recent article in LA Times about the development of the screenplay: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-the-favourite-screenplay-deborah-davis-tony-mcnamara-20181123-story.html
  
• BFI Collection about the movie: http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/154657920
  

I'm not sure what to decide? I guess the alternative title should be "Balance of Power" (without "The") -> but I can't decide if it was originally written for screen or for radio - the sources are not clear. I suspect that, in 1998, not even Deborah Davis knew what will happen with her first draft of it -> then it was adapted into a radio play - and then it became the screenplay for the movie. But I also could live with "working title" - maybe that's the favourite term?

Agreed! Thank you

And maybe a based on keyword?