Cameron's credibility was elevated following the surprise financial and critical success of "The Terminator" in late 1984, and Gordon gave him the job. Because of his low expectations for "The Terminator", Cameron spent much of his free time during its production developing and trying out ideas for "AliensII". Cameron's collaborative partner and girlfriend, Gale Anne Hurd, was not taken seriously as a producer. Fox did not believe Hurd would stand up to Cameron, but the director said she was the only person who would. Hurd had several of her industry associates contact Fox executives to convince them she was a legitimate producer. Cameron said people tried to convince him not to take the job, believing anything good about the film would be attributed to "Alien" director Ridley Scott and anything negative to Cameron, but he really wanted to make it. Scott said he was never offered the chance to direct the sequel, possibly because he was difficult to work with on the original. The film's title, "Aliens", reportedly came from Cameron writing "Alien" on a whiteboard during a pitch meeting and adding a "$" suffix.