def sanitize_title(title):
    """Sanitize the title so that a valid API request can be made.

    Discards everything after the first ':' character and removes and '.'
    characters.

    Returns:
        lowercase version of the title.
    """
    # Discard everything after the colon
    title = title.split(':')[0]
    title.replace('.', '')
    return title.lower()