Good discussion on end credits
The Artful Writer currently has a vigorous dicussion about end credits for contributing writers that many readers may find interesting.
Here’s the situation. Currently in American movies, screenwriters are listed in the opening credits, with the wording “Written by,” “Screenplay by.” or “Story by.” (Check here for what these terms mean.) These screen credits are meant to denote the “author” of the script. In cases where there are multiple writers, arbitration is often involved to determine who should receive what credit — if any.
Under the current system, a writer who’s spent several months working on a given film may find her name is nowhere on the final product. Is that reasonable, considering the guy who drove the catering truck is listed? (Before you send angry emails: yes, catering’s important, and so are drivers. But they don’t shape the movie you see on screen.)
For years, there’s been discussion about including a list of contributing writers in the end scroll — writers who may not have done enough work to receive real writing credit, but nevertheless contributed. Personally, I like the idea, but I certainly understand other writers’ objections. Does it diminish the perceived authorship of the front-credit writer(s)? Possibly. On the whole, is it worth it? In my opinion, yes.
You can find a range of other opinions here.
Articles
February 25th, 2005 at 3:14 pm
The “range of other opinions here” link seems to not work.
February 25th, 2005 at 3:43 pm
Fixed. Thanks, tdneel.
February 25th, 2005 at 4:40 pm
Well, I, for one, was a craft service PA on a TV movie and didn’t get proper credit. If contributing writers feel half as burned as I did, they deserve a credit.
February 25th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
For those who don’t want to wade through the 75+ comments on Artful Writer, here’s a brief summary of one of the other opinions:
Every writer who is hired under a WGA contract should get credit.
The argument is that implementing any kind of subjective qualification for “deserving” end credit will just result in writers getting a second chance to have their names excluded from the movie.
The proposed solution is to use an objective standard — if they were hired under a WGA contract, they should be acknowledged in the end credits. Not as a “contributor,” or a “consultant” or “participant,” but as a WGA Contracted Writer, which implies no authorship, but gives these professional writers formal screen credit for doing their job for the production company.
Just like the guy driving the catering truck.
February 25th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
politics… bah…
Give me a tall ship, and a star to sail her by.
Or rather,
Give me a gifted writer, and a story to for him to tell.
February 25th, 2005 at 11:09 pm
politics… bah…
Give me a tall ship, and a star to sail her by.
Or rather,
Give me a gifted writer, and a story for him to tell.
Hey John, how about an edit button? :D
February 25th, 2005 at 11:58 pm
I’ve actually received writing credit in the end credits before. The glorious credit of “Additional Dialogue By” on the movie IN ENEMY HANDS is mine! Does that set a precedent – I don’t know. But I absolutely think it’s a good idea. Your name is on the movie – that’s something. Opening credits is the next step…
February 26th, 2005 at 3:59 am
Johnny:
That credit is impossible on a movie produced by a WGA signatory. I can only assume the WGA did not have any authority over the award of credits on your movie.
February 26th, 2005 at 11:17 am
Americo:
Unfortunately, an Edit button would require cookies and a whole lot more sophistication. Sorry.
Spec:
Unfortunately, you’ll never squeeze all the subjectivity out, even with the Contracted Writers angle. Case in point: A WRINKLE IN TIME, which went through more than a dozen writers over a fifteen year period. It changed production companies many times, and had both WGA and non-WGA writers on it. (Indeed, some of the companies that developed it weren’t even WGA signatories.) So who gets included? If you want to stick with “any WGA writer who ever had a contract to write on it,” great, but realize you’re still making subjective choices to exclude certain writers.
And whose responsibility is it to investigate and validate all the contracted writers?
I’m not trying to deflate the Contracted Writer idea, just to point out the unbiased aspect of it really isn’t airtight.
Since movies with multiple writers often go to arbitration, my instinct is that the arbiters should be allowed to decide which names belong in the end scroll. And yes, that would involve subjectivity.
February 28th, 2005 at 2:10 pm
I am disappointed (not surprised) that the WGA hasn’t implemented something like this before. Whatever the title of the credit is, as long as someone worked on the movie in some fashion and was paid for it, they should be in the credits. I understand that if you used more than a handful of extras, you can’t name them all(there just isn’t enough space), but that is about the only exception I can think of, and a writer’s contribution (and pay) is far more than that of an extra.
February 28th, 2005 at 4:31 pm
We don’t need no sophistication. It’s all good John.
I want credit for watching Pearl Harbor in the theatre.;)
February 28th, 2005 at 8:37 pm
Currently in American movies, screenwriters are listed in the opening credits, with the wording “Written by,� “Screenplay by.� or “Story by.�
The link you gave to the WGA lists other credits too (e.g., “Adaptation” and “Based on a Story by”). Do those end up in the opening credits as well?