Ands and Ampersands
For “written by” credit, what is the difference between “and” or “&” in cowritten scripts? I recall reading that one is a collaboration and the other is a writer rewriting someone else’s work. Thanks.
– Dennis
Winnipeg, Canada
You’re pretty much right. The decision about which writers’ names are listed in the credits, and the conjunctions between them, falls under the jurisdiction of the Writers Guild.
The ampersand (e.g. “Al Gough & Miles Millar”) means that the two writers are a team, and are treated as one person for WGA purposes. The other version (e.g. “Josh Friedman and David Koepp”) indicates that the writers worked at different times. In this case, the screen credits manual says…
The order of writers’ names in a shared credit may be arbitrated. Generally, the most substantial contributor is entitled to first position credit. Where there is no agreement among the arbiters as to order of names, or where the Arbitration Committee determines that the credited writers’ contribution is equal, then the Arbitration Committee shall order the writers’ names chronologically.
Articles
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I heard about the prince of persia film and im a very big fan of the game and was desiding to make a short film of it with the help of the toronto film school which im am still attending and hoping to direct such a great films such a prince of persia and other video games, because i think in the past video game movies have been poorly made and it is time to start changing that.
January 2nd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Wow, Mihaly. That was one long sentence.
January 2nd, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Credits, credits, credits. Everyone wants their due. Does anyone ever actually fight over which name comes first? Isn’t that kind of lame and petty? (Petty & Lame?) I can’t imagine it honestly affecting the writers’ careers, or how they are perceived by the public. I wouldn’t be wandering around LA, seeing John August and going, “Oh, I don’t want to talk to HIM, he just a second billed writer, I saw it in the Corpse Bride credits. What a second rate guy. Ooh! Look! There’s Caroline Thompson!”
January 2nd, 2007 at 11:47 pm
You should see his other one.
By the way: “Shove it, Grace.” That has to be your best writing ever.
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:01 am
“By the way: “Shove it, Grace.â€? That has to be your best writing ever.”
Really? I thought it was kind of offensive, even in character. Whilst the conceit worked on the other questions, I would of skipped over such a thorny issue.
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:05 am
Does it work that way with positions as well? For example, should I say “Written & Directed by Person A & Person B”? What I’m looking for in an indication that both people worked together on both positions.
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:31 am
On IMDB, when you look up something like Knockaround Guys, it lists the written by as “Brian Koppelman & David Levien” but under the directed by, it just has their names in a list with no & or “and.”
And Yes Oli Really. Best. Writing. Ever.