Using a pseudonym
How do you go about using a pseudonym? My name doesn’t particularly stand out, and I’ve been using a pseudonym I really like while blogging. I’d like to use this as I submit scripts to contests/fellowships/agencies, but I’m not sure of the legalities of doing such. I don’t want to legally change my name — just write under a pen name.
How would I go about doing this, but still receive credit for what I write? How would I make authorship clear on applications/registrations?
– Phillip
Salt Lake City, Utah
Your email included your full name, and I disagree — your last name is straightforward, easy to pronounce and easy to remember. But if you decide you want to use a pseudonym, there’s nothing stopping you.
For now, just use your chosen pseudonym on your scripts. You’ll need to use your real, legal name on contracts and registrations, but for casual purposes, your nom-de-plume is fine. It’s only when people start paying you actual money that you’ll need to address the legitimacy of your pseudonym.
The WGA determines how names appear on screen, and the rules are pretty specific:
PSEUDONYM
19. A writer must use his/her own name in all writing credits unless he/she has already established a pseudonym or registers one at the Guild office before commencement of employment on a writing assignment, or before disposition of any rights to literary material on which he/she wishes to use such pseudonym.
Here’s what this means in practical terms. At some point, you’ll get a job writing for a WGA signatory company (any of the studios or major producers) and will be required to join the WGA. When you do, there will be forms to fill out, including a place for your pseudonym. You better be sure it’s the name you want to use for the next 30 years.
There’s one special case that sometimes comes up. A writer has the right to use a pseudonym if she receives credit on a movie, but don’t really want her name associated with it.
Credited writers of theatrical motion pictures are guaranteed the right to use a “reasonable” pseudonym if the request is made within five business days after credits are final and if the writer was paid less than $200,000 for writing services on the movie.1
In this situation, you’d still get residuals and all the other protections from being a credited writer, but you wouldn’t have to claim public ownership of a movie that went horribly awry.
It’s important to remember that using a pseudonym is different than legally changing your name. That’s what I did in 1992 before moving to California. My original last name flummoxed everyone, so I went to court in order to swap it with my father’s middle name. It was a massive hassle, but in the long run, it’s worked much better to have one name in both public and personal life.
- The $200K threshold seems arbitrary, but it’s a demand from the studios. If they’re paying a writer that much, they want to be able to use his or her name and credits for marketing purposes. ↩
21 Responses to “Using a pseudonym”
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July 28th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Okay, one shocking thing. Studios use writers’ names for marketing purposes?
I like the idea of having one name for private life and one name for public life, but my ego would prevent me from using any name that wasn’t immediately recognized as mine by all those who I known over the years, and who might one day be watching a movie, see my name and think, “Wow. He wrote this piece of crap? No wonder I haven’t heard from him in so many years.”
July 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I reckon “Written by Quentin Tarantino” would get a few bums on seats.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
re: “written by QT”
not my bum…
July 28th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
@Eric
But still a few i’d say.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
The way you wrote this implies that, once you have established or registered your pseudonym, you MUST use it. Is that true? It’s not clear in your post.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
FishyFred:
I’m assuming it is the same for screenwriters, but as an actor, I can tell you that once you start building credits, you really want to keep your name consistent. You don’t want to start over on the credit thing. You would spend too much time explaining why your new name doesn’t appear on the projects you’ve said you worked on and that you and the other guy are the same person.
On a side note: I often wish I had gone with the familiar version of my name rather than the formal version, but once the credits starting building, I had to stick to the formal version for consistency’s sake. The ironic part is that I’ve accidentally been credited by the familiar version several times — and constantly have to request new contracts to make sure I’m credited correctly.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:08 am
A “reasonable pseudonym” - I used to assume that Faustus Buck, with story credit on 1984’s V: THE FINAL BATTLE, was using a pseudonym to signal unhappiness with the work (”hey, it was just a fast buck”).
Then along came the internet and I learned that, as Craig Buck, he has various other writing and producing credits.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I have a situation where I recently changed my last name. My name used to be S.M.(initials), and now I have appended a last name to it and legally changed my name to S.M.R. I would like to use SMR only for legal purposes and keep all my film related activity as SM.
Is that possible?
July 29th, 2008 at 7:24 am
“my ego would prevent me from using any name that wasn’t immediately recognized as mine by all those who I known over the years,”
I actually went by a pseudonym in high school and use my real name now.
It comes in handy when I run into someone I don’t recognize, I can tell if they’re someone I knew from high school if they call me “Tommy”
July 29th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Philip, Sounds like your blog pseudonym might be cooler? If so, and it’s “catchy” (like, say, Diablo Cody) I’d remember that the name will shape your public image as well, so just be mindful that you like the image you’re conveying. I’m not sure how old you are, but if you’re very young, remember that sometimes a name that seems cool when you’re 20 seems ridiculous when you’re forty. Also, your name will acquire value once you start racking up credits b/c then your name will be known.
Shripriya, if you appended the last name without a hyphen, I believe you have the legal right to use either last name (or so says a friend of mine who did the research when she got married). Not sure how the Guild will process that, but you can just give them a call (I’d just call the Membership department and if they can’t answer your question, they’ll direct you to someone who can. The number should be at wga.org.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Thanks for this post. I’ve often wondered if the name would become a problem.
And I agree that having a private name and a public name solves a world of problems. Fortunately my UPS delivery man knows both names.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:54 am
@Paula - fortunately, I did not hyphenate it. M became the middle name. So, I think it should work - thank you!
July 29th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I don’t know, that special-case-scenario is one that usually draws my attention towards a movie. Not necessarily for screenwriters, but I know whenever I see the name “Alan Smithee” associated with anything, there’s some kind of incentive to see it.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
“…remember that sometimes a name that seems cool when you’re 20 seems ridiculous when you’re forty.”
Hey, take it from me. I changed my name to Speed Racer when I was 10. Try getting a job with that name. Or even a date.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Jenny,
The DGA discontinued the “Alan Smithee” tradition when too many people caught on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlanSmithee#DGAreplacesthepractice
July 29th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Here’s a question, though…
Let’s say I already registered a script using my legal name, but within that 5 year period decided on using a stage name/pseudonym/what-have-you.
Let’s also that we’re in Fantasyland and that that script gets sold and fast-tracked and into production by Friday. Would the original registration (with my legal name) be legally bound to the Writing Credits?
Or could one go the WGA and submit a name change (not legal, just professional) for the eventual Writing Credit?
John, it sounds like you legally changed your name to keep things organized, or did you legally change it because that was the only way you could use the name “John August” on your title card?
Last I checked, “Diablo Cody” is just a pen name and not the name on her driver’s license. Or maybe it is? Not sure.
Confusion…
Can anyone help?
Anybody…?
July 30th, 2008 at 7:11 am
“Would the original registration (with my legal name) be legally bound to the Writing Credits?”
Nope.
When you get the paperwork to join the Guild, you just put your chosen stage name on the proper form (there’s a form specifically dealing with your requested credited name) and that’s what credit you will get.
The previous registration won’t mean anything.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Hey John,
Thanks so much for answering my question (and the advice about using my legal name) - this helps SO much!
And Layne, Diablo Cody’s real name is Brook Busey - and the more that I think about it, only she could get away with using such a cool, yet outrageous pseudonym.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:49 am
What’s in a name?
There have been a few posts on here where John has mentioned his changing of his name because it’s easier for people to pronounce, remember, etc. What I am wondering is, how important is that, really? Especially for writers and directors (actors, who want top billing, may be in a different situation — though maybe not if you’re Shia LeBeouf, one of the Gyllenhaals, or a Schwarzenegger)?
M. Night Shyamalan changed his first name, but before he became a “phenom” hardly anyone in the U.S. could pronounce Shyamalan. Before 1942, could anyone pronounce Mankiewicz (can they now)? Chayefsky and Jhabvala seemed to do alright for themselves (ok, Jhabvala works in England). Kubrick, Scorsese, Aronofsky, Gondry — not very common American names — never mind Timur Bekmambetov or Alejandro González Iñárritu, both of whom have broken into the U.S. market from their foreign roots. Once upon a time, even Coppola and Goldman would have sounded suspiciously “foreign” to the whitebread moviegoing masses.
So when is a stage-name change warranted? Is it ever truly necessary? Or is it always a matter of personal preference?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
“What I am wondering is, how important is that, really? “
I think you’re looking at it backwards. All of those non-common names you cited are memorable. It’s people like me who worry about what’s in a name.
My last name was Rudolph for about six months before my parents were married and they had my name changed to match. Growing up as Nicholas Rudolph would have been a nightmare, but today I would much prefer it to the John Smith name I’m saddled with. If I ever earn a credit, my listing on IMDB will be Nick Miller (XII). Who wants to be the twelfth name down on a list of identical names?
August 21st, 2008 at 11:19 am
I’m still curious. Does it cost money to create and use a pseudonym? Do you have to register it in some master directory somewhere?