Screenwriter and author John August

Ands and Ampersands

January 2, 2007 Film Industry, QandA

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

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.

Idiocy on Parade

January 1, 2007 Parade

A new feature in which I answer questions sent to Walter Scott’s Personality Parade®. Today’s column comes from December 17, 2006.

Any truth to rumors that Barbra Streisand will play Mama Rose in a film version of the musical Gypsy?-Mary Jansen, Orlando, Fla.

[a] And this will change your life exactly how, Mary? Let’s say she does get cast. It will be at least a year before the movie comes out. During that time, you can conjecture and kvetch with others in various forums and message boards, discussing whether she’s right for the role, if the role’s right for her, and how absolutely fantastic or godawful her version of “Rose’s Turn” will be. Alternately, you could get a fucking life.

I’m a fan of Jason Ritter, son of the late John Ritter and star of CBS’s The Class. Does he have a significant other? -Jackie N., Washington, D.C.

[a] No, Jackie. He’s saving himself for you. Or are you coyly trying to ask if he’s gay? I have no idea. Let me call his publicist. I’m sure I’ll get a straight answer. Wink, wink.

In her new autobiography, Lessons in Becoming Myself, Ellen Burstyn reveals painful stories of abuse, neglect, incest and promiscuity. Didn’t she have reservations about such honesty? -Toby M., Lansing, Mich.

[a] Probably. But the desire to have her book sell more than five copies helped her get past her reservations.

After you came out in favor of skinny models, two died from complications of anorexia. What do you have to say for yourself now?
-Grace Powers, Austin, Tex.

[a] Shove it, Grace.

Masi Oka mostly speaks Japanese on NBC’s hit series Heroes. Is his English as good as his Japanese?-A. Liebman, Spokane, Wash.

[a] It’s called Wikipedia, A.

TV stars like T.R. Knight of Grey’s Anatomy don’t seem to suffer by coming out of the closet. Are there many gay film stars who still hide their sexual orientation, like Rock Hudson did in the 1950s?
-Ross McC., Newark, N.J.

[a] No. Every actor in Hollywood is now straight as a lumberjack.

I’m curious about Cheyenne, who won on NBC’s America’s Most Talented Kids and recently had an MTV reality show. Is that her real name? -Cal Campbell, Gallup, N.M.

[a] Jesus, Cal. I’d call you lazy, but licking the stamp on your letter took more work than Googling the answer. So maybe you’re just stupid.

I haven’t seen Steven Seagal onscreen in a long time. Did he retire?-Andy R., Cos Cob, Conn.

[a] No, he transcended this plane of existence. C’mon Andy. I can see wanting your name in print, but do you really want it associated with Steven Seagal? And even if you can’t figure out how this whole interweb thing works, just typing his name into any random box will bring you to his website, which shows 30 upcoming tour dates for his band. Maybe you could ask him in person when Glimmer Man 2 will be coming out.

How will history assess Donald Rumsfeld?-Mark Hughes, New York, N.Y.

[a] Fat.

On why the site looks a little different

December 31, 2006 Geek Alert, Meta

geek alert One of my self-assigned projects for the holiday break was to rebuild the site — not so much how it looked, but the coding underneath. Inspired by the SimpleBits re-do, and armed with my copy of Andy Clarke’s Transcending CSS, I envisioned sparkling new CSS, built on a clear semantic framework. No longer would the site’s undercarriage be held together with duct tape and angle brackets. It would be strong, straightforward and robust.

But that didn’t happen.

Rebuilding a working website is like changing the oil in a moving vehicle. It’s possible, but it ain’t easy. More dispiriting, I realized that all of the vintage hacks and work-arounds I was trying to avoid have simply been replaced with new hacks and work-arounds, such as the Inman clearing method. So, for the most part, I chose to leave well enough alone.

But I did tweak a few things. The headlines are bigger, and the comments sections use significantly more whitespace. I nixed the tree border — that was always supposed to be temporary, but it lasted for more than a year. The box under the brad is gone, as are many of the less-clicked items. I’ve removed the links to other blogs, but intend to restore them at a later date.

One of the most significant changes is the “Share This” link under every article. It uses Alex King’s AJAX-y goodness to allow readers to bookmark or email a specific entry.

“Share This” takes the place of “Permalink,” and good riddance. For readers who do want to copy the URL of any article, the headline now serves as the permanent link, which is pretty much what every other blog does. The very idea of listing a “permalink” which is not meant to be clicked, but copied, dates back to a specific time in the webosphere, and, well, we’ve moved on.

There are a few other changes on my wishlist, but they may wait until I bring on someone more qualified to implement them. In the meantime, if I’ve broken something that I haven’t noticed, please let me know. That’s one of the driving-while-changing-the-oil pitfalls.

Little Children, a little late

December 29, 2006 Awards, Film Industry, Follow Up

[for my consideration] Yesterday afternoon, I hauled my butt over to the Sunset 5 to catch Little Children. I’d been dying to see it ever since catching the brilliant trailer months ago. (The trailer was better than the movie, which is no slam on the film. The trailer really is that good.)

Today’s mail brought a screener copy of Little Children. Anticipating this will be a trend, I’d like to pre-announce the movies I plan to see soon, so that the studios can be ready with the DVD follow-up: Children of Men, The Good Shepherd, and the Alien Quadrilogy.Okay, that last one’s not in theaters. But I’d like a copy, all the same.

Screeners to date:

Little Children
Babel
World Trade Center
United 93
Notes on a Scandal
Flags of Our Fathers
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You for Smoking

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