John August

Film Industry

The Queen on a silver platter

Awards, Film Industry

[for my consideration]The inflow of screeners has slowed to a trickle, with only The Queen arriving this week. That makes nine screeners so far:

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

The Hollywood Reporter claims its [FYC](http://hollywoodreporter.com/fyc) has screenplays for download, but I’ve yet to find one for any of the movies it features. If any readers find links to the screenplay contenders, please pass them along.

Ands and Ampersands

Film Industry, QandA

questionmarkFor “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.

Little Children, a little late

Awards, Film Industry, Follow Up

[for my consideration]Yesterday afternoon, I hauled my butt over to the Sunset 5 to catch [Little Children](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404203/). 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

For My Consideration

Film Industry

One of the considerable perks of being in the Writers Guild is that come awards time, the studios will do almost anything to get you to see their movies.

Yesterday, my WGA card got me two tickets to see Dreamgirls and I am telling you, the only thing that could compare with Jennifer Hudson’s big song was the thrill of signing for my free tickets just one line below [Diane English](http://imdb.com/name/nm0257606/), creator of “Murphy Brown.” It’s weird: I’m not at all star-struck; I don’t understand the appeal of collecting signatures. But coming across the accidental debris of celebrities — or better yet, quasi-celebrities — is strangely fascinating. Look! Diane English is just as cheap as me!

Since one can’t always make it to the theater, studios also send DVD screeners. Two years ago, there was a big effort to cut back on the process, on the theory that it led to piracy. By recent evidence, the studios have decided not to worry so much about it. So far I’ve received:

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

I’ve also been sent the scripts for all of these, along with the script for Dreamgirls. As the weeks pass and envelopes keep coming, I’ll try to update the list of movies that I now have no excuse not to have seen.