WGA screenwriting credit system
Encyclopedia
In the United States
, screenwriting credit for motion pictures and television programs under its jurisdiction is determined by either the Writers Guild of America, East
(WGAE) or the Writers Guild of America, West
(WGAW). Since 1941
, the Guilds have been the final arbiter of who receives credit for writing a screenplay
or original story, or credit for creating the original characters. A production company that signs the Guild Basic Agreement must comply with the Guild rules on screenwriting
credits.
, the first president of the Screen Writers Guild (the WGAw's former name) said, "A writer's name is his most cherished possession. It is his creative personality, the symbol of the whole body of his ideas and experience." However, the Internet Movie Database has included unofficially credited work in the filmographies of writers since 2009.
The credit system affects eligibility for membership in the union
, which is determined on points awarded based on what a writer has done, and it affects future income. While all writers are paid when they work, usually only credited writers receive residual income from future exploitation of a film on video, pay-per-view, broadcast television, etc.
In arbitration, Guild members review all drafts of the screenplay by each writer and follow a formula that determines the credits.
The WGAE and WGAw both resolutely reject the auteur theory
—that only the director is the "author" of a film—so a "production executive" (a producer or director) who claims credit must meet a higher standard than others to receive credit. An original writer must contribute at least one-third of the final screenplay to receive credit. Subsequent writers who work as script doctor
s must contribute more than half of the final screenplay to receive credit. A production executive who works on a script must contribute at least half the final product to receive credit (WGA Screen Credits Manual, section III.C.3).
Credit can be apportioned for the story, a short treatment of the plot and characters, and the screenplay itself when all writers were not equally involved in the creation of both. A credit might read "Story by John Doe. Screenplay by John Doe & Richard Roe."
Where a team of writers works on a screenplay, names are joined by an ampersand
(&), and when two teams of writers work successively on a script, the teams are joined by and. So, a credit reading "John Doe & Richard Roe and Jane Doe & Jane Roe" means that there were two writing teams, John and Richard on one and the two Janes on the other.
Where a film has been based on a previous film, but does not remake it, a "based on characters created by" credit is given, such as on the show Frasier
. Every episode gives credits to James Burrows
, Glen Charles
and Les Charles
, the creators of Cheers
, the show where the character of Dr. Frasier Crane originated.
Only three writers may be credited for the screenplay if they collaborated and a maximum of three teams of three may be credited no matter how many actually worked on it. For example, Lethal Weapon 4
(1998
) had about a dozen writers, as did Hulk
(2003
). The film adaptation of The Flintstones
(1994
) supposedly had over sixty writers. This limit doesn't include those awarded credit elsewhere for creating characters or the original story.
The Guilds also permit use of pseudonym
s if a writer requests one in a timely fashion, but has been known to refuse to accept one that makes a statement. For example, screenwriter
J. Michael Straczynski
wanted to take his name off the Babylon 5
spin-off
series Crusade
and substitute "Eiben Scrood" ("I been screwed") to protest script changes the production company made. According to Straczynski, the WGAw refused because "it 'diminished the value' of the show and basically made light of the studio."
that, after being optioned
, undergoes a "page one rewrite" that produces a new draft. In many such cases, the original author receives the "story by" rather than "screenplay by" credit.
A chief objection is the secrecy of the process. Identities of the arbiters are secret, so concerned parties have no way to object to the qualifications or possible biases of their judges. Also, the decision itself is secret, even from the parties to the dispute, so they have no way to know why they lost or won credit. Secret decisions make an appeal impossible, and define no precedent for future disputes. There is an appeal panel, but it only concerns itself with technical details as to whether the decision followed the rules.
Guild members have criticized the way the process handles existing material, such as a book, that is adapted to film. Generally, the first writer to work on such a project naturally appropriates the most cinematic elements of the story. Other teams that subsequently work on the script, however, may base their work on the original text rather than that first draft. Barry Levinson
, the director of Wag the Dog
and a disputant over screenwriting credit for the film (which was adapted from a novel), says:
Even if little of the initial efforts remain in the final script, the original writer is often awarded credit because he or she was first on the scene.
), says that, "The large majority of credits are still straightforward and uncontested," but "When they go wrong, they go horribly wrong." Writer-director Phil Alden Robinson
says, "No one can trust the writing credit. Nobody knows who really wrote the film."
When Hunter S. Thompson
's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was adapted for the screen, Alex Cox
and Tod Davies
wrote the initial adaptation. When Terry Gilliam
was brought in to direct, he rewrote it with Tony Grisoni
. The Guild initially denied Gilliam and Grisoni any credit, even though Gilliam claimed nothing of the original adaptation remained in the final film. "As a director, I was automatically deemed a 'production executive' by the Guild and, by definition, discriminated against. But for Tony to go without any credit would be really unfair." After complaints, the Guild did award Gilliam and Grisoni credit, in addition to Cox and Davies, but Gilliam resigned from the union over the dispute. "It's really a Star Chamber
," said Gilliam of the arbitration process, which he claimed took more work than the screenplay itself.
Similar problems arose for the film Ronin
. According to director John Frankenheimer
, "The credits should read: Story by J. D. Zeik, screenplay by David Mamet
. We didn't shoot a line of Zeik's script." Instead, Mamet received credit under a pseudonym. After the controversy over credits for Wag the Dog
, Mamet reportedly has decided to attach his name only to movies on which he is the sole writer.
From 1993 to 1997, there were 415 arbitrations, about one-third of all films whose credits were submitted.
For a similar conflict resolution technique in the film directing
credit, see Alan Smithee
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, screenwriting credit for motion pictures and television programs under its jurisdiction is determined by either the Writers Guild of America, East
Writers Guild of America, East
Writers Guild of America, East is a labor union representing writers of television and film and employees of television and radio news. The 2006 membership of the guild was 3,770....
(WGAE) or the Writers Guild of America, West
Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, West is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. The Guild was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, which include the Screen Writers Guild...
(WGAW). Since 1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
, the Guilds have been the final arbiter of who receives credit for writing a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
or original story, or credit for creating the original characters. A production company that signs the Guild Basic Agreement must comply with the Guild rules on screenwriting
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
credits.
Rationale
The system is important to writers primarily for reputational purposes. Some sources list only WGAE or WGAw certified credits. John Howard LawsonJohn Howard Lawson
John Howard Lawson was an American writer. He was head of the Hollywood division of the Communist Party USA. He was also the cell's cultural manager, and answered directly to V.J. Jerome, the Party's New York-based cultural chief...
, the first president of the Screen Writers Guild (the WGAw's former name) said, "A writer's name is his most cherished possession. It is his creative personality, the symbol of the whole body of his ideas and experience." However, the Internet Movie Database has included unofficially credited work in the filmographies of writers since 2009.
The credit system affects eligibility for membership in the union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, which is determined on points awarded based on what a writer has done, and it affects future income. While all writers are paid when they work, usually only credited writers receive residual income from future exploitation of a film on video, pay-per-view, broadcast television, etc.
Process
On completion of a film, the producer presents proposed screenwriting credits to the guild and circulates the final script to all writers employed on the script. If any writer objects to the proposed credits, credit for the film enters arbitration. The director or producer of the film being proposed for final credit triggers an automatic arbitration (WGA Screen Credits Manual, section III.C.1)In arbitration, Guild members review all drafts of the screenplay by each writer and follow a formula that determines the credits.
The WGAE and WGAw both resolutely reject the auteur theory
Auteur theory
In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur"...
—that only the director is the "author" of a film—so a "production executive" (a producer or director) who claims credit must meet a higher standard than others to receive credit. An original writer must contribute at least one-third of the final screenplay to receive credit. Subsequent writers who work as script doctor
Script doctor
A script doctor, also called script consultant, is a highly-skilled screenwriter, hired by a film or television production, to rewrite or polish specific aspects of an existing screenplay, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, theme, and other elements...
s must contribute more than half of the final screenplay to receive credit. A production executive who works on a script must contribute at least half the final product to receive credit (WGA Screen Credits Manual, section III.C.3).
Credit can be apportioned for the story, a short treatment of the plot and characters, and the screenplay itself when all writers were not equally involved in the creation of both. A credit might read "Story by John Doe. Screenplay by John Doe & Richard Roe."
Where a team of writers works on a screenplay, names are joined by an ampersand
Ampersand
An ampersand is a logogram representing the conjunction word "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and".-Etymology:...
(&), and when two teams of writers work successively on a script, the teams are joined by and. So, a credit reading "John Doe & Richard Roe and Jane Doe & Jane Roe" means that there were two writing teams, John and Richard on one and the two Janes on the other.
Where a film has been based on a previous film, but does not remake it, a "based on characters created by" credit is given, such as on the show Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
. Every episode gives credits to James Burrows
James Burrows
James Edward Burrows is an American television director who has been working in television since the 1970s.-Biography:...
, Glen Charles
Glen Charles
Glen Gerald Charles was born on February 18, 1943 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended the University of Redlands, California and earned a B.A. in English. Charles began his professional life as an advertising copywriter, but moved into television. He began his television career with his brother, Les...
and Les Charles
Les Charles
Les Charles was born in Henderson, Nevada. He attended the University of Redlands, California and earned a B.A. in English. Charles began his professional career as a high school English teacher, but moved into television....
, the creators of Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
, the show where the character of Dr. Frasier Crane originated.
Only three writers may be credited for the screenplay if they collaborated and a maximum of three teams of three may be credited no matter how many actually worked on it. For example, Lethal Weapon 4
Lethal Weapon 4
Lethal Weapon 4 is a 1998 American action film directed by Richard Donner, starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock and Jet Li. It is the third sequel in the Lethal Weapon series of films. -Plot:...
(1998
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
) had about a dozen writers, as did Hulk
Hulk (film)
Hulk is a 2003 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name. Ang Lee directed the film, which stars Eric Bana as Dr. Bruce Banner, as well as Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, and Nick Nolte...
(2003
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
). The film adaptation of The Flintstones
The Flintstones (film)
The Flintstones is a 1994 American live-action comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon television series of the same name about a Stone-Age man, his family and his best friend. The film was directed by Brian Levant, written by Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein and Steven E...
(1994
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
) supposedly had over sixty writers. This limit doesn't include those awarded credit elsewhere for creating characters or the original story.
The Guilds also permit use of pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s if a writer requests one in a timely fashion, but has been known to refuse to accept one that makes a statement. For example, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
J. Michael Straczynski
J. Michael Straczynski
Joseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
wanted to take his name off the Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
series Crusade
Crusade (TV series)
Crusade is a spin-off TV show from J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5. Its plot is set in AD 2267, five years after the events of Babylon 5, and just after the movie A Call to Arms. A race called the Drakh have released a nanovirus plague on Earth, which will destroy all life on Earth within five...
and substitute "Eiben Scrood" ("I been screwed") to protest script changes the production company made. According to Straczynski, the WGAw refused because "it 'diminished the value' of the show and basically made light of the studio."
Story by
There is a common misconception that a "story by" credit may be given to a person who simply has the story idea for a film or television program. This is never the case, as all writing credits are for actual writing. Often, a screenwriter produces a spec scriptSpec script
A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or studio....
that, after being optioned
Option (films)
In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement between a potential film producer, such as a movie studio, a production company or an individual, and a writer or third party who holds ownership of a screenplay...
, undergoes a "page one rewrite" that produces a new draft. In many such cases, the original author receives the "story by" rather than "screenplay by" credit.
Examples
Here are some complicated examples of WGA-approved exceptions to the typical one-writer credit.- The RockThe Rock (film)The Rock is a 1996 action film that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island and in the San Francisco Bay area. It was directed by Michael Bay and stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. It was produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and released through Hollywood Pictures. The film...
(1996), starring Sean ConnerySean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
and Nicolas CageNicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
, has the writing credit "Story by David Weisberg & Douglas S. Cook. Screenplay by David Weisberg & Douglas S. Cook and Mark Rosner." - Armageddon (1998), starring Bruce WillisBruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
, carries the credits "Story by Robert Roy PoolRobert Roy PoolRobert Roy Pool is an American screenwriter, best known for his authorship of the motion pictures Outbreak , starring Dustin Hoffman, and The Big Town , starring Matt Dillon. He also received a "story by" credit on the motion picture Armageddon , which starred Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton...
and Jonathan HensleighJonathan HensleighJonathan Blair Hensleigh is an American screenwriter and film director, working primarily in the action/adventure genre of films.-Early life:...
. Adaptation by Tony GilroyTony GilroyAnthony Joseph "Tony" Gilroy is an American screenwriter and filmmaker. He wrote the screenplays for the Bourne series starring Matt Damon, among other successful films. He has been nominated for Academy Awards for his direction and script for Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney...
and Shane SalernoShane SalernoShane Salerno is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He has written or co-written several blockbuster films including Armageddon and Shaft and is also one of the writer-producers of the successful CBS drama series Hawaii Five-0...
. Screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and J. J. AbramsJ. J. AbramsJeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity...
." - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 adventure fantasy film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks. It was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
(2003) credits "Screen Story by Ted ElliottTed ElliottTed Elliott is an American screenwriter. Along with his writing partner Terry Rossio, Elliott has written some of the most successful American films of the past 15 years, including Aladdin, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. In 2004, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild...
& Terry RossioTerry RossioTerry Rossio is an American screenwriter.Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio,...
and Stuart BeattieStuart BeattieStuart Beattie is an Australian screenwriter and film director. He attended Knox Grammar School, in Sydney, Australia, where his mother, Sandra, was a languages teacher, and later Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.-Filmography:...
and Jay WolpertJay WolpertJay Wolpert is an American television producer and screenwriter.His first television appearance came as a contestant on the original version of Jeopardy! in 1969. He competed in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions that year and won....
. Screenplay by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio." - Scary Movie 4Scary Movie 4Scary Movie 4 is the fourth film of the Scary Movie franchise, directed by David Zucker, written by Jim Abrahams, Craig Mazin and Pat Proft, and produced by Craig Mazin and Robert K. Weiss. It is distributed by The Weinstein Company via its Dimension Films unit in the U.S. and Television, and...
(2006) credits "Screenplay by Craig MazinCraig MazinCraig Mazin is an American screenwriter and director.Mazin was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to Marlboro Township, New Jersey when he was a teen and attended Freehold High School which inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2010. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in psychology from...
& Jim AbrahamsJim AbrahamsJim Abrahams is an American movie director and writer.Abrahams was born in Shorewood, Wisconsin, to a Jewish family, and attended Shorewood High School...
& Pat ProftPat ProftPatrick "Pat" Proft is an American comedy writer and actor.Proft was born in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, the son of Marguerite and Bob Proft. He began his career at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis. In the mid-1970s, he began writing for television and films...
. Story by Craig Mazin. Based on Characters Created by Shawn Wayans & Marlon WayansMarlon WayansMarlon L. Wayans is an American actor, model producer, comedian, writer, and director of movies, beginning with his role as a pedestrian in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka in 1988...
& Buddy Johnson & Phil Beauman and Jason FriedbergJason FriedbergJason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer are a film director and screenwriter team known for making parody films...
& Aaron Seltzer." The original Scary Movie was based on a combination of two scripts, causing its sequels to have increasingly complicated writing credits.
Arbitration
Some Guild members have criticized the arbitration process. The Guild, however, have won most lawsuits against them, and in 2002 the WGA membership overwhelmingly rejected changes to the arbitration procedures.A chief objection is the secrecy of the process. Identities of the arbiters are secret, so concerned parties have no way to object to the qualifications or possible biases of their judges. Also, the decision itself is secret, even from the parties to the dispute, so they have no way to know why they lost or won credit. Secret decisions make an appeal impossible, and define no precedent for future disputes. There is an appeal panel, but it only concerns itself with technical details as to whether the decision followed the rules.
Guild members have criticized the way the process handles existing material, such as a book, that is adapted to film. Generally, the first writer to work on such a project naturally appropriates the most cinematic elements of the story. Other teams that subsequently work on the script, however, may base their work on the original text rather than that first draft. Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...
, the director of Wag the Dog
Wag the Dog
Wag the Dog is a 1997 black comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, co-starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary and William H. Macy about a Washington spin doctor who, merely days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer...
and a disputant over screenwriting credit for the film (which was adapted from a novel), says:
- If a writer creates an idea from scratch, that's one thing. Even if the script is given to other writers and rewritten, that first writer created the seeds of that idea and he or she should get some regard. But for a script from a book, it's different.
Even if little of the initial efforts remain in the final script, the original writer is often awarded credit because he or she was first on the scene.
Conflict and resolution examples
Frank Pierson, former WGAw president (and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
), says that, "The large majority of credits are still straightforward and uncontested," but "When they go wrong, they go horribly wrong." Writer-director Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson is an American film director and screenwriter whose films include Field of Dreams, Sneakers and The Sum of All Fears.-Life and career:...
says, "No one can trust the writing credit. Nobody knows who really wrote the film."
When Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was adapted for the screen, Alex Cox
Alex Cox
Alexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...
and Tod Davies
Tod Davies
Tod Davies where she attended Convent of the Sacred Heart High School located on Broadway St. and is a writer, publisher and producer...
wrote the initial adaptation. When Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
was brought in to direct, he rewrote it with Tony Grisoni
Tony Grisoni
-Biography:He has co-written several of director Terry Gilliam's films, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Tideland.Tony Grisoni worked in many different areas of film making before turning to screenwriting. QUEEN OF HEARTS, 1989 was his award winning first feature directed by Jon Amiel...
. The Guild initially denied Gilliam and Grisoni any credit, even though Gilliam claimed nothing of the original adaptation remained in the final film. "As a director, I was automatically deemed a 'production executive' by the Guild and, by definition, discriminated against. But for Tony to go without any credit would be really unfair." After complaints, the Guild did award Gilliam and Grisoni credit, in addition to Cox and Davies, but Gilliam resigned from the union over the dispute. "It's really a Star Chamber
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
," said Gilliam of the arbitration process, which he claimed took more work than the screenplay itself.
Similar problems arose for the film Ronin
Ronin (film)
Ronin is a 1998 action-thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet. It stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as two of several former special forces and intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of...
. According to director John Frankenheimer
John Frankenheimer
John Michael Frankenheimer was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films...
, "The credits should read: Story by J. D. Zeik, screenplay by David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
. We didn't shoot a line of Zeik's script." Instead, Mamet received credit under a pseudonym. After the controversy over credits for Wag the Dog
Wag the Dog
Wag the Dog is a 1997 black comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, co-starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary and William H. Macy about a Washington spin doctor who, merely days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer...
, Mamet reportedly has decided to attach his name only to movies on which he is the sole writer.
From 1993 to 1997, there were 415 arbitrations, about one-third of all films whose credits were submitted.
See also
- Acknowledgment (creative arts)Acknowledgment (creative arts)In the creative arts and scientific literature, an acknowledgment is an expression of gratitude for assistance in creating a literary or artistic work....
- Billing (filmmaking)
- Character generatorCharacter generatorA character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text for keying into a video stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and can generate graphics as well as text...
- Cinema of the United StatesCinema of the United StatesThe cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
- Closing creditsClosing creditsClosing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture, television program, or video game to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the...
- Credit (creative arts)Credit (creative arts)In general, the term credit in the artistic or intellectual sense refers to an acknowledgement of those who contributed to a work, whether through ideas or in a more direct sense.-Credit in the arts:...
- Opening creditsOpening creditsIn a motion picture, television program, or video game, the opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important members of the production. They are now usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There...
- Title sequenceTitle sequenceA Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
- Television in the United StatesTelevision in the United StatesTelevision is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...
- WGA script registration serviceWGA script registration serviceThe WGA script registration service is a service run by both the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West to establish the date of creation of literary property, typically a motion picture screenplay, useful in the often-contentious US entertainment field.The service...
- Writers Guild of America AwardWriters Guild of America AwardThe Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
For a similar conflict resolution technique in the film directing
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
credit, see Alan Smithee
Alan Smithee
Alan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to...
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