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Balanced credits

MJ Simpson

12 years, 10 months ago - MJ Simpson

Chatting with a development executive friend recently she expressed her long held bewilderment that writers have such low status in the industry, especially compared to directors.

I respect directors enormously (some of my best friends...etc) but they are often put on too high a pedestal; especially when the film-making process is so dependent on collaboration.

We all know it's the writer's story - but the director's FILM... but I think the equality of the writer and director should be better reflected in the credits.

So here's an idea:

If the opening credits are: "Directed by ----... Produced by ----... Written by ----..."

Then the closing credits should be: "Written by ----... Produced by ----... Directed by..."

Or vice versa.

Thoughts?

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Daniel Cormack

12 years, 10 months ago - Daniel Cormack

In all honesty, I don't think it's going to make much difference and raises a
problem in that you are now burning film (and therefore money) on giving the
same credits twice.

The standard arrangement is to give above the line credits on the opening
titles and below the line credits on the end titles.

Also, I'm not sure if screenwriters really do have such a low status. In TV,
they are certainly better remunerated and have better rights than directors,
especially if they have originated a returning series or continuing drama, which
is basically a licence to print money and get rich!

Obviously, if you're scratching around at the low end of the UK independent
film industry then you're not going to have a particularly high status, but I
hardly think that your director peers in this arena are "put on too high a
pedestal".

I'd be interested to see concrete examples of this "low status" as I actually
think that it is often a case of the grass always being greener on the other
side, when in fact directors and writers share a lot of the same issues and
problems.

Response from 12 years, 10 months ago - Daniel Cormack SHOW

Dan Selakovich

12 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Here in Los Angeles, that would never happen. Unions have negotiated with one another to arrange the single title card in specific positions. Having said that, the one credit that should go is the "A film By..." then listing the director. THAT is one that shouldn't even be there, but good luck getting the DGA to go along.

Dan

Response from 12 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich SHOW