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News You Can Use:
THE DIRECTORS CREDIT
You've made your first film — an eye-catching, edgy, stylistic tour de force that's sure to ignite considerable buzz at Sundance and maybe propel you to that big studio deal. Why not do something equally edgy with the credits? Flip everything around to shake up the status quo.
That's a creative attitude to be commended. However, keep in mind that there's one credit you should be very careful about toying with. It's your credit, the one that says 'Directed by.' Believe it or not, there's very sound reasoning behind why it is what it is, and where it is as well.
The format and positioning of "Directed by" is spelled out in Article 8 of your DGA Basic Agreement. It also says that your credit is to be not less than 50% of the size in which the title of the motion picture is displayed or of the largest size in which a credit is accorded to another person, whichever is greater. In addition, "Directed by" is to appear on the last title card appearing prior to principal photography.
At one time, a director's credit was subject to the whim of the producer. It could be placed anywhere, sometimes buried within a list of technical credits. Correcting this situation and guaranteeing credit position commensurate with the responsibilities and authority of the director was a central concern of the Guild's founders.
Decades of difficult negotiations resulted in the strong Basic Agreement we have today. The primary position of the director's credit symbolizes and promotes one of the cornerstone concepts of the Guild — the director is the one most responsible for what the audience sees and that there should be only one director. Therefore, any significant deviation from the hard-won contractually required form or placement must be reviewed by the DGA's Western Directors Council which grants waivers only rarely and with great reluctance.
Jeffrey D. Heimer, DGA Credits Administrator, said, "Because the placement and form were so difficult to achieve, if a director wants to move the credit or change the form of 'Directed by,' the Council must consider whether that move or change would negatively impact not only the director requesting the waiver, but all other directors. Would a proposed change create a precedent that leads to the erosion of the prominence of the positioning for all directors?
"Directors sometimes may take their status for granted, but the Guild has fought many battles to achieve and protect it. The prime position of the director's credit on the screen has helped establish the director's position of primacy in production. The Guild considers it an obligation to preserve that position for all present and future directors."
But Heimer explained that the requirements are not meant to stifle the creativity of a director who may wish to do something novel or different in a credit sequence. The Council will take into account a waiver request based on a director's creative impulse, but not at the cost of hurting other directors.
"You have to understand that there is value in the director credit," Heimer explained. "There are so many forms of producing credit. On many films it's often hard to determine who actually is the producer. On some, the executive producer may have done the producing. So might the producer or one of the co-producers. A line producer may have performed the most important function. Writers have a similar problem. Several teams of writers may contribute to a screenplay but not all of them are accorded credit.
"So the intent behind the guidelines in the Basic Agreement is to ensure that there is no such confusion on the director's credit or the contribution the director has made. It is in this context that the Council reviews any deviation from the norm before granting or denying a request for a waiver. Companies must submit credits to the Guild for review and approval in time for corrections before they're locked."
In addition, the Basic Agreement also provides that nobody, other than the director of photography, art director and assistant directors, may use the word "director" in their credit. "It keeps the 'director' credit from being watered down by credits such as 'director of technical services,'" Heimer said. "The intent here is to prevent what has happened to producers."
The styles of credits have changed over the years. A great many technical credits now appear at the end of the film. The "creative" credits in the front are positioned in prominence with the most prominent being closest to the beginning of principal photography. An increasingly popular alternative format has been for the 'Directed by' credit to be the first card up at the end of the film.
"Some directors prefer this form," Heimer said. "They wish to get the audience quickly and into the film. At the end, the director's credit is first, saying 'this is who's responsible for what you have just seen.' This end title format waiver is one the Guild has granted over the years, usually requiring that no personal credits appear up front. Only in very special circumstances and only by specific approval of the Council has that practice been altered. No personal credits means no actors' names and no producers' names, even in production credits (except in the case of such grandfathered names as Warner Bros. or Disney)."
Heimer urges directors who may want to seek a waiver for a form other than that which is outlined in the Basic Agreement, to contact the Credits Department at (213) 289-2013 as early as possible in their post-production period so that the full merits of the request may be considered thoroughly by the Western Directors Council.
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