"Written By:"
Pat Scott
I know that every writer credit with '&, and, with,; all mean something,
but can anyone tell me what is meant when a screenplay is "written by"
someone and not acknowledged as "story by" or "screenplay by".
Rob
is the most popular American one. Story by is something else completely.
Story by is the person who came up with the initial idea and not necessarily
the screenplay. If there are multiple writers this person may be the one who
wrote the original rough draft. It can also be a producer who hired some one
to turn his idea in to a movie. Basically it's whoever came up with the
movie to began with.
--
ICQ# - 41948678
"Your bandwith must be pretty large. So what are you doing later on?" - Bill
Gates, pirates of silicon valley
<--See some one does have more women problems than me.
MwsReader
> Screenplay by and written by mean the same thing. I think
> screenplay by is the most popular American one. Story by is
> something else completely. Story by is the person who came up
> with the initial idea and not necessarily the screenplay. If there are
> multiple writers this person may be the one who wrote the original
> rough draft. It can also be a producer who hired some one to turn
> his idea in to a movie. Basically it's whoever came up with the
> movie to began with.
Rob, I know you mean well, but you sometimes state as fact things
that you know absolutely nothing about. Almost everything you've
said above is either flat-out wrong, or reasonably far off base. If you
don't have actual knowledge of a subject, it's really not fair to the
folks asking questions to have you offer authoritative-sounding
answers that have no basis in reality.
I've posted here a lot about the nature of screen credits and how
they come to be, (having been on both ends of the arbitration
process many times), so if anybody's in a hurry, they could find
a number of posts of mine on this subject by doing a DejaNews
search.
I don't have time to correct Rob's wacky comments right now, but
I'll try to give a quick summary of the "written by" "screenplay by"
and "story by" credits later today.
Sorry, Rob... I don't mean to be a meanie, but this is a bad habit
that I wish you'd try to control.
Ken
Rob
MwsReader wrote in message <19990623143750...@ng-cg1.aol.com>...
>"Rob" wrote:
>
> > Screenplay by and written by mean the same thing. I think
> > screenplay by is the most popular American one. Story by is
> > something else completely. Story by is the person who came up
> > with the initial idea and not necessarily the screenplay. If there are
> > multiple writers this person may be the one who wrote the original
> > rough draft. It can also be a producer who hired some one to turn
> > his idea in to a movie. Basically it's whoever came up with the
> > movie to began with.
>
>Rob, I know you mean well, but you sometimes state as fact things
>that you know absolutely nothing about. Almost everything you've
>said above is either flat-out wrong, or reasonably far off base. If you
>don't have actual knowledge of a subject, it's really not fair to the
>folks asking questions to have you offer authoritative-sounding
>answers that have no basis in reality.
Please correct me here. I can't recall seeing a written by statement so
I'm not too sure if it's exactly like screenplay by, but I'm pretty sure I'm
correct on the story by part.
Mike Shields
On Wed, 23 Jun 1999 7:55:17 -0700, Rob wrote:
>
> Pat Scott wrote in message <37710A...@kos.net>...
>> Hi there, I know that every writer credit with '&, and, with,; all mean
>> something, but can anyone tell me what is meant when a screenplay is
>> "written by" someone and not acknowledged as "story by" or "screenplay
>> by".
Well in a word, you're wrong. Screenplay means you wrote the screenplay, and
written by means you wrote the story and the screenplay. I think. You need to
check the WGA website for the answers to these and the related questions above,
but I think I got it right....
Mike
--
Huntress: You taught Batman how to box? Could you teach me how to stay sane
around superheroes?
arts...@my-deja.com
of their web domain:
http://www.wga.org/credits/index.html
Ron
In article <37710A...@kos.net>,
pds...@kos.net wrote:
> Hi there,
> I know that every writer credit with '&, and, with,; all mean
something,
> but can anyone tell me what is meant when a screenplay is "written by"
> someone and not acknowledged as "story by" or "screenplay by".
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
MwsReader
> Please correct me here. I can't recall seeing a written by
> statement so I'm not too sure if it's exactly like screenplay by,
> but I'm pretty sure I'm correct on the story by part.
I'm sorry if I picked on you, Rob, but you were acting like you really
knew what you were talking about this morning. I'm glad to hear you
say now you're not so sure about the "written by" and "screenplay
by" credits. This stuff is confusing enough without having people
jump in with vague impressions presented as the real deal.
"artscribe" pointed people at the WGA Credits Survival Guide, which
is something well worth studying, but I think you'll find that it doesn't
really cover these definitions. (It's more about how to prepare for a
credit arbitration, as I recall.)
So... let me start with the "Story by" credit, which you defined earlier as:
> Story by is the person who came up
> with the initial idea and not necessarily the screenplay. If there are
> multiple writers this person may be the one who wrote the original
> rough draft. It can also be a producer who hired some one to turn
> his idea in to a movie. Basically it's whoever came up with the
> movie to began with.
Partly right. Sort of. Not the part about the producer who hired the
writer. That's very, very rarely the case. In order for a producer to
receive story credit, they have to have notified the Guild (in advance,
in writing) that they will be serving as a "writer" in addition to being
the producer or executive on the project. They would then still have
to prove later to an arbitration committee (arbitration is automatic if a
director or producer is a writer on a film) that they'd actually worked
on the script as a writer, and had "assumed full share of the writing."
And what does "story by" mean? Here's the official definition:
"The term 'story' as it is used in the Minimum Basic Agreement has
a specialized legal meaning. It refers only to writing that represents
a contribution "distinct from screenplay and consisting of basic
narrative, idea, theme or outline indicating character development
and action."
Yes, this can be, and often is the person who wrote the initial draft
of a script. With an original screenplay, no matter how much it's
been changed along the line, the first writer is guaranteed, at the
very least, a story credit. (Although it may be a shared one.)
Which brings us to the difference between "story" and "screenplay."
The official Guild definition of screenplay is:
"The term 'screenplay' means the final script (as represented on the
screen), with individual scenes and full dialogue, together with such
prior treatment, basic adaptation, continuity, scenario, dialogue,
and added dialogue as shall be used in and represent substantial
contributions to the final script."
Clear, right? What can I say? That's their definition, not mine.
Anyway, when the same writer (or writers) contribute(s) both the
story AND the screenplay, the credit becomes "written by." The
significance of this credit is that it represents 100% of the credited
writing, and in turn, 100% of the residuals. Otherwise, story brings
25% and screenplay 75% of the residuals. So it's more than just
a semantic distinction. It's bucks.
Going back to Pat Scott's original question, there's still that part
about "&" vs. "and." Again, it's something small that means a lot.
"&" indicates a writing team, while "and" means the writers worked
separately and are sharing the credit as a result of either agreement
or arbitration.
Confused? Not surprising. But this covers the bare bones of it,
and has hopefully been at least a bit helpful. If anybody has need
of more detailed info about this, let me know and I'll do what I can do.
But I'm sure the rest of you would appreciate it if I just leave it at this.
"written by"
Ken
Geealexand
G-
Johnny Deadman
mwsr...@aol.com.eatspam (MwsReader) wrote:
> Yes, this can be, and often is the person who wrote the initial draft
> of a script. With an original screenplay, no matter how much it's
> been changed along the line, the first writer is guaranteed, at the
> very least, a story credit. (Although it may be a shared one.)
Interestingly, the deal memo for my current rewrite assignment referred to
me as writing a first draft screenplay based on 'an original idea' by the
previous writer, even though two previous drafts exist. This reflects, I
suppose, the fact that I am expected to do something radically different. My
guess is only about ten lines of dialogue will remain, but perhaps a third
of the scenes will share similarities.
--
Johnny Deadman
"Never run after your own hat. Others will be delighted to do it - why spoil
their fun?" - Mark Twain
BettrDuck
>writer. That's very, very rarely the case. In order for a producer to
>receive story credit, they have to have notified the Guild
Thats completly false, the Guild (which by law has to provide equal services
for members and non members by charter. Thats a constitutional right. They also
can't make anybody do anything. The fact that beuracracies and red tape create
so many fucking hurdles for anybody making a movie is ridiculous. I dont blame
anyone for being a member or registering their material with a GUILD; however,
I wouldn't, one reason the arbitration THEY (WGA) lost againt the state of
Texas in 1969 regarding archival municipality of parts of The Warren Commision
Report and some of the stuff that has been sealed regarding the JFK
assasination.
BD
Better Duck Studios
The Hip Hop Film Studio
Mix Tapes to Motion Pictures
http://www.betterduck.com
Rob
>> Not the part about the producer who hired the
>>writer. That's very, very rarely the case. In order for a producer to
>>receive story credit, they have to have notified the Guild
>
>Thats completly false, the Guild (which by law has to provide equal
services
>for members and non members by charter. Thats a constitutional right. They
also
>can't make anybody do anything. The fact that beuracracies and red tape
create
>so many fucking hurdles for anybody making a movie is ridiculous. I dont
blame
>anyone for being a member or registering their material with a GUILD;
however,
>I wouldn't, one reason the arbitration THEY (WGA) lost againt the state of
>Texas in 1969 regarding archival municipality of parts of The Warren
Commision
>Report and some of the stuff that has been sealed regarding the JFK
>assasination.
the guild.
Genia
<< Interestingly, the deal memo for my current rewrite assignment referred to
me as writing a first draft screenplay based on 'an original idea' by the
previous writer, even though two previous drafts exist. >>
Deal memos don't necessarily have anything to do with final on-screen credit.
WGA arbitration determines that.
Genia
-----------------------------------------------
"Have you still got your thumbs?"
- THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, "It May Look Like a Walnut," written by Carl Reiner