A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : SUMMER, TAKE 2 : Hey, Let’s Be <i> Real</i> Sure Not to Write Those Credits Off

With the onslaught of this summer’s movies comes a tidal wave of screenwriting credits. And those are just the credited writers.

Take “Alien 3,” for example. The screenplay is by David Giler & Walter Hill and Larry Ferguson. The ampersand indicates that Giler and Hill worked together as a team. And while Ferguson, whose name is separated by an and , was not officially part of that team, according to a Writers Guild arbitration, he’s credited with 50% of the screenplay. Another writer, Vincent Ward, is credited with the film’s story. And the whole thing is based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the writers of the original “Alien.”

Then there’s Warner Bros.’ upcoming “Class Act,” whose writing credits contain five different names and two ampersands. The film’s story is by Michael Swerdlick & Wayne Rice and Richard Brenne, (Swerdlick and Rice are the team here; Brenne contributed to the story). Again, because Brenne is separated by an and , it indicates that he’s credited with 50% of the story. The film’s script, though, was written by another team, John Semper & Cynthia Friedlob.

Without a doubt, though, the strangest screenplay credit of all goes to “Lethal Weapon 3,” which boasts a screenplay by Jeffrey Boam and Jeffrey Boam & Robert Mark Kamen. So what exactly does this mean? Does Boam have a split personality? Or does he just like to see his name in print?

According to a Writers Guild source, Boam wrote a draft of the script by himself. He then eamed up with Kamen to write another draft. The guild, in one of its frequent arbitrations to determine credit, decided that there was enough material from Boam’s first script to warrant credit, along with the material from Boam & Kamen’s subsequent draft.

But if you’re thinking it’s a trivial matter of ego, you’re wrong. Although Boam would not comment, the Writers Guild source said Boam stands to receive extra money from the unusual credit. Having your name twice on the credits assures a bigger share of monies paid to the screenwriter on future residual payments, including television and cassette sales. Boam will automatically collect 50% of the screenwriters’ share because he wrote one draft and he’ll collect another 25% for collaborating with Kamen--who ends up with 25%.

To further confuse things, Boam is credited with coming up with the film’s story. (Don’t forget, the characters played by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were created by Shane Black, who wrote the original “Lethal Weapon.”)