A look at Hollywood and the movies : Anatomy of a Screenplay Credit : Writing movies is a collaborative art, but collaborating gets complicated. Here’s a handy credits decoder to ‘Heart and Souls’

1--In 1987, brothers Gregory and Erik Hansen made a nine-minute, 16mm film called “Seven Souls” for Greg’s Loyola Marymount film school class in which a 45-year-old man is accompanied through life by the souls of six people who had died the night he was born. The Hansens’ agent, Nancy Roberts, encouraged them to write a full-length movie based on the short, which she pulled from circulation so the idea wouldn’t be stolen. The brothers completed a script for Universal Pictures in 1991, which attracted the interest of “City Slickers” director Ron Underwood (also a Roberts client).

2--An ampersand signifies a writing team, an and denotes writers who worked on separate drafts or script rewrites.

3--With Underwood looking to see the film’s themes dealt with in a more heartfelt, entertaining manner, producers Roberts and Sean Daniel brought in veteran script hands Maddock and Wilson (also Roberts’ clients), who had written “Short Circuit,” “Batteries Not Included” and Underwood’s first film, “Tremors.” This new team restructured the film (reducing its visiting souls to four), added comic elements and rewrote much of the dialogue, providing additional rewrites during rehearsals and the early weeks of shooting.

4--Normally the first credit is given to the writers who initiated the project. But in this instance, Writers Guild arbitrators decided that since the Maddock-Wilson team made the most significant contributions to the final script, it deserved first credit position. It is customary for an established writing team to earn a bonus payment for receiving a “last writer” screenplay credit (in addition to any other credits they may have earned).

5--The Writers Guild arbitration panel awarded this unusual credit (instead of the traditional “story by” credit) because the final script was based on both the Hansens’ original short film and screenplay. Since the film’s central premise came from their short film, they received first position on this credit.

6--The Hansens were slated to direct and produce “Heart and Souls” as long as the film’s budget remained under a specific ceiling. However, once Universal opted for a bigger budget (and more prominent star talent) the studio was free to bring in an outside director. The studio was then obligated to give the Hansens the largely honorary title of co-producers. To prevent powerful writer-producers from hogging final screen credits, once any writer receives a producer credit, all story and screenplay credits are automatically subject to arbitration.