Film Producers Renew Effort to End Unearned Screen Credits

Hollywood producers are at it again--fighting the uphill fight to distinguish themselves from wannabes who get credit for producing movies even when they don’t do much.

Vance Van Petten, the new executive director of the Producers Guild of America, and some of his influential board members are reviving efforts to halt the proliferation of producer credits for movies. The lingering problem is so out of control that some films list 10 or more people as producers. The summer hit “Scary Movie” boasted 11.

“It’s a joke . . . and we can’t ignore it,’ says Van Petten, who was hired by the guild in January to replace veteran Charles FitzSimons after a long career as a studio business and legal affairs executive.

Van Petten is the latest industry figure to lead what has so far been a noble, albeit futile, crusade to separate legitimate producers from those who get screen credit--and a paycheck--for having little, if any, impact on a film.

For years, producers have griped that their profession is being cheapened and undermined by the absurd number of unearned screen credits indiscriminately doled out by the studios to anyone with enough leverage to demand it. Unlike writers and directors, producers don’t control their own credits.

The credit epidemic is illustrative of the power the studios give today’s mega-stars and top directors and how the huge media conglomerates that own studios increasingly call the shots on how things get produced. It also underscores the diminishing clout of most Hollywood producers, who are getting fewer studio deals as companies slash overhead.

One of the problems for producers is that, unlike a director, it’s hard to define exactly what a producer does. In theory, a producer is like the chief executive of a film, overseeing major decisions such as budgets and hiring. But if a big-name actor demands that his or her manager, best friend or massage therapist get a producer credit, a studio would readily indulge the star.

And that is not about to change any time soon--if ever.

“Stars often dictate that their managers get producer credit,” says Producers Guild board member Neal Moritz, whose credits include “Cruel Intentions” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” “It comes down to leverage. If six studios want that star’s movie, then the manager will get the credit.”

Managers who get producer credits argue that there are plenty of instances in which they do perform both jobs, and that producers are whining about a cause that is largely ego-driven.

Nonetheless, it’s become commonplace for a star’s manager to be listed as producer on a movie. And, from a star’s point of view, why not have the studio give the credit and pay the manager a producer fee? It beats the star’s having to fork over a commission.

“Our only enemy is the manager who does not actually produce but gets the credit,” Van Petten explains.

Van Petten’s long-term goal is for the Producers Guild to control the producer credit. But as a professional organization, it lacks the clout and labor-union status of the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America, both of which have strict guidelines governing the awarding of credits.

So the Producers Guild would have to strike a voluntary agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates contracts for the studios and TV networks. But even the alliance couldn’t force studios and networks to comply.

AMPTP chief J. Nicholas Counter says there is only one way he can envision the situation easing. “It would have to be done on a one-on-one basis, where [the Producers Guild] gets the companies to be more sensitive to the issue.”

One industry source suggested that it may take the clout of high-powered producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer or Scott Rudin to negotiate the credit upfront in their personal contracts with studios or networks.

The members of the Producers Guild who alongside Van Petten are active on the credits issue stress that the studios themselves would benefit greatly from a resolution.

“I don’t think the studios like having 12 producers on a movie,” says Laura Ziskin, who recently returned to the ranks of producing after heading 20th Century Fox’s movie unit Fox 2000. “We’re saying we will self-police this and provide the mechanism to give the credit.”

Producer Mark Gordon says that if the guild were able to control the credit, it would relieve the studios of being in a position of having to say yes or no to someone’s unreasonable demands.

“I believe the studios would be thrilled to have this taken off their plate,” says Gordon, a producer of “The Patriot” and “Saving Private Ryan,” among other films. “It costs them money, not just credits.”

For years, powerful Hollywood producers have struggled to get studios to limit the number of screen credits they dish out, especially ones to individuals who may never have been on the set of the film they supposedly produced.

In 1997, producer Arnold Kopelson led the charge after drafting detailed guidelines for determining producer credit. That same year, the guild formed the Producers Credit Board, consisting of 525 producers who signed a “statement of principles” opposing unjustified producer credits. They lobbied the studios to do something about the problem.

Nothing came of those efforts, and today Kopelson says he’s given up.

Van Petten has come up with a plan he hopes the studios will be more amenable to in the meantime.

He wants to urge the studios to use the guild’s own certification mark--a laurel leaf with the initials “PGA”--after the names of those who perform the majority of the producing functions on a given movie or TV program to distinguish them from the phonies. It’s no different from how the American Society of Cinematographers professional designation, “ASC,” appears in screen credits after the names of that group’s members. Van Petten says that the certification mark can even apply to non-guild members.

The 500-member Producers Guild boasts its own list of standards that define the various producer categories and determines who performs most of the producing work. It also has an accreditation and arbitration process for resolving disputes.

“We’re making producers be self-regulating,” Van Petten says.

The PGA first implemented its accreditation process in March to decide which producers would be eligible to receive the guild’s Golden Laurel Awards for best producers of motion pictures, TV series and long-form TV programs.

“Using a legitimate accreditation process with the certification mark will hopefully show the studios how it benefits them for a legitimate third party [the PGA] to control the producer credit,” Van Petten says.

But two studios that he recently approached rejected the idea. One studio executive told him that while he agreed in principle, in practice he wasn’t about to tell a certain mega-star that his manager wouldn’t get a producer credit for the movie he was currently making for the studio even though it was clearly unearned.

The other studio executive Van Petten met with said he would absolutely support the idea--but only if his competitors agreed to endorse it first.

Van Petten says that in the coming months he plans to meet with the rest of the studios in hopes that they will see the light.

“We knew going in this was a hard battle,” acknowledges Van Petten, who, as someone who has driven an electric car for two years because he thinks it can help clean up the environment, is unwilling to concede the fight. “But it’s not going to be a losing battle.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

‘Scary’ Producers

Hollywood has seen a proliferation in the number of people being given credit as producers of a given film, with some movies having 10 or more. Often they have professional ties to directors and stars or are executives at the company releasing the movie.

The summer hit “Scary Movie” listed the following 11 producers:

Executive producers

Bob and Harvey Weinstein: Co-heads of Miramax, the Walt Disney unit that released “Scary Movie” on its Dimension Films label.

Cary Granat and Peter Schwerin: Executives with Miramax’s Dimension Films.

Brad Grey and Peter Safran: Grey is head of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, which developed a script that was merged with another script to become “Scary Movie.” Safran is with Brillstein-Grey.

Bo Zenga: Writer and producer who worked on the film.

Producers

Eric Gold: Manages “Scary Movie” director Keenan Ivory Wayans and his brothers, Marlon and Shawn, who starred in the film. Produces their films.

Lee R. Mayes: Film’s line producer, the person who handles many of the nuts and bolts involved in filmmaking.

Associate producers

Lisa Suzanne Blum: Works with Gold managing the Wayans brothers.

Robb Wilson King: Production designer on the film and longtime Wayans associate.