Directors Offer Limits on Credits

For once, someone in Hollywood is giving up credit rather than grabbing it.

The Directors Guild of America on Monday said it would ask studios to amend its labor agreement to rein in the proliferation of so-called “possessory” credits that are routinely given to movie directors.

At issue is the phrase “a film by,” which appears prominently in advertising and on screen. Hollywood’s generosity in awarding the credit, which is in addition to the usual director’s credit, has long been a sore spot with screenwriters, many of whom believe it diminishes their contribution to the making of a film.

It also marks the first tangible effort to deal with years of criticism that Hollywood has let credits run amok to satisfy egos: With scores of producers now listed on projects, ads are cluttered with names and endless frames of film are devoted to listing them.

“Anything that is basically given away for free becomes meaningless,” said Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh, co-chair of the DGA’s creative rights committee.

The DGA’s proposal is expected to eliminate about 25% of the cases where the credit is awarded, aiming chiefly at the practice of giving it to less experienced directors. The plan would make it especially difficult for a first-time director to receive the extra credit, and discourage studios from awarding it to directors with three or fewer films.

The DGA says the recommendation is flexible enough to let directors negotiate for the credit, and also let studios use it as a marketing tool when they have a hot new talent.

The move comes as the Writers Guild of America, West -- the union representing Hollywood’s TV and film writers -- prepares to negotiate a new labor pact with studios.

The WGA has made the credit subject one of their chief “creative rights” issues in contract talks. Putting the issue on the table, as writers did in 2001, caused a major rift with directors.

DGA officials denied that the goal was to preempt any demands the writers would make, but added that they would welcome any reduction in tensions that result between directors who believe they are the chief architects of films and screenwriters who believe that their contribution is just as important.

“If it lowers the rancor and bad feelings over it, that would be great,” said DGA President Michael Apted.

Added Soderbergh: “It’s not a tactic. It was just something that a lot of us just felt was overdue.”

The announcement was greeted with cautious praise by writers.

Charles Holland, president of the WGA, West, said the guild was pleased that directors were “taking a fresh look at this troublesome issue.” He added that although writers remained opposed to the credit in principle, “we praise this important step toward a healthier, more beneficial relationship between our two guilds.”

Specifically, the DGA will ask studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, to amend its labor contract so first-time directors can receive the credit only if they brought a film project to a studio and were extensively involved in its development.

It also will ask studios to delete a clause that requires directors to receive the credit on billboards when there are six or more other credits listed.

Finally, directors are giving studios a nonbinding list of guidelines that serve as rules of thumb when awarding the credit, notably one that directors who receive the credit should have made three or more films.

The guidelines also would allow the credit to be granted in cases where the director has a marketable name, has already received a possessory credit or has “established a signature style of filmmaking.”

J. Nicholas Counter, president of the studio alliance, called the proposal “a meaningful effort to solve a long-debated issue that we will give the most serious consideration.”