Writers Guild members approve new rules on credits

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Writers who are also producers and directors should have an easier time getting credit on screenplays, thanks to a change in the rules.

Members of the Writers Guild of America voted 87% in support of applying a uniform standard for screenplay credit on non-original screenplays -- regardless of whether the writer is a producer or not.

Currently, a writer who is also a production executive must contribute more than 50% of the material to receive a screenplay credit, as opposed to the standard 33% required for scribes who are only writers. Now the contribution level is the same one-third requirement applicable to writers.

The reason for the change was that a guild committee concluded that the old rule was outdated, given the proliferation of writers who increasingly act as directors and producers as well.

-- Richard Verrier