Interesting perspective. WGA does tend to make that sort of thing a bit bizarre. And there's a part of me that thinks if they're going to add a bunch of writers to a script, it would be nice to see who was really doing what.

azzers | April 02, 07:37 CET

Credit should be given where credit is due. Always. The rest, to me, is nonsense.

Darkness | April 02, 07:58 CET

Darkness, in the comments section for the article, someone pointed out that the rule exists to stop people, who contribute nothing to the script, from being given credit if they randomly changed enough words in a draft. Not all credits are due.

OneTeV | April 02, 08:56 CET

And thats why i said that credit must be given due, when credit is due. And the rest is nonsense.

Anyway, i prefer somebody getting credit for randomly changing a couple of words than having somebody who actually did a lot getting absolutely none.

[ edited by Darkness on 2013-04-02 19:06 ]

[ edited by Darkness on 2013-04-02 19:06 ]

Darkness | April 02, 09:54 CET

I suppose it's all water under the bridge at this point but certainly one of many stories that bolster the fact that our man paid his dues and then some.

MrArg | April 02, 10:29 CET

Weird. Joss Whedon gets no credit for a huge amount of work on SPEED. Jeffrey Lieber is made a multi-millionaire for contributing a few broad character archetypes to LOST.

Andy Dufresne | April 02, 12:43 CET

I believe Joss mentioned on Riki Lindhome's podcast that before Buffy he sold a project to some studio which he described as "Die Hard on a bridge" and that he was told that this we keep him forever employed. This sound like Speed but Yost is credited with the original idea for the project. Does anyone know what the Die Hard on a bridge project was?

Tausif | April 02, 16:52 CET

Tausif, Die Hard On A Bridge was a Joss original script called Suspension. It was never made and AFAIK the script isn't available online.
The deal with Speed was that the WGA give plot, action and structure the most weight while dialogue is hardly considered. Weird I know but that's how they decide. Joss did almost every line of dialogue in Speed, or at least that's what's been said, but hardly any of the structure, plot etc. I think he also decided to kill off the guy who tried to escape.

zz9 | April 02, 17:19 CET

And an example of some of the dirty tricks that can happen, which is why people like the WGA have to have rules, is the story of the Star Trek TOS words to the theme tune. You don't know the words to the TOS theme tune? Hardly surprising. Roddenberry scribbled some lyrics on the back of and envelope and said they were the "official" lyrics. That got him personally half the royalties for the theme tune, and cheated the composer out of that half. The words were never used or even recorded but Roddenberry got paid every time an episode was aired.

zz9 | April 02, 17:26 CET

But who could forget Lieber's iconic catchphrase for LOST - "It's as simple as this - together we survive, apart we don't."

mjwilson | April 03, 03:28 CET

Beyond the rim of the starlight
My love is wandering in star flight
I know he'll find in star-covered reaches
Love, strange love a star-woman teaches
I know his journey ends never
His Star Trek will go on forever
But tell him while he wanders his starry seas
Remember, remember me.

redeem147 | April 03, 03:53 CET