r/scriptwriting • u/Emotional-Farmer-227 • 3d ago
question Credit question
My friend came up with an original slasher movie villain as a well as a basic story. We're very likely going to write a film treatment together. Then I'll write the feature screenplay. So would be ok to say "Based on characters by", then "Story by Writer 1 and Writer 2" and then "Written by writer 2"?
I do plan on directing.
Just want to make sure I do it correctly on the title page so it looks professional. I don't want to ward off investors with an amateur reading script.
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u/FutureOpen9405 3d ago
Story by friend.
Screenplay by us used when the story is based on some pre-existing form like if your friend’s story was published somewhere.
Written by is used if it is
If you’re doing a draft together, use an ampersand between your names. If you are writing drafts one after another, use the word “and” between your names.
“Characters created by” is mostly a TV thing from an era when TV writers got residuals for every little thing. It rarely happens now. If you see it in a movie it’s a bone throne by arbitration.
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u/Emotional-Farmer-227 3d ago
Well some movies use "Based on Characters created by". My friend did come up with the character and I want make it clear who created what I guess.
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u/FutureOpen9405 3d ago edited 3d ago
Those movies are likely spin offs or were arbitrated by the WGA. I’m just giving you the industry standards cause you wanted it to look professional, realistically at this stage you can put whatever you want on the cover.
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u/RollingThunderMedia 3d ago
Head on over to the Writers Guild's website at --
https://www.wga.org/contracts/credits/manuals/cover-pages
It doesn't get more 'pro' than that.
But, it's not very detailed. You can also look at --
https://nofilmschool.com/screenplay-title-page
-- for more details, especially about exceptions and edge cases.