Original work by... Adaptation idea by... Written/adapted by?

November 15, 2015 4:00 PM

What is the proper series of credits given to a screenplay which was liberally adapted from a short story, but which was selected for adaptation (and premise changed) by someone other than the screenwriter?

I've been commissioned to adapt a short short story (like a one-pager) into a short film script, except that the idea to do so wasn't mine. In other words, the filmmaker had the idea to adapt this story, but needed someone else to do the actual writing.

So: "Original work/short story by" is clear, "Adapted by" should also be a no-brainer, but what about the person in between, and do all 3 of our names always need to be presented, like on the cover page, promotional materials, IMDB, etc.?

posted by war wrath of wraith to Writing & Language (3 answers total)

The WGA contract will have the proper credit language.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:02 PM on November 15, 2015

Here's the official WGA Screen Credits manual.

This is obviously an art, not a science, and I don't know how much each contributed, but to me it sounds like:

Based on a short story by: _______
Screenplay by: _______

I don't think having the idea to adapt a short story is really credit-worthy, and should be covered under his/her other duties as the producer and director. But the screen credits guide says you could also add:

Screen story by: ______

If they made the story substantially different from the source material. In rare cases they use "Adaptation by" if they shaped the screenplay direction without qualifying for the "screenplay by" credit.
posted by bluecore at 4:17 PM on November 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yeah, just to echo Bluecore: If the director said, "I think you should adapt this story, and make sure you include story elements A, B, C, D, and E, but put D before A because that will work better onscreen, and then to fill the gap between C and E, we'll need a whole new sequence where our heroes chase a rabid dog through a Norwegian disco the week before Christmas. Also, combine characters X and Y but break character Z into two different characters, one of whom is the President of the United States, and the other of whom is a zombie," then the director could plausibly deserve a "Screen Story By" credit. (FYI, if this were an actual WGA production, the director could only get writing credit if they actually put their contribution in writing at the start of the process. However, I'm guessing the production company of this film is not a WGA signatory, which means you aren't looking at the WGA credits manual as a legally binding document; you're looking at it as a guide to generally accepted standards. So, there's flexibility in terms of what you and the director negotiate with each other.)

If the director simply said, "This story would make a great movie. Go write a screenplay version of it," he doesn't deserve any writing credit whatever. This is true even if he changed the premise in a broad, high concept way, like "Take this story but make it about zombies instead of mosquitos." Like Bluecore says, identifying a promising idea is something producers and directors do all the time. Writers still get (and deserve) credit for doing the hard intellectual work of making that general idea work as an actual screenplay.
posted by yankeefog at 2:43 AM on November 16, 2015