Hot on the heels of yesterday’s launch of Max, Warner Bros. Discovery’s newly rebranded platform previously known as HBO Max, film fans have quickly discovered an unexpected change to movie credits on the service.
It appears Max’s movie library no longer has writers or directors specifically listed. Instead, they’ve all been lumped together into a category titled ‘Creators’ with no real rhyme or reason to the ordering of the names in that category and no clear delineation as to who wrote, directed or produced.
The result is a film like “The Silence of the Lambs” being listed with director Jonathan Demme as the third name in the list of creators behind screenwriter Ted Tally, author Thomas Harris and followed by the film’s producers.
“Man of Steel” has director Zack Snyder listed in sixth place on its list of creators behind writer David S. Goyer in first, producers Jon Peters and Charles Roven in second and third, and producer Christopher Nolan in fourth.
HBO Max’s previous credits pages offered more specific details about roles for writers and directors, making this simplification baffling at the absolute least.
Coming amidst an ongoing writer’s strike, a potentially looming actor’s strike and ongoing negotiations with the director’s guild, it plays as something nastier or clumsier – especially as it seemingly violates DGA rules for official credit.
The change was spotted on Twitter late Tuesday, and numerous writers, directors and other creatives have expressed their disdain for the move.
The issue reportedly applies to films and TV series, in the latter’s case specifically in the ‘Episode Details’ credits.
Source: THR
