After Warner Bros. Discovery merged its HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services into the single ‘Max’ service, it quickly drew controversy for how it accredited writers and directors.
Directors, writers and producers all found themselves lumped together in a randomly ordered ‘Creators’ section for listings of film and TV series on Max.
After swift objections from the DGA and WGA, along with online backlash, Warner Bros. Discovery said they would correct the credits – putting the blame on ‘an oversight in the technical transition’ from HBO Max to Max.
It took five weeks but they came through with writers, directors, and producers finally listed separately on content pages as of the end of June. That seemed to be the end of it.
Not so, according to WGA Captain Shawn Wines who has used Twitter to point out whatever system they used to restore the credits, it has left a number of major inaccuracies in its wake including incorrect film ratings and numerous missing writers and directors.
It isn’t just for obscure films. “The Matrix” second unit director Bruce Hunt is now listed as co-director of that film alongside the Wachowskis. Oscar Best Picture winner “Moonlight” has neither of its actual writers (Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney) credited. “Moneyball” reportedly doesn’t credit any of its directors or writers.
The issue reportedly isn’t as widespread, and some typos are expected on such a large database, but even so – these are big mistakes in attribution and raise questions as to who proofread these. The timing with the actor’s and writer’s strikes currently ongoing is not helpful either.
Source: Collider
