The Until Dawn movie adaptation made its debut in theatres over the weekend, and while its reception has been mixed, an omission in the credits is riling some people up.
Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, the pair who wrote the enormous script for the PS4 horror adventure and its branching narrative, are not mentioned in the movie's end credits.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the writers say they "aren't surprised" about the exclusion, but the way they talk suggests they're not thrilled about it either.
"I didn’t assume anything, but I thought somebody would have bothered to throw in our names, even during the end credits," says Fessenden. "But there's no courtesy in show biz."
Apparently, despite the pair's considerable work on the series, they're not seeking credit, but would've been pleased to see acknowledgement nonetheless.
It appears the issue broadly sits with the Writers Guild of America, which seemingly doesn't have established rules about writing for interactive media.
"In TV and film, the ‘written by’ credit is a very specific term that is part of our union contract with the studios," Says Rob Forman, a member of WGA West Board of Directors. "Unfortunately, in video games, that kind of guarantee and protection doesn’t currently exist, so credit can be more arbitrarily determined by individual game companies."
Kim MacAskill, who is a former narrative director at PlayStation, made a statement on LinkedIn about this topic, showing her disapproval of the snub. In her view, the credits stating "based on the Sony game" is far from sufficient.
"They spent years breaking their brains to make something incredible, and the world deserves to know their names," she writes.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fessenden and Reznick "do not have sore feelings" about the Until Dawn movie, but worry that things aren't moving fast enough to ensure other writers are given the credit they deserve.
"I truly think that the guilds are not keeping up with how fast the industry is moving away from traditional media formats," Reznick says.
This has of course sparked debate online about whether those who worked on an original game should be recognised in the credits of its adaptation, which is of course its own project with its own staff and contributors.
Some fans argue that the pair didn't write the film, so it makes sense their names aren't present. Others take the view that the movie wouldn't exist without the beloved game and so a nod to those that made it would be appropriate.
Where do you fall on this? Should the Until Dawn game's writing team get a mention in the Until Dawn movie? Discuss in the comments section below.
[source hollywoodreporter.com, via gamespot.com]
Comments 20
"But there's no courtesy in show biz." absolutely sums it up. It also shows how out of touch studios can be when handling the source material, it shouldn't have happened with Until Dawn because it's Sony Pictures but it still did. They can simply add a credit for 'inspired by the work of' followed by 'written by' but they didn't. It costs them nothing to add a credit, there's no royalties involved just recognition. They've been talking about unionizing video game writers for so long now and never did it, Hollywood don't understand the games industry at all.
Edit: It also shows what I mentioned before about Hollywood not viewing video game writers as true artists It has to be what they deem by definition as art. It might seem small but the more that kind of thing happens the further the drift from that source material. Companies like Amazon already know how to do it right but Hollywood refuses to budge. They won't admit that the only reason they won't do it is (A) it sends more of their audience to the gaming platform which they see as major competition (B) they want to avoid a scenario that might result in two sets of writers being paid. I wouldn't blame Sony Pictures directly, that's the way the industry is run.
Honestly they’re better off. Stay associated with the game and not this POS.
Hasn't it got like nothing to do with the game apart from the title lol
@StylesT No apparently they do something to actually connect it to the game's lore.
Low you could atleast give them a little credit.
@StylesT Same universe, similar premise with clues etc, similar timeline but most people haven't seen it yet so elaborating too much would spoil it. I think the ending is reason enough for the original writers to deserve a credit.
I'm on both sides. Having seen the movie, there's not a single piece of narrative connective tissue between the two. Unlike others, I had a good time with the movie, thought it was okay but not great, and have no problems with its massive divergence, but yeah...there's essentially no similarities.
But I would expect at least a "Special Thanks" shout out, or better yet a "Based on characters created by", seeing as Dr. Hill features prominently and there's a few blink-and-you'll-miss-it references to other characters from the game. Sure, the studio didn't necessarily do anything wrong by not mentioning them, but it's not a great look either.
I get it but the film is an adaption in name only. The story is completely different from the games and an original story by the films writers. Take away the IP name and no one would think it was based on the game. So yeah why should they be credited? They had no input on the film and films story is an original story.
Oh no! Anyway.
(This comment is not too short it has the perfect number of words. Push Square pushing its garrulous bias 😉)
They should be given due credit, they started the story, it's been adapted from their work.
I understand why they didn't have them included in the "written by" section or similarly "writers". But you'd have thought they could have been thrown in the "with special thanks to" section, even as a small gesture.
I am not particularly interested in this Until Dawn movie. I just do not see the point in it. The interactive experience, the player’s decisions, are what actually matter.
Why bother making a mediocre movie, based upon a clever game? A game that was openly influenced by far better movies.
But I agree entirely, that not giving credit to the original creators of the work is awful. Is it a money issue? Royalties?
But this happens a lot in Hollywood, doesn’t it? How many films are remakes of previous work, and do not acknowledge the original writers?
For instance, did Martin Scorsese and William Monahan credit the writers of Infernal Affairs, when they wrote The Departed?
The movie is a completely different story, why would they get a credit or anything, it's just a new entry in the franchise as a whole. They seem entitled. Let's be honest it's not like the game was super original anyway.
@Matthewnh It's potential royalties. If the unions get their way it could mean writing credits like that result in royalties but it's a very old rule-book and they are meeting a lot of resistance.
Sony Pictures don't control how that's all done, it all passes through The Writers Guild and they are just as corrupt and archaic as the Ratings Board. The part that really sucks is Until Dawn was greenlit as movie inspired, that's how it went through most of production meaning the writers of the game probably did expect a mention. Then it hit marketing with 'the most original horror movie this year' it's technically not original. If the original source material was connected to a book, the rules of The Writers Guild state that credit is given. They've created a deliberate distance between video games as an art-form and video games as a source of entertainment because it saves them money and undermines the gaming industry.
An industry they are quietly at odds with. Yes we get movies like Minecraft and the studios snatch up the profits but there are a lot of people who don't want to see game-to-movie adaptions because they think it may push more people into that gaming landscape and away from theaters. It's not rational thinking but that's how a lot of studio heads see it right now. They think games are for the uneducated and they see absolutely no artistic value in them. It's thinking like that and behind the scenes NSFW activities/mentalities that made me get out of that industry. I've always loved gaming, it does have artistic value. It deserves artistic recognition, especially if studios are going to profit heavily off of just the name alone.
Sony/Screen Gems can't push for a credit, the same way they can't push for a rating. There's a lot of red tape involved. There's a sort of mini betrayal there too that's barely noticeable from the outside but when you've been on the inside you know how they operate and it doesn't come as a surprise. Courtesy in Hollywood always has a dollar amount.
This is an oft recurring theme with Hollywood.
They are so bereft of talent they just keep taking other creatives ideas and
" making it in their image" and 99.9% of the time it's terrible to the point of heresy.
Gods I can't stand this new class of creatives( boy if that's not an oxymoron)
Personally, I don't think they should have credits. They are not apart of the movie. They are writers for the game itself. Now if they actually did any work on the movie itself, then sure, include them.
"Give credit where it's due" is true, but they are not due any credit for a project they are not involved in. Just being based off of the game itself is not enough reason for it.
They worked for a corporation and the corporation gets the credit, get over it.
@GirlVersusGame @Flaming_Kaiser @Bingbongboyo They do get credit, just not by individual name, The credits say it is inspired by Until Dawn by Supermassive Games or words to that effect.
The trouble is that the game writers aren't the only ones who created those characters, it's a teamwide collaborative effort of back and forth between writers, designers and other departments that end up shaping the final characters, their look, their words and their actions. Should we credit them all by name? (Game credits can be over half an hour long)
Frankly I think we should either credit all of them by name, or just keep it as "Supermassive games", why should writers be singled out?
If this movie was based on a novel called "Until Dawn", the author of the book would be in the credits.
@themightyant Why should writers be singled out? Because that's how it's done in the industry for every other medium that passes through The Writers Guilds. By leaving the writers out they are continuing a system of exclusion that affects other writers and creatives working in the games industry when and if their work gets adapted. It's not about one individual case, it's about all writers going forward for the foreseeable future. The more this kind of thing happens the harder it's going to be to change it. Credits in writing aren't seen as 'this entity' they are seen as this person or persons.
Supermassive Games is the entity that got the credit, the writers under them didn't. This same thing happened in TV and until they established guidelines and followed them. They haven't done that for game-to-movie adaptions, despite the issue been raised many times. When people see game-to-movie scripts and screenplays go off the reservation right? they ignore the source material? that's all part of that same arrangement. If writers were recognized we could see more faithful adaptions. And then people say 'well this is terrible it's not like the game at all', of course it's not and this is one of the reasons why.
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