Max will fix those weird “creator” credits, blaming “oversight” on technology
Max, the new streaming service that combines HBO Max and most of Discovery+ that launched on Tuesday, is already making a major change. At least, it’s important to the creative community.
The current credits screen in Max’s film library eerily groups directors, writers, and producers — and probably others, too — all in one “Creators” category. It’s an end-credits stew, if you will. And like stew, nobody seems to really like it.
Some particularly striking examples they’ve already gone viral on Twitter. A user calling himself John Frankensteiner pointed out that in the credits of “Raging Bull,” director Martin Scorsese and boxer Jake LaMotta, whose autobiography is based on the film (and whom Robert De Niro played in the film), they are grouped among the eight “Creators”.
A spokesperson for Max told IndieWire that the service will “fix” the bug, which occurred due to “an oversight in the technical transition from HBO Max to Max.”
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“We agree that the talent behind Max’s content deserves their work to be properly recognized,” reads Max’s full statement. technical transition from HBO Max to Max and we apologize for this error.”
That apology may or may not be accepted by the writers’ and directors’ guilds. Shortly after receiving Max’s statement, WGA and DGA jointly sent the following statements to IndieWire. It is possible, indeed probable, that the corporate statements were drafted before they became aware of the Max mea culpa. IndieWire has asked WGA and DGA for a response to Max’s statement, if they have one. We will update this story as we receive further statements.
“For nearly 90 years, the Directors Guild has fought fiercely to protect the credit and recognition filmmakers deserve for the work they create. Warner Bros. Discovery’s unilateral move, without notice or consultation, to reduce directors, writers, producers and others to a generic category of “creators” in launching their new Max while we are in talks with them is a grave insult to our members and to our unions,” said DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter. “This devaluation of individual artists’ contributions is a disturbing trend and the DGA will not tolerate it. We intend to take the strongest possible action, in solidarity with the WGA, to ensure that each artist receives the individual credit she deserves.”
“Warner Bros has lumped writers, directors and producers into a dwindling, made-up category they call Creators. This is a credit violation for starters,” WGAW President Meredith Stiehm said. “But worse, it is disrespectful and offensive to the artists who make movies and TV shows and make their company billions. the contributions and importance of writers echoes the message we heard in our negotiations with the AMPTP: that writers are marginal, non-essential, and should simply accept being paid less and less, while our employers’ profits always increase by This dull disregard for the importance of writers is what got us to where we are today: Day 22 of our strike.