movie credits

Good question... I have no idea, but I'm looking on with interest.

Same with the ole "The End" after the film...

Hey, I wonder if the credits things has to do with union rules. I'm sure they didn't start adding the "best boy", "grip" and such voluntarily.

I believe Lightwizard will back me up on this one - it's about money.

See, you can get the caterer to give you a discount if you mention the catering company in the credits. For expensive films, or films made by indies who are maxing out their credit cards to get the film made, they need to save every penny. So they extend the credits and get 25% (or whatever) off the catering, the limo service, etc. This is why you see drivers, caterers etc. listed.

As for the actual artistic workers on the film (best boy, grip, etc.), I believe it's as Craven said - union rules.

Oh, Lightwizard ....

I think unions may have a great deal to do with it. But then, didn't they have unions in the '30's and '40's?

I'm not sure about the unions' part in the lengthy credits. But nowadays, with all the computer-generated and other special effects, you get a lot of model makers, computer technicians, and hundreds of other folks who were not needed to make movies once upon a time.

You're correct about the unions and the promotions and it also involves agencies who represent the artists (most of them are independent and are not on a studio payroll -- they work by the film). I'd have to look up the exact date but in the 30's and 40's there were very few unions if any -- SAG was an advent of the 50's.

I like to read which actors had personal assistants and how many, who had their own personal hairstylists and make-up people, etc. You get alot of heavy-hitters in one movie (The First Wives Club, for instance), and the addtional crew members can really add up.
So many movies nowadays are heavy with music and that list can keep the credits running on and on and on also.

I've started watching for the film's "Negative Cutter". Almost all recent Hollywood movies it's either Theresa Repola Mohammed or Mo Henry.

At one time Guinness listed "Superman The Movie" as having the longest end credits, but I'm sure that has been surpassed several times since. I'm sure Lord of the Rings must have incredibly long end credits.

The funny thing is, there`s never anybody credited for providing the toilet rolls.

That would be the scriptwriter, in many cases.

You're in rare form today, Equus.

got to agree with you there Equus.

Annie Lennox's end credits song curiously comes on after they are rolling for nearly a minute and the song is up for the Oscar amongst the other ten nominations for LOTR. If Howard Shore wins again for Best Scoring it is a first for a sequel (or are they really sequels?) to receive two statuettes.

As far as scripts, Bud Schulberg said it best -- film writers are "schmucks with Underwoods." (Remember Underwood?)