[crazygringo]

Fun fact: long credits at the end of the movie were invented by George Lucas for American Graffiti in 1973 [1]. He didn't have the money to pay everyone so he offered to put their names in the credits instead.

And thus started a new chapter in the exploitation of film crews, where you don't get paid enough but hey, at least your name is in the credits. All the other producers were immediately like -- that's a genius idea to pay the crew less! So now all movies (and even TV shows) are full of hundreds and often even thousands of names in the credits.

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069704/trivia/

[mottosso]

I still remember my first credit in a blockbuster production, after a first few years in TV advertising that name no names, and it was exhilarating. My name is since forever embedded into the artwork we all worked towards. I was also paid, but with that money now long gone I just wanted to highlight that there is value not just in money.

[a_e_k]

I also like that I can point to my production credits as public proof of employment history.

[jhbadger]

That's amazing. I always wondered about watching old (1930s-1950s) movies where they would give credits to the lead cast at the start and just end with a "The End" card with no credits. I always wondered if they just cut the credits off, but I guess they never existed!

[autoexec]

I'm just glad they stopped putting so many opening credits in films. It's basically insufferable to watch old movies with 10+minutes of opening credits. I'm annoyed by the 3-5 minutes of production credits at the start of movies today as it is.

[parpfish]

That’s ALSO a George Lucas thing. Not having the directors name in the opening of Empire got him kicked out of the director’s guild

https://screenrant.com/star-wars-george-lucas-quit-dga-empir...

[ryandrake]

Wow, it never even registered to me until I read this comment that the Star Wars movies didn't have opening credits. They're usually so forgettable anyway, and after reading that article, it seems so silly and ridiculous that all the various Guilds and Associations and Hollywood Political Units got so butthurt over that decision.

[0cf8612b2e1e]

Lord of the Rings also famously does not have opening credits. Just runs right into the film. With the expectation that you might have just finished the previous film and ready to start the next.

[adamomada]

Seth MacFarlane nailed it https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ji5q3ICKPbY&t=345

[athom]

The FUN part is, if you just happen to have the same name as one of the crew, you can get a credit without being involved at all!

Funny story: I usually sit through the full end credits when I go to the movies, just in case something interesting happens afterward. So I'm doing the usual thing at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog, and suddenly, there's MY REAL NAME jumping RIGHT out at me! It wasn't even on its own line, just in with a bunch of other folks working in the same group (I presume), but there it was, and I SPOTTED it!

Maybe it's just me, or maybe we just tend to take notice when our own names pop up, even in a crowd.

Anyone else have that experience?

[pvorb]

I'm always amazed by how long video game credits got over the years.

[autoexec]

I'm glad to see people recognized for their work, even in such a small way though. As they continue to scroll and you start to see titles like "2nd assistant to the HR Team Lead" I can't help but wonder how much is bloat and how much improved the games might be if the teams were leaner.

I'm also torn on the concept of "production babies" which is basically just acknowledging that some parent was forced to abandon their family and newborn child for weeks-months of crunch because of bullshit arbitrary release schedules

[parpfish]

I assume that a large number of people in video game and movie credits just did part time work or a short project and they weren’t exclusive with this particular project

Like when you list the accountants, is it that those accountants were working ONLY on this project or was this one of a dozen things they were handling at the time?

[ssl-3]

When we list a musician in the credits, is it a musician who was ONLY working on this project or was this one of a dozen things they were handling at the time?

[gosub100]

people abandon their kids all the time, it's called day "care".

[qingcharles]

I'm always amazed how many games in the early years have no credits at all. And it would bum me out because I wanted to know who coded this? Who's music is it? Did the coder do the graphics too?

It was only working in the industry that I got answers to most of these from seeing hundreds of resumes and demo reels. (How else would I have found out who was behind Virtua Hamster?)

[bityard]

Could the origin of Exposure Bucks?

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe these days the various film-industry unions essentially require individual credits for anybody who even tangentially had anything to do with working on the film or on the set of a film. E.g., I'm pretty sure I've seen the names of catering staff in movie credits.

[schlauerfox]

It's all contracts. My father is named because the effects company he worked for had a contract for credit, the guilds similarly enforce their contracts on producers. It was common for many many people involved in production directly to not get credit, you may be underestimating the sheer number of people involved in making a major film. Industry people joke that the caterers are very important, and to be listed above them is a privilege, but a wry hint of truth because an army moves on its stomach.

[mixmastamyk]

Didn’t know the Lucas angle, but yeah you’ll see the accounting team listed in a Marvel movie these days.