Should Amiel have gotten a screen writer's credit for that first movie?
He did come up with the initial screen play?
"It's the system, Lara. People will be different after the Revolution."
Yes, he should have.
That's why they have the WGA now.
MovieChat Forums > The Bad and the Beautiful (1953) Discussion > Should Amiel have gotten a screen writer...
kevin-bergin says > He did come up with the initial screen play?A writer's credit was the least he should have gotten. Amiel had the idea to make the book into a movie even after other studios had failed to convert it to a viable script. He then sold the idea to Shields who was less than enthusiastic at first. Finding projects is usually something a producer would do.
Amiel had not only written the script, he also blocked out every scene. Von Ellstein, the new director, raved about it; thinking it was all Shields' work. Since he thought it was so well done, we can presume that he followed Amiel's blocking precisely when making the movie. That means Amiel did much of the director's job too.
Shields justified himself by saying he was the one who got the movie made. That is true; he brought the idea to Pebbel and convinced him to get the support and secure the funding they needed. However, that is the job of a producer; that's what Shields was paid to do. The problem is he took credit for all of it; giving Amiel none. He was going to give him an 'assistant to the producer' credit but that was basically a slap in the face.
Today, actors often get producer credits as part of their compensation packages. Amiel should have been offered a producer credit on the movie along with a writer credit but I doubt that would have satisfied him. Even a co-director credit, if that existed, would not appease him. His dream was to direct. When he developed the project it was with the intention of directing it. Anything short of that would not suffice.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate] share