After receiving severe backlash from the Directors Guild and Writers Guild, Warner Bros. Discovery has adjusted the changes it made to director and writer credits on Max’s release. In a statement, Max said: “We agree that the talent behind the content on Max should be properly recognized for their work. We will correct the transferred credits due to an oversight of the technical transition from HBO Max to Max, and we apologize for this error.
The amendment comes after the DGA and WGA issued angry statements about replacing the long-standing individual credits of directors and writers in its film library, which does not list director and writer credits specifically, but lumps them together as “creators.”
Ahead of Max’s reversal, the DGA, which is currently negotiating a contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, called the company’s unilateral move a “gross insult” and said it would take the “strongest possible steps” to reverse it. . The WGA, now on strike for three weeks, called the change “disrespectful and insulting”.
“For nearly 90 years, the Directors Guild has fought hard to secure the credit and recognition directors deserve for the work they create,” said TGA President Leslie Linga Clatter. “Without unilateral action, notice or consultation from Warner Bros. Discovery, we are in negotiations with directors, writers, producers and others as general categories of ‘creatives’ on their New Max releases. Our union. This devaluation of artists’ individual contributions is a disturbing trend and the DGA will not stand for it. We intend to take the strongest possible steps, in solidarity with the WGA, to ensure that every artist receives the individual credit they deserve.
WGA West President Meredith Stiehm said, “Warner Bros. Writers, directors and producers are lumped into an invented, dwindling category called creators. This is credit default for starters. But worse than that, it’s disrespectful and disrespectful to the artists who make movies and TV shows and earn their company millions. This attempt to diminish the contribution and importance of writers echoes the message we heard in our negotiations with AMPTP—writers are marginalized, indispensable, and must accept being underpaid while our employers’ profits are higher and higher. It is this tone-deaf disregard for the importance of writers that has brought us to where we are today – the 22nd day of our strike.
