Who Should Get The Credit...Writers or Actors?

We attended a pool party at a film director's home in Beverly Hills. One executive producer asked who should receive credit for the blockbusting success of a movie ?

After brief dicussion a projection screen was lowered from the ceiling the lights went out and film was projected on the screen. Names of movies, it's writers and actors were shown. The question was repeated.

Who gets the credit...The Writers or The Actors ?

www.writersedge.org/World_Review.html

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newyorklegend

Hmmm I think the writer deserves more applause because if you think about it, nothing is really an "orginal idea" anymore, they are just combinations of ideas or the same themes done over and over again, like:

1.boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy find girl (trust me there are a lot of these)

2.Good guy opens movie with an action sequence, Good guy loses to a Bad Guy, Good guy goes into "training", Good guy defeats bad guy. ( a lot of this plot line going on as well)

Which is why a good story is hard to mess up. Bad acting may wreck a film but good acting on a story line without much of a story to tell can only make the movie mediocre at best. Besides isn't this why the world flocked to reality TV? it can be said that the "acting" is poor because it is just people being themselves......we see people be themselves everyday........ or at least there isn't much TALENT involved, yet people tune in because the premise of the reality show is interesting, it is orginal and being the curious people that we are.... we love orginallity.

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And like that .... he's gone

I think of it this way.......... If there was no writer there would be no movie. I think that the writer should get the more credit because he/she is coming up with the plot, dialogue, humor, ect. Its not like the actor just came up with the stuff off the spot but it is starting to seem like that because they writers dont get as much credit. Everyone that was involved with the movie should get credit by how much they put in to it and the writer I think puts the most into it.

I think writers don't get enough praise, but then, if the actor isn't any good, both should get praise, no I think it should be the actor, no, no the writer, actor, writer, actor, writer, actor, writer, arrrrrrrr

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Buddha

Uh, both I suppose... you can't really have one without the other in most cases.

yeah, I change my opinion... they go together like a horse and carriage.

I would think that on any project that turns out better than expected, like say Donnie Darko, the chemistry that can be created by ALL of these people ends up adding something special to the film. A scene could be written, and once the director/actors/crew get on site, ideas start flying and the scene actually comes out better than any of the participants expected, all due to the fact that they worked together to get it there. The reason I bring this up is that on numerous occasions, directors/actors have mentioned this on the DVD commentary.

Another example that comes to mind is X2, where Singer stated that certain scenes (some rewritten or altered on the spot by folks like Patrick Stewart) had a sort of magic injected into them when all hands participated in the shaping of the scene. Of course the writer is a key element here, as he/she provides the basis for the plot and the scene, but I am starting to think it takes something more than just an exceptional writer, director, or actor to make a good film.

_S

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I believe that if all parties involved are equally excited about a project, it will show in the finished product.

Hello and welcome to MoFo Piledriver!

(I may or may not know Piledriver personally, depending on what he posts )

Both deserve credit. Without writers there's no movies and without actors there's... no movies! So both are participants that participate in the same thing.

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Father of the Bride ****/*****
Spartacus *****/*****
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A horse can exist without the carriage but the carriage without the horse is stifled. Some times writers write excellent stories and the actors jack it up. Then again a writer can write a messed up story and the actors translate that story in a most beautiful way.

What's your thoughts about that ?

I think you made a good point because the writer can put but so much expression and emotion in his writing. Where as the actor add more to the story than just words. But can there be a flip side to this?

I think you can have an excited writer but he or she produces bad writing. Hopefully it will not so in the finished work. Good example:
Gigli with Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck. They received poor reviews and I'm sure everybody were excited about the project. So now this raise another question...whose at fault...the writers or the actors?

i think the credit should be divided equally between both, b/c both put in a tremendous amount of work to make the story come to life.

That's a tough one to divid a project equally. Because each individual's amount of participation and performance will differ in quality. It is true they all bring elements of skills to make the story come to life.

you make an excellent point and use a perfect example doing so. I should amend my first posting by saying there should be some thread of talent to begin with amongst all involved with a given project. I believe that a weak script can be overcome by strong actors and good direction, inexperienced acting can be bolstered by strong direction and flexable script writing, etc... The individual parts don't have to have the same amount of experience or talent level as any other, they all have to want to put forth their best effort to produce a good end result.

It depends on the movie and who the actors are. There can be a movie that is written crap but a good actor pulls it off to be a good movie and visa versa. If the writing and acting are both good then they both get the credit. For the story however, the writer gets the credit. What about directors and writers? There can be some great directing to a crappy movie and visa versa. The credit should go to where it is deserved.