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Earlier this week, we acknowledged the 100th anniversary of Birth of a Nation and the blockbuster style of filmmaking that create. But as Vanity Fair points out, Birth of a Nation also marked the start of directors declaring authorship for movies. D. W. Griffith was the first director to have a possessive credit for his film (“Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation“), and increasingly, many directors are opting for a similarly authorial style. Many recent Oscar winning movies, for instance, describe themselves as “A film by” rather than “Directed by.”
It’s a minor difference but one that asserts the auteur role of directors in a big way. Many screenwriters and other contributors (including their respective guilds) take issue with this type of credit, as it downplays the work of the rest of the crew. As Vanity Fair explains, this has become a contentious issue in film promotion; the Writers Guild of America even lobbied to remove “A Christopher Nolan film” from some screening copies of The Dark Knight.
The article is a great read for anyone looking for a glimpse into how minutia in Hollywood can change careers. You’ll probably have trouble reading movie posters the same way again.