Production Credits

The Most Common Opening Credits Order

While there are many ways in which production credits can be presented, most opening credits use some variation of this basic order.

• (NAME OF THE STUDIO)

Name of the studio distributed the film. (For instance, Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, etc.).

• (NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY)

Name of the production company that actually made the film. You can also put the name of the investment groups or companies that financed a significant amount to the film (usually credited as "in association with" or "A (studio name) production.").

• POSSESSORY CREDIT/S

The primary artistic credit of the film. This is, generally, the film director. Sometimes the producer or writer is specified too. This is normally credited as "A film by (name)" or "A (name) film". It is sometimes placed before a title. (E.g. "Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho").

• STARRING

Main actors (Occasionally, the stars' and director's credits will be reversed, depending on the star's deal with the studio. In some cases, as in the Rodgers and Hammerstein films, or, like in many Disney films, the title of the film will be shown before the names of the actors. Sometimes, as in many of Cannon's films, the name(s) of the principal actor(s) will be shown before the name(s) of the producer(s), i.e. "The Cannon Group presents X in a Golan-Globus production of a Y film").

• (FILM'S TITLE)

Name of the film.

• FEATURING

Featured actors.

• CASTING or CASTING BY

Casting director.

• MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY

Composer of music.

• PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Production designer.

As a variation some of the below may be noted:

• SET DESIGN
• COSTUMES or COSTUMES BY or GOWNS (not so common now, as this specification was used in older movies)
• HAIRDRESSER
• MAKE-UP ARTIST
• SOUND RECORDING (not so common now, as this specification was used in older movies)
• VISUAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR or VISUAL EFFECTS BY

• EDITOR or EDITED BY

Editor.

• DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Director of photography.

• PRODUCER or PRODUCED BY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Producers, co-producers, executive producers, (credited as 'also produced by') Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown.

• BASED ON THE BOOK (PLAY, GRAPHIC NOVEL etc.) BY or FROM A PLAY/BOOK BY (older movies)

If based on a book or other literary work.

• BASED ON THE CHARACTERS BY or BASED ON THE CHARACTERS CREATED BY

If based on characters from a book or other media.

• (SCREEN) STORY or STORY BY

Person responsible for writing the story on which the script is based. This is credited, "story by" and is the first screenplay credit to appear, unless the script made significant changes to the story.

• WRITER(S) or WRITTEN BY or SCREENPLAY or SCREENPLAY BY

Screenplay writers.

• DIRECTOR or DIRECTED BY

Director.