Why Do Films Have Such Long Credits?

The film ends, the lights come up, and the names begin to roll. And roll. Many people leave the cinema while the credits are still going, some stay for a hidden scene at the end, and a few sit and read the jobs: gaffer, key grip, best boy, Foley artist, unit publicist, production accountant.

Why does a two-hour film need ten minutes to say thank you?

Credits used to be short

In early Hollywood, credits were brief and usually came at the start of the film: the title, the studio, the stars, the director and a handful of key creative people. Many crew members weren’t named at all. Films often ended with a simple “The End”.

Over time, and especially from the 1970s onwards, credits grew longer and moved to the end. Several things drove that change: stronger unions, bigger productions and, later, the boom in visual effects.

A film credit is part of a contract, and part of a career.

Who decides who gets a credit

Contracts and guilds

In the film industry, credits are rarely a courtesy. They are part of people’s contracts. Unions and guilds negotiate rules about credits for their members. In the US, for example, the Writers Guild of America runs a formal process to decide which writers get credited on a film, and the Directors Guild and the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA have their own rules about how names are shown. Other countries’ film industries have similar agreements.

The most important names, such as the lead actors, director and writers, usually appear at the start or in the first part of the end credits. Their size, position and order can be negotiated in detail.

A professional CV

For most crew, there is no permanent employer. People work from film to film, as freelancers. A screen credit is proof of their work and helps them get their next job. Industry databases and CVs rely on it. So including everyone matters to the people who made the film.

Why modern films need so many people

A big modern film is made by an army:

• Visual effects. A large effects film can involve hundreds or thousands of artists, often at several different companies in different countries. Each company’s team is listed.
• Departments within departments. Camera, lighting, sound, costume, make-up, hair, set design, construction, props, stunts, transport, catering, accounting, legal and more, each with its own heads, assistants and trainees.
• Several units. Big productions often film in more than one place at once, with a second unit shooting action, landscapes or stunts, each with its own crew.
• Post-production. Editing, music, sound mixing and colour grading continue for months after filming ends.
• Thanks and legal lines. Credits also list music licences, locations, government film offices, tax incentive schemes and companies whose products appear in the film.

What those strange job titles mean

The legal lines at the very end

Some lines at the end of credits are there for legal reasons. The familiar disclaimer that “any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental” became common after MGM was sued over its 1932 film Rasputin and the Empress by a Russian princess who said the film defamed her. She won, and studios began adding such disclaimers to fictional films.

In the US, many films also carry a statement from American Humane about the treatment of animals during filming, where its representatives monitored the production.