Common Opening Credits Order
From Wikipedia
(NAME OF THE STUDIO) or (NAME OF THE STUDIO) PRESENTS
Name of the studio that is distributing the film and may or may not have produced it (for example, the major film studios like Walt Disney Pictures, Universal Pictures, or Warner Bros.)
(NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY)
Name of the production company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film (usually credited as “in association with” or “A [production company name] production.”).
POSSESSORY CREDITS
The primary artistic credit for the film. Generally the film director, but sometimes the producer or writer. Normally stylized “A film by [name]” or “A [name] film”. Sometimes placed before a title. (E.g. “Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho”).
STARRING
Principal actors (sometimes the stars’ and director’s credits will be reversed, depending on the star’s deal with the studio; in other cases, as in the Rodgers and Hammerstein films, or as in all three film versions of Show Boat, or, as in many Disney films, the title of the film will be shown before the names of the production company, its possessory credit, and its 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.
CASTING or CASTING BY
Casting director. Those who are members of the Casting Society of America will have the post-nominal letters “CSA” after their name.
MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY
Composer of the music
VISUAL EFFECTS PRODUCER or VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR
VFX Studio name
COSTUME DESIGN or COSTUME DESIGNER
Costume designer
EDITOR or EDITED BY
Film Editor. Those who are members of the American Cinema Editors will have the post-nominal letters “ACE” after their name.
PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Production designer.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of photography.
- Members of the following societies will have post-nominal letters after their name:
- American Society of Cinematographers: ASC
- British Society of Cinematographers: BSC
PRODUCER or PRODUCED BY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Producers, co-producers, executive producers, ‘also produced by’ (credited for various reasons according to contracts and personal scrutiny of the principal producer). Often, though, the name of the producer will be the second-to-last opening credit, just before the writer’s name(s) are shown (Pursuant to WGA rules, writer credits are immediately adjacent to the Director.).
Those who have been certified by the Producers Guild of America that they actually performed a major portion of the producing duties of the film will have the “Producers Mark” certification mark–the post-nominal letters “p.g.a.”–after their names.[a]
BASED ON THE BOOK (PLAY, GRAPHIC NOVEL, etc.) BY or FROM A PLAY/BOOK BY
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 who wrote the story on which the script is based, gets “story by” credit, and the first screenplay credit, unless the script made substantial changes to the story.
WRITER(S) or WRITTEN BY or SCREENPLAY or SCREENPLAY BY
Screenplay writers. The Writers Guild of America allows only three writing credits on a feature film, although teams of two are credited as one, separated on the credits by an ampersand (“X & Y”). If each works independently on the script (the most common system), they are separated by an “and”. If more than two persons worked on the screenplay, the credits may read something like “screenplay by X & Y and Z and W,” meaning that X and Y worked as a team, but Z and W worked separately.[3]
DIRECTOR or DIRECTED BY
Director. The Directors Guild of America usually permits a film to list only one director, even when it is known that two or more worked on it. Exceptions are made in rare cases such as a death and subsequent replacement of the director mid-production[4] as well as for established directing teams such as the Coen brothers.[5]