I just finally bought the "Cherry Moon" DVD (the last copy at Tower); it's at least 45 minutes of a truly hilarious film.

Anyway, on the DVD sleeve it reads "Screenplay by Becky Johnston?"

I always thought it was "A Film by Prince;" which, to me, implied he was the auteur; both the writer and director.

It doesn't even say "Becky Johnston AND Prince."

What's the story here?

he didn't write the film. he wasn't supposed to direct the film. he wound up as director, and i'm sure he took his fair share of liberties with the script as well.

Anxiety said:

You like Prince way way too much.

Anxiety said:

If he didn't write it, was it written FOR him? Or was it a "spec" screenplay that he just happened to get a hold of?

Imago777 said:

Look, why don't I give you this WHOLE BAG of cookies.

Anxiety said:

sro100 said:

I have a feeling that Prince came up with the concept, but needed a "seasoned pro" to write the script. He's so damn A.D.D. that he would have moved on to another project mid-script.

sro100 said:

"a film by" basically gives credence to the Director of a film. "Story by" indicates who created the storyline. "Screenplay by" indicates who actually fleshed out the film on paper, words and actions. If there's more than one screenwriter, as in Purple Rain, which read something like "Albert Magnoli & William Blinn" it means one person wrote it, then the other RE-wrote it; if it had read "Albert Magnoli AND[i][u] William Blinn", it would mean they collaborated simultaneously.

"a film by" basically gives credence to the Director of a film. "Story by" indicates who created the storyline. "Screenplay by" indicates who actually fleshed out the film on paper, words and actions. If there's more than one screenwriter, as in Purple Rain, which read something like "Albert Magnoli & William Blinn" it means one person wrote it, then the other RE-wrote it; if it had read "Albert Magnoli AND[i][u] William Blinn", it would mean they collaborated simultaneously.[/quote]

Actually, it's the other way around. According to the WGA guidelines, the ampersand (&) is used for teams of writers, while successive writers, if both are given credit, get the 'and'. If the credits to UTCM read "screenplay by Becky Johnston," it doesn't mean that Prince didn't do any rewrites. It does mean that Prince's changes were not significant enough to Becky Johnston's original work to constitute granting him a screenwriting credit.

papabeat said:

Actually, it's the other way around. According to the WGA guidelines, the ampersand (&) is used for teams of writers, while successive writers, if both are given credit, get the 'and'. If the credits to UTCM read "screenplay by Becky Johnston," it doesn't mean that Prince didn't do any rewrites. It does mean that Prince's changes were not significant enough to Becky Johnston's original work to constitute granting him a screenwriting credit.[/quote]


Uh, yeah...something like that...