Film Credits as Bargaining Chip: What You Can Promise and What You Risk

A renowned photographer offers to bring an A-list actor to your film. In exchange, he wants to be listed in the credits as a co-producer. You agree, sign an informal arrangement. Then the television production company that acquires the project refuses to put his name in the titles. What happens?

This situation — more common than one might think in the Italian film industry and in international co-productions — raises three distinct questions: can film credits be used as a bargaining chip? Who actually has the power to include or exclude a name from the titles? And how do you protect yourself when the promise is not kept?

Film credits are not just a matter of visibility

Before answering, it is worth understanding why credits matter legally — not just for professional reputation.

In Italy, the right to be acknowledged as the author of a work is protected by Article 20 of Law no. 633/1941 (the Italian Copyright Act) as a moral right — inalienable, imprescriptible, and non-transferable. Article 46 of the same Act specifically provides that the authors of a cinematographic work have the right to claim authorship of their work.

This means that the right to authorship credit — for the director, screenwriter, composer — is not negotiable: you cannot contractually waive it. But “production credits” — associate producer, co-producer, executive producer — are a different category, not anchored to the moral right of artistic authorship. These can be the object of an agreement between the parties, and therefore also of exchange.

Can you promise a credit? Yes — but with a precise limit

Going back to the photographer’s case: yes, you can agree to include his name in the credits in exchange for a service. The exchange is lawful if it is fair — that is, if the value of the credit reasonably corresponds to the value of the service received.

The problem is that almost no author or co-author has the unilateral power to guarantee a credit in the titles of a film. Power over credits belongs to the production — those who finance and produce the film — and to any broadcasters or distributors that acquire the project. This is true in Italy, and even more so in international productions involving a major studio or a broadcaster.

The most you can do is contractually commit to:

• formally request the inclusion of the name;
• make “every reasonable effort” to obtain it;
• resist any requests for exclusion.

You cannot guarantee the result if you do not control the production.

What happens if the promise is not kept

If you have signed a written agreement providing for the inclusion of a name in the credits, and the production excludes it without your consent, you have two paths.

Contractual liability: if you have assumed an obligation of result (“I undertake to have your name included”), the failure to perform exposes you to damages — calculated on the economic and reputational value of the promised credit. If, on the other hand, you have assumed an obligation of means (“I undertake to do everything possible”), liability arises only if you have not genuinely attempted to enforce the agreement.

Fundamental distinction: the difference between obligation of result and obligation of means must be clearly written in the contract. The distinction is a core concept of Italian and continental contract law: an obligation of result requires the debtor to achieve a specific outcome, while an obligation of means requires only that the debtor act with due diligence toward the outcome. An informal agreement or an ambiguous email does not clarify which of the two you have assumed — and in case of dispute, the most unfavorable interpretation almost always falls on the party who made the promise.

When the production decides to change the credits

A frequent situation in co-productions: the production company that acquires the project wants to reduce or modify the credits for its own reasons — union agreements, broadcaster deals, internal policies. In such cases, whoever had promised the credit finds themselves between two fires: in breach toward the person to whom the credit was promised, and without tools to compel the production.

The most effective protection is preventive: before promising a credit to a third party, verify that your contract with the production allows it and — ideally — have the inclusion of the name approved in writing from the development phase. A letter of intent or a preliminary agreement with the production that explicitly mentions the credit to be assigned is worth far more than a verbal promise made later.

On this topic, a notable Italian case is that of director Fausto Brizzi, who had to litigate to obtain recognition of the directorial credit that was due to him by contract.

Credits as a negotiation tool: best practices

If you are structuring an exchange in which credits are part of the consideration, here is what cannot be missing from the written agreement:

Precise description of the credit: not “producer” in general, but the exact wording that must appear in the titles, in which position (opening credits or end credits), with what size relative to other names.

Who bears the obligation: do you undertake to request the credit, or do you guarantee the result? The distinction must be made explicit, in line with the obligation-of-means vs obligation-of-result distinction discussed above.

What happens if the credit is not included: a penalty clause with a predetermined amount, or a criterion for calculating damages. Without this clause, proving the economic value of the credit not included becomes complicated and uncertain.

Conditional clause: if the credit depends on the acquisition of the project by a third-party production, the agreement must provide for it as a condition — not as an absolute guarantee.

For the correct contractual structure in a co-production or a development agreement, see our guide on Italy-Serbia and Balkans film co-productions and the dedicated piece on Eurimages co-production requirements.

The American system: how the WGA works

In productions operating under the jurisdiction of the Writers Guild of America, screenwriting credits are not freely negotiated — they are determined by an internal arbitration procedure managed by the union. This means that even if you have promised a screenwriter a specific credit, the WGA system can override you.

The WGA Credits Manual sets detailed rules on how “Written by,” “Screenplay by,” “Story by,” and other credits are allocated when multiple writers have worked on the same project. A producer who has informally promised a specific credit to an Italian or European writer working on a US-jurisdiction production may find that the WGA arbitration assigns the credit differently — or removes it altogether. For Italian writers entering US-based projects, understanding the WGA framework before signing is essential, because the union’s credit determinations bind the production regardless of side agreements.

How DANDI assists producers, authors, and creatives on film credits

DANDI.media supports producers, screenwriters, directors, and creative talent in the negotiation and drafting of development and co-production agreements where credits are part of the deal structure:

• drafting of development agreements with precise credit provisions;
• structuring of co-production contracts with credit allocation clauses, billing rules, and dispute mechanisms;
• review of cross-jurisdictional credit issues, including projects involving the WGA or other guild systems;
• litigation in matters of credit infringement, moral rights, and unfulfilled contractual promises;
• preventive audit of contractual arrangements before promising credits to third parties.

Are you negotiating an agreement in which credits are part of the consideration? Or have you promised a credit that the production refuses to include? You can book an initial consultation with Avv. Claudia Roggero, founding partner of DANDI.media, through our website.

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