Writers Guild of America arbitrators have ruled on the script credits for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, reports Heat Vision.
Writers Guild of America arbitrators have ruled on the script credits for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, reports Heat Vision. Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer will get story credit, while screenplay credits will go to Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz and Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn. Left out were Josh Schwartz and Jamie Moss, who penned the first two drafts of FIRST CLASS.
Oddly though, Turner never wrote anything for FIRST CLASS. What he did write was the spinoff X-MEN ORIGINS: MAGNETO. That film was put into development around the same time of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, which was a bigger priority for Fox. In 2007, David Goyer joined MAGNETO to direct and did script rewrites. Meanwhile, in 2008, Schwartz was hired to pen the FIRST CLASS script, which followed the comics where it focused on Jean Gray, Beast and Cyclops studying at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Soon, Bryan Singer signed on to direct FIRST CLASS with his own take on the story, which Moss was hired to turn into a script. Miller and Stentz were later brought in to rework Moss's script. When Singer decided to only produce, Vaughn came on as the director and did another rewrite with Goldman. Producer Simon Kinberg also did rewrites. During the development process, the story moved further away from Schwartz's version and integrated more of what was to be the MAGNETO feature.
Schwartz and Moss were seeking credits and can appeal the decision. But the only way their appeal will work is if they can prove that something improper occurred during arbitration. Goyer and Kinberg did not seek credits on the film. With the amount of bonuses and residuals paid to credited writers, it is no wonder that writers would want to fight to get their name on the screen.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
