From the linked article…
In a day and age when literally everyone connected to a film production gets a credit, from craft services to on-set teachers of child actors to random “production babies” who didn’t even work on a film, it is utterly incomprehensible that vfx artists, whose work makes possible the final images that appear onscreen, are routinely omitted from screen credits.
I can attest to this, having worked in the field. Most of the work in TV and cinema goes uncredited, with team leaders or just the post houses at most being recognized with an end credit placement (by contract, of course). I understand totally that it is always a team effort and hardly any of the viewing public sits through the entire end credits roll. I totally get it. But when it happens that you are included, that small token of recognition does remind you why you’re doing 12-hour days erasing power lines, making day look like night, adding/removing people and/or signage from shots they weren’t supposed to be in and pushing greenscreened people in front of moving cars.
The fine Lucas got was from omitting the director’s credit from the start of the movie. It’s not like anybody was defending the guys doing the work behind the scenes.
Relevant wikipedia entry
This might be a needless nitpick, but had to bring it up, as it’s not the first time I’ve come across this.
Yeah, that’s the one. The director’s guild (not union, although I guess similar) imposed the fine, even though it was his own name he omitted.
Even James Earl Jones didn’t get a credit although that was at his own request apparently. He’d rattled through the lines in like 2 hours, pocketed his money and went home. Didn’t feel he’d deserved it, vs the poor guy who’d sweated in a suit for weeks and didn’t even get to be seen or heard.