Ampersands and Ands

• Posted by sonnyboo May 16, 2011 1.2K views
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  I noticed a strange screenwriting credit back in 1992 (yes, I am old) for LETHAL WEAPON 3 where they credited things as
  
  
  
  screenplay by Jeffrey Boam and Jeffrey Boam & Robert Mark Kamen Story by Jeffrey Boam
  
  
  which struck me as kind of weird. Why is the dude's name showing up 3 times for a simple script credit? And Screenplay by Jeff AND Jeff & some other guy?
  
  From the WGA handbook:
  Quote:

  
  When credit is accorded to a team of writers, an ampersandshall be used between the writers’ names in the credit to denote a writing team. Use of the word “and” between writers’ names in a credit indicates that the writers did their work separately, one usually rewriting the other. This distinction is well established in the industry through custom and practice.

  
  
  So, this means that Jeffrey Boam came up with the main plot points (story by), then wrote a draft by himself (first Jeffrey Boam), then did a collaborative draft writing WITH Robert Mark Kamen (with the &).
  
  I highly recommend reading the WGA's Handbook on credits, CLICK HERE