The order of the credits, specific job titles, and often the exact wording itself is usually spelled out by the professional filmmaker's unions or guilds. For example, the opening credits of a feature film almost always appear in the same order:

• Production company name

• Director's film credit (e.g., “A Mike Nichols Film” or “A Spike Lee Joint”)

• Names of stars (the order of which is rigorously negotiated)

• Producers (executive, associate, co-)

• Department heads (cinematographer, composer, costume designer, production designer)

• Writer's name

• Director's name again

To paraphrase a well-known negotiator, the rules of entitlement are more like guidelines. Everything can be negotiated, or even waived. The best example of this is what the Directors Guild sees as a hard-fought battle over many years, one in which they insisted a director's name be shown at the beginning of every film. In 1977, however, a young upstart director decided that the beginning of his movie should be so big that no one's name should come before the film's title — not even his! When the director's union threatened to kick him out, he moved 400 miles north of Hollywood and began his own production company. Today, George Lucas is one of the most successful film producers, and the pride and joy of the Directors Guild.

As a filmmaker, the important thing to remember is that you cannot change the rules on your own. You can't decided which actor's name goes first or that it would be groovy to withhold the name of your surprise guest star until the end credits in order to maintain the surprise. All these things must be talked out and settled very early on in the film process. Officially, everything should be in writing before any work begins. Even casual mistakes have resulted in arbitration and lawsuits.