What does Teleplay By mean?
Teleplay By is the screenplay credit for television episodes — indicating the writer or writers who wrote the teleplay (the script for the specific episode) as distinct from the creators who established the series or the writers who developed the story. In television credits, ‘Teleplay By’ may be separated from ‘Story By’ when multiple writers contributed to an episode at different stages — one writer may have developed the story while a different writer wrote the actual script. The distinction between teleplay and story credits is governed by the Writers Guild of America’s credit determination process.
Example:The episode’s opening credits listed ‘Story By’ one writer and ‘Teleplay By’ another — a credit split that indicated the first writer had developed the episode’s story concept while the second had written the actual script, a division of labor common in television writers’ rooms.
Example: The WGA credit arbitration determined that both writers who had contributed substantially to the episode deserved shared ‘Teleplay By’ credit — a decision that affected not just the writers’ professional reputations but the residual payments each would receive from the episode’s subsequent distributions.
Did you know?
The WGA’s credit determination process — which adjudicates which writers receive credit when multiple writers have worked on a script — is one of the union’s most important and contentious functions. Because credits affect residuals, future earning power, and professional reputation, disputes about who deserves credit on a given project can be significant. The WGA’s guidelines specify minimum contribution thresholds for various credit positions, and credits are determined by an arbitration panel of senior WGA members who review all drafts of the script without knowing which writer contributed which version.
You can also find “Teleplay By” and related terms in this category: Roles and Titles.
