Three Studios Agree to Plan to Certify Who Deserves to Be a Producer

LOS ANGELES - Three major Hollywood studios, in a move to regulate the often chaotic ways in which producer credits are assigned for films, have agreed to let the Producers Guild of America certify some of those credits, the guild and studios said on Thursday.

Beginning immediately, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and two units of Sony Pictures Entertainment have agreed to place the letters “p.g.a.” after the name of any producer who requests the designation and whose work on a particular film is certified by the guild. The certification will serve as a stamp of approval of sorts for those who engaged in the complicated decision-making and advisory functions of what the guild views as a genuine producer.

The agreement was long sought by the guild, a professional organization that does not have the collective bargaining rights of unions like the Directors Guild of America or the Screen Actors Guild. It is intended to stem the traditionally generous awar ding of producers' credits to wide array of people - those who simply contributed funding, executive backing or other support for a film.

“This will change the dynamic of peoples' request for the credit,” said Mark Gordon, the producers guild president, who spoke by telephone on Thursday. Mr. Gordon is a prolific movie and television producer whose film credits include “Source Code” and “2012.”

To earn the new designation, a producer must meet standards that consider supervision of the script, contribution to casting decisions, and presence on a set, among other things.

The designation - which already is being implemented by DreamWorks Animation and the Weinstein Company - will apply only to a full producer credit, and will not affect executive producer, co-producer or associate producer credits, Mr. Gordon said. Under the agreement, it will still be possible to have a full producer credit on a film without the “p.g.a.” certification, which is a voluntary distinction.

Standards for assignment of the “p.g.a.” logo will be identical to those already in place for the Oscar process, Mr. Gordon said. And, as in the awards review, he said, it will probably be given only rarely to more than three people on a single film. (Disputes have marked the review of credits for Oscar consideration, and the rules have been tweaked over the years to allow more room for the occasional award of credit to more than three producers.)

The divisions at Sony that joined the agreement are Columbia Pictures and Screen Gems. Warner Brothers, Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Pictures have all declined so far to agree to the new system.

Mr. Gordon said he hoped that those companies would come on board. But, he said, they remain wary of creating a new process that might complicate or delay the process of finishing films, and are concerned that any limitation on the producer credits might hamper their ability to make de als.

The agreement, he noted, applies only to films actually made by studios involved. Films that are made by others and distributed by the three will not be covered because it would be difficult to conform contractual arrangements on such independent productions to a new standard, he said.

In announcing the new agreement, the guild and studios said the new producers mark would be awarded without distinction to guild members and non-members alike, and that non-members would serve on arbitration panels. They said no compensation would be tied to award of the designation.

Thus, a producer who never requested the mark, they pointed out, could not be assumed to have done less work than one who received it.

Despite studio efforts to curtail producer credits, they have proliferated over the years, as it became more difficult to finance films and producers frequently resorted to collaboration.

A relatively small, indepen dent film like “A Better Life,” which was released last year by Summit Entertainment, cost only about $10 million to make, but carried five producer credits, for instance.

This year, “Lawless,” released by the Weinstein Company, had at least 19 producers of various sorts. At least four of those were credited as full producers. Two of those, Lucy Fisher and Doug Wick, carried the “p.g.a.” designation, according to information provided by the guild.

The Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America have long imposed standards over the assignment of credits in their respective fields; and the writers guild operates a complex arbitration process that annually sorts through conflicting claims of authorship on films.

Mr. Gordon said award of the producers mark would involve an appeals process of some sort. But, he said, he did not expect it to become complicated or time consuming.

“Granted, in the beginning it will be a little bi t of work,” said Mr. Gordon. But the bother would diminish, he said, “once this becomes part of the culture.”

Michael Cieply covers the film industry from the Los Angeles bureau.