Written by “one sole person” (in alphabetical order). STOP this nonsense.

Don’t know about you, but I, for one, am sick and tired of seeing the attribute “in alphabetical order,” in the writing credits of movies that have one sole writer.

One random example:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15255876/fullcredits/

Writing Credits (in alphabetical order) 

John Patton Ford

There are thousands upon thousands of writing credits like this: One writer alone (in alphabetical order).

This doesn’t make a lick of sense. Obviously, an “alphabetical order” can only be applied to a group of 2 or more people. Of course the sole writer of a movie, TV episode, or anything else listed on IMDb, is going to be the first and last “in alphabetical order.”

This is the kind of thing that gives IMDb a bad reputation by looking un-professional, haphazard and even ludicrous.

This happens because whoever submits the writing credit plainly forgets, ignores, or doesn’t give a damn about the “complicated” IMDb writing credits. And I’m not being glib here. I’m quoting IMDb’s own rules, verbatim, that admit:

https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/filmography-credits/credit-order/G8QZ9QSY5EVKAPNF

“the rules for writing credits are complicated”

And there’s really nothing wrong with those rules that use a complex numerical and hierarchical system to classify writers according to how they are credited on-screeen... for movies credited with 2 or more writers.

The only error in those rules is keeping that pesky “in alphabetical order” attribute when there is only one person credited with the script of the movie.

In the example above, if I, or any other contributor, want to eliminate that idiotic “in alphabetical order” tag, I must edit the credit by sending a submission putting the numbers “1,1,1” in the “Order” entry, and send the movie poster credits as evidence:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGI4ODQwYjUtZTA4Mi00YTljLWE4MzItM2M4OGJiNTFkZjIyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTM1MTE1NDMx.jpg

“Written and Directed by John Patton Ford” (who, BTW, sharing the same name of one of the best film directors of all time, John Ford, plus one of the best movies of all time as his middle name, must be one hell of a filmmaker… now I´m being glib).

But seriously, I have done this correction hundreds, if not thousands of times at this point, the latest 2 examples being these upcoming movies written and directed by prominent female filmmakerks:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14584284/fullcredits/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14158346/fullcredits/

The preposterous “in alphabetical order” tag does not show up anymore in these two, and thousands of others, only because I took the time to send a submission putting the numbers “1,1,1” in the “Order” entry, and my valuable IMDb-contributing time, and/or anybody elses's, should be spent in better uses than that.

IN CONCLUSION:

Please tell your software engineers, computer programmers, or whoever is in charge of this king of thing, to change the submission system for writing credits, in the following fashion:

Only if the number of writing credits is >1 (ONE), that is, 2 (TWO) or more (THREE, FOUR, etc.), and only then, the attribute “in alphabetical order” shall appear by default.

Otherwise, when the number of writing credits is just 1 (ONE), the attribute “in alphabetical order” shall NOT appear. NEVER.

Should be easy enough, methinks.

Thanks for your attention.

Obsessive-compulsively yours,

Tonio M. Fraga, Top Contributor and fanatic of IMDb.