What to do with director's credit?

[JasperB]

Hello,

After the shoot of my short film, the director decided that she doesn't want to be credited. She did sign a contract stating that she had this function during the shooting days, but since we're friends, I want to respect her choice not to have her name on it.

To solve this, I could either give myself the director's credit, but I haven't been the one directing, so that doesn't feel right.

What is the most professional way to solve this? I want a professional and clean end-product, and I can't really leave that credit out, I believe.

Please share your thoughts on this. Thanks a lot.

 

[Filman]

She should use an alias. Only the director can be credited as director.

 

[JoshL]

There is a long and storied tradition of directors removing their name for various reasons :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Smithee

 

[film_autre]

sounds like she doesnt like your film, just put filmed by then put your name or whoever filmed it.

 

[WalterB]

Alan Smithee, or in this case: Elaine Smithee.

 

[Cracker Funk]

I'm not sure how good of a friend she is if she doesn't want to take credit for the film. If it were me, I would just leave the director credit out. "A JasperB" film tells people that it's your creative baby, without specifying exactly who did what on set.

 

[indietalk]

Talk to her and find out why.

Is she not proud of it? Directed before?
Is she unsure of herself? First time director?
Does she feel like a lot of people helped in directing and she is being humble?
Is she just being nice, as in "No you should have the credit, it's your film."

There are multiple scenarios which have different courses of action here.