Who is Alan Smithee

What It Covers

Alan Smithee is a fictional director pseudonym created by the Directors Guild of America in 1968, used by real directors to disavow films altered without their consent, appearing in over 156 credited productions before official retirement in 2000.

Key Questions Answered

• •DGA Credit Rules: The Directors Guild of America enforces a one-director credit principle rooted in auteur theory, requiring a single named director per film. Directors cannot use pseudonyms — a rule designed to protect credit, but one that backfired when directors wanted to disavow altered work.
• •Alan Smithee Eligibility Process: To use the Alan Smithee pseudonym, directors had to pass formal DGA arbitration proving three conditions: the film was substantially altered without consent, meaningful creative control was lost, and the final product no longer represented their original vision.
• •Notable Real Uses: David Lynch replaced his name with Alan Smithee on the extended TV cut of Dune, even crediting his screenplay to "Judas Booth." Dennis Hopper used it on Catch Fire, then reclaimed his real name when he re-edited the film for home video release as Backtrack.
• •Pseudonym Retirement and Replacement: The 1997 film Burn Hollywood Burn publicly exposed the Alan Smithee device, rendering it ineffective. The DGA retired it in 2000 but preserved the appeals process, replacing the single pseudonym with multiple approved alternatives including Thomas Lee and Stephen Green.