Max Credits Fixed After Controversy Over Creator Listings

Warner Bros. Discovery has finally fixed the credits on its online streaming service, Max.

According to Variety, the updated listings no longer consolidate writers, directors, producers, and other crew under a single “creators” heading. The update is live on max.com as well as iOS and will be rolled out across all platforms this week.

“We agree that the talent behind the content on Max deserve their work to be properly recognized,” a Max spokesperson previously affirmed. “We will correct the credits, which were altered due to an oversight in the technical transition from HBO Max to Max and we apologize for this mistake.”

We agree that the talent behind the content on Max deserve their work to be properly recognized

After HBO Max made the transition to Max, crew credits became weirdly consolidated under the heading “creators” without specifying directors, writers, etc.

The frankly weird move meant that different crew positions were indistinguishable from others. For example, the film Raging Bull now rightly lists the crew as follows:

Directors: Martin Scorsese; Writers: Paul Schrader, Mardik Martin; Producers: Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff; Based on Source Material by: Jake La Motta, Joseph Carter, Peter Savage.

However, all of these individuals were previously grouped together as “creators”.

The new HBO Max (MAX) has eliminated writer/director credits in their interface in favor of a vague “Creators.” This is what Raging Bull currently looks like. It’s so fucking over. pic.twitter.com/gPveQ469GB

— John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) May 24, 2023

Of course, Max came under fire for the move almost immediately, with the WGA calling out Max’s listings during the ongoing writers’ strike.

“This tone-deaf disregard for writers’ importance is what brought us to where we are today — Day 22 of our strike,” said WGAW President Meredith Stiehm.

Quite why the listings were consolidated in this way remains a mystery, but Warner Bros. Discovery claims it was a technical issue during the transition from HBO Max to the Max platform. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise – the service was plagued with technical issues when it launched just last month.

A Warner Bros. Discovery representative stated that the listings “were altered due to an oversight in the technical transition from HBO Max to Max.” Essentially, the listings needed to be standardized as a priority due to the service adding thousands of episodes of Discovery content to its platform.

Thankfully, the credits are now being restored in full.

Want to read more about Max? Check out which iconic horror franchise is getting a series on Max and find out which DC movies and shows were affected by the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

Ryan Leston is a freelance writer at IGN.