'Alan Smithee' is a common pseudonym for directors whose film was clearly taken away from her/him and recut heavily against her/his wishes in ways that completely altered the film.

The Directors Guild contract generally does not permit a director to remove her/his name from films. The Directors Guild has been striving for decades to establish the director as the "author" of a film, and part of getting the credit for the successes is taking the blame for the failures. The only exceptions they make are cases in which a film was clearly taken away from a director and recut heavily against her/his wishes in ways that completely altered the film. Directors are required to appeal to the Guild in such cases. If the appeal is successful, their name is replaced by Alan Smithee. That is the only permissible pseudonym for a director. So if you notice a film directed by Alan Smithee, it is certain it is not what its director intended, and likely that it is not any good.


The DGA decided that the name got so much exposure from the film An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997) that it was no longer an effective alias. The film Supernova (2000/I) was the first "post-Smithee" film; Smithee's successor is as yet unclear, but one possibility from this film is "Thomas Lee.". "Alan Smithee" is an anagram for "The Alias Men" The Alan Smithee escape nomenclature can and has also been used by screenwriters and scenarists. It's true that it began being used by directors who did not want their mangled work identified as theirs but writers quickly began to catch on. Those not intimately familiar with the production process, especially so with big companies, might not quite understand this. However if an inept person in a supervisory position (this happens too often) moves in and re-cuts or re-writes leaving enough damage the professional will simply not want his name attached to the project.