TV companies consider cutting end credits

What, exactly, does a key grip do?

That's one of those questions that drift through the mind while watching the credits flash at the end of a television show, assuming you're even paying attention.

One of TV's traditions -- the end credits -- is on the endangered list. Discovery Communications is weeks away from eliminating them on its 11 cable channels.

"A whole lot in television has changed since the 1950s," said John Ford, Discovery's content group president. "This is one of the things that hasn't."

Many producers, writers and other professionals who make television shows object to Discovery's decision. They say it will make it harder for them to get work and take away one of the satisfying aspects of their jobs -- the ability to get public recognition for what they do.

"I hate to see the business get so mean-spirited," said Teresa Koenig, an independent producer who made films on hurricanes, volcanos and gems during several years working for National Geographic.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has scheduled a special meeting to discuss the policy change later this month.

Excuse to flee

It wouldn't be an issue if viewers simply ignored the end credits and didn't change the channel. But researchers at Discovery and other networks say many viewers -- as much as one in five in some surveys -- use the credits as an excuse to flee.

John Miller, president of the NBC Agency, the network's in-house promotional firm, sees the credits as "a signal to viewers to go to the bathroom, get something to drink, switch channels."

Miller is considered a pioneer in the minimizing of end credits. It was his decision, in the mid-1990s, to change the way NBC rolls credits, a practice that was quickly imitated.

NBC shrinks the credits and runs them on a small part of the screen, while showing an extra scene of the program or a brief clip about an upcoming show. NBC also eliminated the commercial breaks between programs, so viewers would move seamlessly into the opening of the next show.

Other networks have shrunk credits or flash them so fast that a speed reader with a magnifying glass would have trouble keeping up.

"Everyone loves seeing their credits," said Michael Hoff, a producer of Discovery specials on Alcatraz and crocodiles. "But the truth is the credits are sped up, crunched or minimized so no one can see them anymore. You'd have to tape them, play them back, freeze them and blow them up."

Rarely used for news

Discovery researchers say credits are rarely used on news and sports programming. About the only time viewers care to scan the credits is if they want to catch the name of an actor, Ford said.

However, most of the programming on the Discovery networks -- which includes Discovery, the Travel Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, BBC America and Discovery Kids -- is nonfiction.

That also means that contracts with unions representing many of the professionals in Hollywood, which explicitly require credit, often don't apply to Discovery shows.

Ford uses radio as an example in arguing for the elimination. Radio stations don't list after every song who produced the music and where it was recorded -- it's a common complaint that stations don't even identify the artist and song. So why should television networks identify everyone involved?

The Discovery networks intend to flash a Web site address at the end of programs that will direct interested viewers to the credits. That should help professionals who are concerned they might lose work from people who see a show and like it, Ford said.

Koenig questions whether anyone watching a program will run to a computer to look up credits.

"This sends a message to me that we mean nothing to them," Koenig said. "The compensation you get is not what it used to be. You're not only getting less money but you're getting less credit. I spent my entire career moving out of anonymity. To go back into it? I don't think so."

Others may follow

She's concerned that if Discovery successfully eliminates credits, other networks will follow suit.

"Everyone relies on the credits for their ongoing employment and it is simply due them for their work," said Cheryl Rhoden, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America West. "If they want to save air time, they can remove their logos."

Hoff, meanwhile, believes producers should accept the inevitable and do what they can to help networks keep viewers from turning away.

Ford acknowledges that many of the more than 100 outside producers who work with Discovery are upset, and that some may stop working with them because of it. That hasn't happened yet, though.

Discovery calls the plan a proposal, not a done deal.