Max’s Controversial Creators Label Is Gone, But More Inaccuracies Are Left In Its Wake

Warner Bros. Discovery’s recently-merged Max streaming service still can’t seem to get things right when it comes to properly attributing writers, directors, and others involved in the creation of its titles. After over a month of criticism, the controversial creators label, which lumped every creative role on a film or television episode under one diminishing term, was finally repaired last month, but the problems left in its wake are even more numerous. WGA Captain Shawn Wines took to Twitter to point out a few of the glaring inaccuracies on the platform, including missing writers, misplaced directors, and even incorrect ratings.

Among the many new errors pointed out, Max currently has the Best Picture winner Moonlight listed without either of its writers Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney credited. Rather, it doesn’t even have a writers label at all. The Matrix, meanwhile, credits Bruce Hunt, the second unit director, as a co-director alongside Lana and Lilly Wachowski. Moneyball doesn’t credit anyone from director Bennett Miller to writers Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin. The 1933 King Kong is also missing a director and is rated TV-PG.

Admittedly, this problem isn’t nearly as widespread as the creators label which applied to every title on the platform, but it’s still disastrous, especially in the context of the ongoing WGA strike. These aren’t small typos, but major mistakes that inaccurately represent titles and the people that create them. It further exposes the slapdash approach to building the new Max platform which doesn’t give much thought to ensuring proper attribution is given, but merely throws things together in a hurry and hopes that nobody notices the missing nails that hold it all together. As much as Max may claim that it simply took a ton of time to go title by title and correct information, that’s hardly a suitable excuse for taking so much time to get things right only to still fumble the ball. It’s just another show of how little writers, directors, and everyone that helps make the content actually possible are respected by the studios.

RELATED: Here’s Why Those ‘South Park’ Episodes With Tom Cruse Aren’t Available to Stream on Max

Max Continues Finding New Ways to Anger Creatives in the Industry

Blatant errors in attribution are far from all the issues plaguing Max these days. The platform is, once again, in hot water for its callous removal of content. This time it’s The Venture Bros., but what makes it especially galling is that the show’s co-creator, Christopher McCulloch, wasn’t even informed of the move and had to learn via Twitter. This is hardly anything new for Warner Bros. Discovery which has popularized content removal, but it’s nonetheless disheartening especially during a dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike where writers and actors are both fighting for better pay and protection for the work they’ve poured their hearts into. It’s clear a major divide still stands between both sides, and it’s not likely to be bridged anytime soon if this sort of behavior is any indication.

We’ll have more on the Max errors as the platform, once again, tries to do the bare minimum of providing correct attribution to everyone involved in the creative process. Collider’s Therese Lacson and Mike Muney have a detailed write-up on what the writer’s strike means for you if you’d wish to learn more about the WGA’s fight. Check out Hines’s Tweet below to see the many inaccuracies of Max.