While you're on Hollywood Boulevard admiring the old Sights & Sounds sign (see previous post), take a look at some of the other graphics in the area. Nearby, you'll find the second-story offices of Allen Smythee Productions. Of course, it's not a real production company, but a tribute to another bit of Hollywood history.
The name "Allen Smythee" (often seen in various alternate spellings) is the official pseudonym approved by the Directors' Guild of America in 1968, for use whenever a director feels he or she has lost creative control of a project and no longer wishes to be credited.
The 1998 movie An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, released by Disney under the Hollywood Pictures label, tells the story of a director named Alan Smithee (Eric Idle) who wishes to have his name removed from a film. Unfortunately, he learns that the only pseudonym he's allowed to use is the same as his real name. In an interesting bit of irony, Burn Hollywood Burn ended up carrying a "Directed By" credit for Alan Smithee. Original director Arthur Hiller petitioned the DGA to remove his name after losing creative control to the film's writer-producer Joe Eszterhas.
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