User talk:50.68.235.34

I have never used the edit or talk features of Wikipedia, and seem to be encountering some issues with the edit feature, so please excuse any misunderstanding of my use of the talk feature if I haven't got the procedure quite right.

I'm writing to comment on the current content of the article on Harold Livingston. I was the associate producer of Star Trek -- The Motion Picture and was present for the entire development and production of the movie. I was also one of the many contributing writers of the film and was involved in the WGA credits determination of the film. The author of the current version of the Harold Livingston Wikipedia page inaccurately writes that Harold Livingston "claimed" sole credit (that he presumably did not deserve) for the screenplay of that film. That description is entirely without basis. For one thing, the Writers' Guild of America is entirely responsible for determining the writing credits on any film in which the credits are in dispute with respect to the participating writers on a film. Every writer who participates in the writing of a film is sent a notification of the proposed writing credits upon the completion of principal photography. If any writer has any issue with the proposed on screen writing credits, they are invited to ask for a WGA credits arbitration in which they can make their case for why they deserve credit based on strict rules and guidelines provided by the Guild. In the case of Star Trek -- The Motion Picture, none of the participating writers, including Gene Roddenberry, disputed the proposed on screen sole screenplay credit for Harold Livingston. There was no dispute. Harold Livingston was, by all WGA metrics, the only person who deserved screenplay credit. Harold did not do anything to "claim" this credit other than write most of the content of most of the drafts of the movie -- and he could not inappropriately "claim" credit for the film even if he had wanted to, in that the WGA would have had the final say in the event of any dispute.

It is true that there were great creative differences during the production of the film between Harold and Gene. It is well known by those who have studied the production of the movie that Harold and Gene (and myself, for that matter) would turn out different versions of pages for scenes being shot the next day, or even the same day in some cases. These pages were noted by "GR," "HL" or "JP" in the header, along with the day and time they were submitted. This was because the relationship between Gene and Harold had soured to the point in which it became a competition, and Gene was determined to try and get his pages shot. (In my case, my pages were often an attempt to find some common ground between the two versions with the hope of keeping everyone happy.) In almost all cases, the pages shot were the HL pages. The shots Harold has taken at Gene in the publications mentioned on Harold's Wikipedia page are essentially the result of their contentious relationship, but they in no way change the fact that Harold's sole screenplay credit was entirely appropriate and earned.