In a town where reputation is everything, credits in screenwriting represent your badges of accomplishment. Credits for successful films is, of course, the ultimate goal, but if you're just starting out, even bad credits are better than no credits at all. Write a screenplay, have it produced and you're in the "club". The "club" of produced writers.

Now, there always seems to be some discrepancy as to what kind of "writing" credits one receives for any given film. Written by, Story by, etc. Well, the WGA knows. You should too.

Screenplay by                                                                                                                             This is the credit you receive if you the screenplay you've written is based on someone else's story.

Story by                                                                                                                                         You receive this credit if you're the one who actually penned the story but did not write the screenplay.

Written by                                                                                                                                    This credit is the one you want. This credit says that, not only did you write the screenplay, but you created the original story as well.

Other credits you might see are:                                                                                  "Created by" which is credited to someone who created an idea for a television show, but did not necessarily write the teleplay.

Or "Screen Story by" which is given to someone who might "punch up" or modernize an original story.

There are other forms of writing credits and those entitlements sometimes get as creative as the writers themselves, but strive for the all-inclusive "Written by".