History Main / AlanSmithee

* ''Film/BrendaStarr'' was partially rewritten by Delia Ephron, who chose to be credited as Jenny Wolkind. Tellingly, [[OldShame it's not mentioned on her website.]]
* Ti West, who went on to create a number of CultClassic modern horror films like ''Film/TheHouseOfTheDevil'' and ''Film/TheInnkeepers'', wrote and directed ''Film/CabinFever 2: Spring Fever''. He was so ashamed of the final result, particularly the amount of [[ExecutiveMeddling reshoots and editing done by the producers]], that he requested to use the name, but since he was not a member of the Directors Guild of America, his request was denied. To this day, West [[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/12341-excl-ti-west-and-the-cabin-fever-2-experience/ still treats it]] as an OldShame, viewing it more as a product of Creator/{{Lionsgate}} and the producers than himself.

* The "Z.X. Jones" credited with the script for the Creator/RaquelWelch Western ''Hannie Caulder'' covers the film's director Burt Kennedy and David Haft.

* Richard C. Sarafian used the pseudonym for his 1990 sci-fi flop ''Solar Crisis'' due to how ashamed he was of the final product of the film.

Alan Smithee (his first name was sometimes also spelled Allen) was one of Hollywood's longest-working and most diverse filmmakers.[[note]](the Internet Movie Database also lists credits for, among others, writing and acting)[[/note]] From the start of his career in 1969 to his retirement in 2000, he directed dozens of films in practically every genre you can think of, as well as episodic television and even music videos. Though his work was of highly-variable quality, with some films suffering outright backlash, he continued, undaunted, with a truly-admirable rate of productivity.

* A rare ''quintuple''-whammy: Joey D'Auria, Cheryl Chase, Rebecca Forstadt, Paul Greenberg and Rick Zieff had voice acting roles in ''WesternAnimation/TheMrMenShow'' under the respective credits of "Joseph J. Terry", "Sophia Roberts", "Reba West", "Aaron Albertus" and "Danny Katiana".[[note]]Forstadt has used the stage name "Reba West" previously, most famously (though many fans might say [[AmericansHateTingle "infamously"]]) playing Lynn Minmei on ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' under that name.[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Anatole}}'' had its first episode "Anatole's Parisian Adventure" credited as having been written by Alan Smithee.

* As noted in the trope description, the Alan Smithee name was officially retired after 1998's ''Film/AnAlanSmitheeFilmBurnHollywoodBurn''. The movie itself was a parody of "Alan Smithee" as a pseudonym, where the titular movie director who wants his name out of the [[ShowWithinAShow fictional movie]] ''Trio'' actually ''is'' named Alan Smithee. Veteran director Arthur Hiller (of ''Film/LoveStory'' and more) was unhappy with the film's script and asked to have his name taken off the credits — and sure enough, he got credited as ''Alan Smithee'', which caused the Directors' Guild to discontinue the practice.\\

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has had a few examples over the years, usually for cases where serials had to be radically rewritten by the script editor and/or producer. Because BBC guidelines disallowed staff from receiving credits for positions other than the ones they were officially appointed to, the affected stories would be credited to various pseudonyms.

** Creator/TerranceDicks, unhappy with Creator/RobertHolmes' rewrites of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius "The Brain of Morbius"]], asked for it to go out under "some bland pseudonym". So Holmes credited the story to [[MeaningfulName Robin]] [[{{Pun}} Bland]] (which Dicks [[ActuallyPrettyFunny thought was hilarious]], and resulted in the two men making up).
** A special feature on the DVD for the story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime "The Invasion of Time"]] was a documentary about the story's writer. ''The Elusive David Agnew'' was credited as being directed by Alan Smithee, but the documentary itself was a {{mockumentary}}, since [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Agnew David Agnew]] was also a pseudonym used by the BBC; "Agnew" is the credited writer of "The Invasion of Time", as another story had been discarded at the last minute and the script editor and producer had to write it themselves. Since giving screen credits to BBC production staff required a long and arduously bureaucratic approval process, the pseudonym was used as a quick workaround.
** Agnew was also credited as writing [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath "City of Death"]], not because it was a bad episode (it's actually considered to be one of the best serials in the show's history), but because it was hastily rewritten from scratch by [[Creator/DouglasAdams the script editor]] and producer after the original writer, David Fisher, was unable to perform the extensive rewrites required. Once again, the staff didn't have time to go through the lengthy appeals process and used the Agnew pseudonym to get everything over with.

* The incredibly [[DorkAge '90s]] ''ComicBook/XMen'' one-shot ''Team X 2000'' gave a writer credit to "A Smithee". Which is understandable, under the circumstances.

* Creator/JMichaelStraczynski threatened to have his name was removed from ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'', citing dissatisfaction with Editor-in-Chief Creator/JoeQuesada's extensive ExecutiveMeddling (Quesada was outright credited as a co-writer on the finished version of the story-line) and knowing how reviled the story would be. He was inevitably more or less forced to by Creator/{{Marvel}} under threat of legal action.

* Creator/JMichaelStraczynski really didn’t want to put his name on ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' knowing how reviled it would be. He was inevitably more or less forced to by Creator/{{Marvel}} under threat of legal action.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has had a few examples over the years:

* While ''{{Series/{{Terrahawks}}'' is ill-thought-of enough that many wouldn't blame the crew for playing this trope straight here, this time it was done stylistically; while all but four of the series' 39 episodes were written or co-written by Gerry Anderson regular Tony Barwick, the scripts were usually credited to a variety of pseudonyms ending with "-stein", often feline-connected, due to a major character being called Dr. Tiger Ninestein (example: "The Ugliest Monster Of All" was written by P.U. Mastein). The show [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this on several occasions, most blatantly with "Child's Play" being credited to Sue Donymstein. Only three episodes eschewed fake names -- "The Midas Touch", by Trevor Lansdowne and Barwick (credited ''as'' Barwick for once) and the two-part opener "Expect The Unexpected" by Anderson himself; the only other non-Barwick episodes in the series are "From Here to Infinity" and "The Sporilla", written by Katz Stein and Leo Pardstein respectively (both pseudonyms for Donald James).

* The 1986 [[ActionGenre action]] movie ''Let's Get Harry'' was credited to Smithee after director Stuart Rosenberg protested the [[ExecutiveMeddling studio's post-production decision]] to build up the role played by Creator/MarkHarmon, then at the height of his sex symbol phase, from a HostageMacGuffin who only briefly appeared to one of the main supporting characters, shooting a bunch of extra scenes with Harmon.

* Creator/{{Nelvana}} series ''Anatole'' had its first episode "Anatole's Parisian Adventure" credited as having been written by Alan Smithee.

* The 1986 [[ActionGenre action]] movie ''Let's Get Harry'' was credited to Smithee after director Stuart Rosenberg protested the [[ExecutiveMeddling studio's post-production decision]] to build up the role played by Creator/MarkHarmon from a HostageMacGuffin who only briefly appeared to one of the main supporting characters, shooting a bunch of extra scenes with Harmon.

* Creator/KarlBollers, a former writer for ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', would sometimes write under the name "Benny Lee", usually with stories that were lighter in tone that his usual fare. Two stories were also credited to an artist (or artists) known only as "Many Hands"; these stories are often considered to have the worst art in the series, with the first having four pages of complete darkness except for [[ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes Sonic's eyes]] and Sonic's six-page fight with Naugus being completely covered by snow.

* Smithee "debuted" with the 1969 film ''Death of a Gunfighter''. After a year of work and [[CreativeDifferences arguing]], and about 25 days of shooting, star Richard Widmark [[WagTheDirector arranged to have Robert Totten replaced]] by Don Siegel. Siegel shor the final two weeks or so, but because he didn't shoot half the movie (and didn't pernally like what had been shot), didn't want his name as director the movie. Totten also refused to take credit. The first suggestion for the name of the fictitious director was Al Smith, but since the DGA already had a director with that name, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Allen Smithee]] was suggested instead.\\

* Smithee "debuted" with the 1969 film ''Death of a Gunfighter''. After a year of work and [[CreativeDifferences arguing]], the star Richard Widmark [[WagTheDirector arranged to have him replaced]] by Don Siegel. Unfortunately, Siegel ''also'' didn't want his name in the movie. The first suggestion for the name of the fictitious director was Al Smith, but since the DGA already had a director with that name, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Allen Smithee]] was suggested instead.\\

When it was released, ''The New York Times'' and Creator/RogerEbert actually praised Smithee's directorial work, though Ebert admitted that Allen Smithee was "a name I'm not familiar with". Eventually, "Alan" replaced "Allen" as the standard form of Smithee's name.

* Episode 6 of ''LightNovel/MySisterMyWriter'', a series rife with animation errors, had a credit for Shōjiki Komata; this isn't a real person's name, and it actually translates as "[[HelpHelpTrappedInTitleFactory Honestly]], [[TroubledProduction I'm Screwed]]".

* Episode 6 of ''LightNovel/MySisterMyWriter'', a series rife with animation errors, had a credit for Shōjiki Komata; this isn't a real person's name, and [[HelpHelpTrappedInTitleFactory it actually translates as]] "[[TroubledProduction Honestly, I'm Screwed]]".

* Episode 3 of ''Manga/{{Kanamemo}}'' features a ShoutOut to the name when Kana and Mika go subscriber hunting. One of the potential customers they visit has the name "Aran Smythee".
* Creator/DanGreen is well known for doing voices in children's anime, so whenever he lends his voice talent to a hentai he uses the pseudonym ([[http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/encyclopedia/people.php?id=9354 Tom Wilson]]). This is standard practice for voice actors when doing {{NSFW}} work, made by a writers' union declaration. In this case it's a pseudonym ''of'' a pseudonym, as his real name is actually James Snyder.
** This was inverted in ''Anime/QueensBlade'''s English dub: He, Leina, Nanael and Setra's English voice actors are the only ones who uses their real names in that dub, everyone else uses pseudonyms instead.

* Episode 6 of ''LightNovel/MySisterMyWriter'', a series rife with animation errors, had a credit for Shōjiki Komata; this isn't a real person's name, and it actually translates as "Honestly, I'm Screwed".

* While ''{{Series/Terrahawks}}'' is ill-thought-of enough that many wouldn't blame the crew for playing this trope straight here, this time it was done stylistically; while all but four of the series' 39 episodes were written or co-written by Gerry Anderson regular Tony Barwick, the scripts were usually credited to a variety of pseudonyms ending with "-stein", often feline-connected, due to a major character being called Dr. Tiger Ninestein (example: "The Ugliest Monster Of All" was written by P.U. Mastein). The show [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this on several occasions, most blatantly with "Child's Play" being credited to Sue Donymstein. Only three episodes eschewed fake names -- "The Midas Touch", by Trevor Lansdowne and Barwick (credited ''as'' Barwick for once) and the two-part opener "Expect The Unexpected" by Anderson himself; the only other non-Barwick episodes in the series are "From Here to Infinity" and "The Sporilla", written by Katz Stein and Leo Pardstein respectively (both pseudonyms for Donald James).

** Clarke is no stranger to this. Has reprised his voice of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' villain Cell in the ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai Budokai]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi Budokai Tenkaichi]]'' series of games under the pseudonym "Dartanian Nickelback".
* Referenced in ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'', with one of the supporting characters being a kid by the name of [[{{VideoGame/Bayonetta}} Luka]] Alan Smithee.
* ''VideoGame/DragaliaLost'' English voice credits is subverted, while there are some characters that are credited under actual voice actors/actresses (Vincent Tong, Creator/TabithaStGermain, Creator/KazumiEvans, Sabrina Pitre, Creator/LizzieFreeman, and Creator/SamuelVincent), the majority of the characters credited are credited with pseudonymous names.

[[folder:Other]]
* Creator/RoughDraftStudios uses the name "Orange" when doing work for anime series due to issues with the Korean unit's stock holders.
[[/folder]]

* Fred Olen Ray used his real name for ''Invisible Mom 2'' but was credited as Peter Stewart when directing ''Mom's Outta Sight''. Hilariously, at time of writing, both movies were scored 4.1/10 on Website/{{IMDB}}.