History Main / AlanSmithee

** 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/WonderPark'' has an interesting variation. Originally, former Pixar animator Dylan Brown was set to direct the movie, but he was booted off the project in 2018 due to allegations of sexual improperiety, and he was replaced by Creator/DavidFeiss. Since Paramount didn't want to credit someone with a sketchy background, nor did they want someone credited for only doing a a small portion, it's one of the rare films out there to have no credited director, period.

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'':
** The pilot was directed by Alan Smithee (alias Jerrold Freedman in this case).
** As was the episode "The Heist". It was freaking hilarious.

** Similarly, after Disney refused to let Miramax release ''Film/Kids'' for its sexual content, the Weinsteins created a new company called Shining Excalibur Films to release it.

Hiller [[CreatorKiller spent over a decade without directing anything]] due to the movie's awful critical reception and [[BoxOfficeBomb box office gross]]. It was also strike three for screenwriter Joe Eszterhas after ''Showgirls'' and ''Jade'' in 1995, and was one of many busts that convinced [[Creator/{{Disney}} The Walt Disney Company]] to shut down the Hollywood Pictures label (which released ''Burn Hollywood Burn''). Its greatest legacy is as part of Creator/RogerEbert's [[https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/eberts-most-hated Most Hated film list]] and the winner of five {{UsefulNotes/Golden Raspberry Award}}s, including Worst Picture of 1998.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':

* 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).

* ''WesternAnimation/WonderPark'' has an interesting variation. Originally, former Pixar animator Dylan Brown was set to direct the movie, but he was booted off the project in 2018 due to sexual allegations, and he was replaced by Creator/DavidFeiss. Since Paramount didn't want to credit someone with a sketchy background, nor did they want someone credited for only doing a a small portion, it's one of the rare films out there to have no credited director, period.

* Referenced in the "CHAIR RACE" teaser trailer for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''--when we see the back of the Director's chair, Alan Smithee's name is written on it, which eventually drops off to reveal the name "Shuyo Murata". This references how Creator/HideoKojima originally planned to work only as a producer for ''[=MGS4=]'' (as he planned on leaving the series after ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'') and hand it over to his junior team, with Shuyo Murata as the appointed director. This didn't last long, as the rest of the trailer shows.

** The original pilot ''WesternAnimation/TheSpiritOfChristmas'' was credited to "Robert T. Pooner" instead of Parker and Stone's real names. After the short went viral, many other animators claimed ownership of the pilot to get jobs before Parker and Stone went public. This name also appeared in the credits of the episodes "Chickenlover" and "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics."

See, in the movie industry of the past, if a director's movie became the victim of ExecutiveMeddling and bad acting to the point where [[CreatorBacklash they were no longer proud of it]], he could request to have his name taken off it, and it would then be credited to "Alan Smithee".

* Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn has an orphaning system for authors who wish to no longer associate themselves with works they wrote but don't want to delete them. Authors will lose control over a work once they orphan them and all orphaned works are moved to an orphan_account.

* "[[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Many_Hands Many Hands]" and variants thereof (from the idiom "Many hands make little work") is a similar alias used in the comic book industry, for issues whose art had to be rushed by multiple artists and who do not want their name associated with the (usually sloppy) work. Comics credited to this alias include:

* "Many Hands" (sometimes shortened to "M. Hands", from the idiom "Many hands make little work") is a similar alias used in the comic book industry, for issues whose art had to be rushed by multiple artists and who do not want their name associated with the (usually sloppy) work. Comics credited to this alias include:

** ''TheTransformersMarvel'' story "DIS-Integrated Circuits!" has the inker credited as "M. Hands".

* 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 usually 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.

* Back when Music/{{TIX}} made [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_music russ music]], he collaboated with an anonymous writing collective known as "The Pøssy Project", which got the credit/blame for the songs' controversial lyrics. However, an [[https://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/hevder-anonymt-skrivekollektiv-star-bak-grisetekstene---star-registrert-som-opphavsmann-alene/60671174 article]] claims that TIX is listed as the sole copyright holder for many Pøssy Project songs, which raises the question of whether he himself wrote the lyrics and was using the label as a way to distance himself from them (the other option is that The Pøssy Project simply agreed not to be listed as a copyright holder).

* The book for ''Theatre/YoureAGoodManCharlieBrown'' was credited to "John Gordon". Gordon didn't actually exist; the original 1967 New York production didn't have a script as such. The cast and crew literally just went through ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' books and picked out strips to dramatize for the scenes between songs.

* In 2000, Creator/{{Acclaim}} briefly brought back its long-retired [[Creator/LJNToys LJN]] label for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast port of ''Spirit of Speed 1937'', likely in anticipation of the game's terrible critical reception.

* The 1986 [[ActionGenre action]] movie ''Let's Get Harry'' was credited to Smithee after the [[ExecutiveMeddling studio made a post-production decision]] to expand the character of Harry from a HostageMacGuffin who only appears briefly (giving the film a SecondaryCharacterTitle) to one of the main roles, because he was played by Creator/MarkHarmon, then at the height of his sex symbol phase. Stuart Rosenberg, the director, protested, Harmon's new scenes were done without him, and Rosenberg had his name taken off the film.

** Creator/DCFontana used the pseudonym Michael Richards on all her third season episodes (except for "The Enterprise Incident"), as a protest against producer Fred Freiberger and script editor Arthur Singer's handling of the show.

* 1987's ''Film/TheHidden1987'' was written by Jim Kouf (''Film/{{Stakeout}}'', ''Series/{{Grimm}}'') under the name of Bob Hunt.

* 1987's ''Film/TheHidden'' was written by Jim Kouf (''Film/{{Stakeout}}'', ''Series/{{Grimm}}'') under the name of Bob Hunt.

* 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 either "[[HelpHelpTrappedInTitleFactory Honestly]], [[TroubledProduction I'm Screwed]]" or "We're in serious trouble".

* David Anspaugh apparently doesn't like his films to be edited for TV. The TV version of ''{{Film/Rudy}}'' is credited to Smithee, while "Jack Nemo" gets the director credit for the edited version of ''{{Film/Hoosiers}}''.

* Discussed by Creator/ArtSpiegelman in the foreword to the book commemorating ''The Garbage Pail Kids''. He was working for Topps making them and "Wacky Packages" at the same time that ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'' was being published and released. The publishers for the latter were concerned that Spiegelman would be credited by name for the former, driving away potential customers who wouldn't want to read a comic about the Holocaust done by a gross-out artist. Topps didn't credit Spiegelman and the latter kept his involvement quiet until the foreword to said commemorative book.