Death Game's writers, Anthony d'Oberoff—credited in the film as Anthony Overman—and Michael Ronald Ross, said they did not even know the picture had been made until they became embroiled in a Writers Guild dispute over authorship. They retained their original screenplay and successfully established their writing credit, but Ross later claimed that he did not see the finished movie until the early 1980s, when he was preparing liner notes for its VHS release under the alternate title The Seducers. Ross recognized the basic structure and much of the dialogue as their work, but disliked Peter Traynor's additions, including the more overtly sexualized jacuzzi sequence and the theatrical ending in which the women are struck by a vehicle. The writers' own ending was substantially different: Donna would turn against Jackson, kill her, free George, and walk into the sunrise. The dispute illustrates how low-budget independent productions could move through options, rewrites, and financing changes while leaving the original screenwriters uncertain about whether their work had ever reached the screen.
Preparing the daily feature…
AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s-1980s
The Screenplay Fight That Kept Its Original Writers in the Dark
Anthony d'Oberoff and Michael Ronald Ross / 1970s-1980s
Death Game's writers, Anthony d'Oberoff—credited in the film as Anthony Overman—and Michael Ronald Ross, said they did not even know the picture had been made until they became embroiled in a Writers Guild dispute over authorship. They retained their original screenplay and successfully established their writing credit, but Ross later claimed that he did not see the finished movie until the early 1980s, when he was preparing liner notes for its VHS release under the alternate title The Seducers. Ross recognized the basic structure and much of the dialogue as their work, but disliked Peter Traynor's additions, including the more overtly sexualized jacuzzi sequence and the theatrical ending in which the women are struck by a vehicle. The writers' own ending was substantially different: Donna would turn against Jackson, kill her, free George, and walk into the sunrise. The dispute illustrates how low-budget independent productions could move through options, rewrites, and financing changes while leaving the original screenwriters uncertain about whether their work had ever reached the screen.
The daily feature is taking an intermission. There’s still an entire archive to explore.