Hollywood has fierce traditions and even fiercer unions. As such, the format of its crediting system is pretty uniform.

You might be wondering why films sometimes conclude, with a musical crescendo, to reveal the name of the Unit Production Manager(s) of all people, before the rest of the names of cast and crew involved roll up the screen.

Many/most films only have closing credits, which will start with the director/writer-director credit, but some use both opening and closing credits, often for stylistic reasons (like the James Bond films). In this case, the crew is separated into above-the-line and below-the-line categories, which originate in the top sheet of a budget for a motion picture and separate fixed cost roles from variable cost roles. For example, a director, producer or even screenwriter (regardless of whether a scene from their script gets cut) will be paid a fixed fee for their work, whereas a gaffer or set designer’s work is more flexible as a scene being cut may mean that a particular set simply doesn’t need to be built.