3. Tom Mankiewicz
Famous James Bond scribe, Tom Mankiewicz received solo writing credit for Live and Let Die but also had a clandestine hand in other 70s blockbusters. When Richard Donner signed on to direct Superman: The Movie and Superman II, the working screenplay was well over 400 pages long. Finding such a massive tome unwieldy, Donner hired Mankiewicz to give the script a total makeover from the dialogue, to the length, to the tone. Legally, Mankiewicz couldn't take credit for his hard work so Donner gave him a Creative Consultant credit on Superman: The Movie. The Writers Guild took issue with Mankiewicz's credit because it ran after the scriptwriters', making his contribution seem more important. Mankiewicz won the ensuing legal battle but still remained credited solely as a Creative Consultant.