Reitman Vs. Turner: Requiem – ‘Up in the Air’ Screenwriting Dispute Gets A Happy Ending

We promise, this is the last time we’re going to write about this story, but we’ve covered it enough detail that we figured we should talk about the ending. First of all, the news broke that Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, credited co-writers on “Up in the Air” may have had a somewhat frosty relationship, with Reitman allegedly feeling he deserved sole credit on the film. We took a look at the two writers’ scripts last week, concluding that the Turner draft we had had very little resemblance to the finished version, and, now, finally, over the weekend, the two writers spoke publicly about the kerfuffle at a WGA-sponsored screening of the film at the Writer’s Guild Theater, and The Wrap were there.

The Envelope writer Pete Hammond introduced the pair by announcing “It’s the WGA Sunday afternoon smackdown,” and mentioned how “bloggers had been making a fuss about the relationship between Reitman and Turner” (Hi Pete!). Predictably, those hoping for a screaming match were disappointed – the two professed to be friends, although confessed that they only met after the film was completed. But the two civilly set the record straight over the order of events – Turner wrote an adaptation of the script on spec, and sold it to Dreamworks. Reitman independently discovered the book, and got his father’s company Montecito to buy the rights to it, and Ted and Nicholas Griffin (“Matchstick Men”) were hired as writers. It appears, from The Wrap’s account, that the Griffins incorporated aspects of Turner’s draft (a later one than the copy we have, which doesn’t include the “consoling boilerplate” speech that’s retained in the finished film), and Reitman then incorporated some of the Griffins draft (he told Turner “I have to apologize, I’ve still never read your script. I’m sure it’s very good”).

The two seem, from the report, to be on good, or at least genial terms – Reitman told the crowd that “I realized we were both drawn to the book for the same reasons, and we both sat down to write the same screenplay. Though we never sat over the same keyboard, I’m really proud to sit on the same stage with him, and really proud to share credit,” and Turner echoed “How can I not be proud to sit next to him and have my name next to his.” (Ted Griffin, meanwhile, is credited as an executive producer on the film). Reitman didn’t work without any other influences (which, to be fair, he’s never claimed to have been), and Turner played some role in the success of the film.

Clearly there’s an element of damage control here, and the two would have been keen for the controversy to blow over, lest it damage their chances at an Academy Award (which, let’s face it, is more or less in the bag at this point). But still, it’s nice to see the two being gracious and generous to each other (when compared to say, Quentin Tarantino’s behaviour to Roger Avary over “Pulp Fiction”). Now, let’s draw a line under the whole thing, and let the inevitable Reitman-bashing in the comments begin!