Alan Smithee (also Allen Smithee) is an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project. Coined by the Directors Guild of America in 1968 and used until it was largely discontinued in 2000,[1] it was the sole pseudonym used by DGA members when directors, dissatisfied with the final product, proved to the satisfaction of a guild panel that they had not been able to exercise creative control over a film. The director was also required by guild rules not to discuss the circumstances leading to the movie or even to acknowledge being the project's director.[2] The Alan Smithee credit has also been adopted for direction credit disputes in television, music videos and other media.
LATimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).