Creative consultant is a credit that has-particularly in the past-been given to screenwriters who have consulted on a movie screenplay. Those given this credit in the television field work closely with an executive producer and head writer/showrunner. They are involved in the writing process (proposing and editing story outlines/scripts). Sometimes they are given the credit of executive consultant, story consultant or script consultant.
"Creative consultant" is not listed by the Writers Guild of America as one of its standard credits to be given to writers in television and film. The WGA discourages the use of credits not included on their list and requires that a waiver be obtained in order to credit someone as a creative consultant in television or film. Tom Mankiewicz's credit as Creative Consultant for the 1978 film Superman appeared after the writers' credits, leading to a dispute which Mankiewicz ultimately won. In 1993, the producers of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective were fined by the WGA for giving writer Steve Oedekerk a creative consultant credit.