Yes. If they are credited with writing the song's lyrics (i.e. "Lyrics By"), and it is an original song for the film.

Here's an older thread on the subject.

Quoting RHo:

Quote:
Quoting Rl3058:

Quote:
Would a crew member credited as "Lyrics By" be the same as Song Writer?

In my opinion it would be "yes". But according to the rules only a credit shown exactly as "Song Writer" on screen may be contributed. So the answer is "No".

Actually the rules don't say that.

The 'Credited As' column is empty (as is Created by and Theme by) which, as I understand it, means that it's common sense on who to credit.

Song = Music composer + Lyricist.
Without Lyrics it's not a song - it's score.

So, the answer to the question is YES. Include the lyricist.

Quoting RHo:

Quote:
Quoting Pantheon:

Quote:
Quoting RHo:

Quote:
Quoting Rl3058:

Quote:
Would a crew member credited as "Lyrics By" be the same as Song Writer?

In my opinion it would be "yes". But according to the rules only a credit shown exactly as "Song Writer" on screen may be contributed. So the answer is "No".

Actually the rules don't say that.

The 'Credited As' column is empty (as is Created by and Theme by) which, as I understand it, means that it's common sense on who to credit.

No, the only valid conclusion for an empty "credited as" field, is that only the role name in the "Role" field may be used. You can look at the "Credited as" field as an extension of the "role" field.

But I would agree that the rule is flawed.

That's correct.  The Rule needs to be slightly clarified to say that the credit must match EITHER the credited as column OR the Role column, but there's no doubt that is what Ken meant.

Quoting the Rules:

Quote:
For each category, include only those people credited with the roles listed in the "Role" and "Credited As" columns. If someone is not credited with one of these roles (or direct translations of these roles), do not include them in the Crew section.

Personally, I like this wording of the rule as it prevents all the shoehorning and personal interpretation we've seen in the past and we have the OTHER field to enter whatever we want locally.

Quoting hal9g:

Quote:
Personally, I like this wording of the rule as it prevents all the shoehorning and personal interpretation we've seen in the past and we have the OTHER field to enter whatever we want locally.

So, you would agree that a credit worded "written an directed by" should not be considered for any contributable crew entry.

Quoting hal9g:

Quote:
Quoting RHo:

Quote:
Quoting hal9g:

Quote:
Personally, I like this wording of the rule as it prevents all the shoehorning and personal interpretation we've seen in the past and we have the OTHER field to enter whatever we want locally.

So, you would agree that a credit worded "written an directed by" should not be considered for any contributable crew entry.

Don't be ridiculous! 

That's what the ules say. If you prefer, you could take any other slight variation of any other usual role name.

Quoting hal9g:

Quote:
Lyricist and Songwriter are not slight variations of each other!  They are completely different words.

I realize you are playing devil's advocate here, but come on! 

Of course you are correct. But have you ever seen one credit labeled "Song Writer"  in an actual film? I haven't, but this would be the only allowed form in the rules.

I still think that a exhaustive list of allowed role names ignoring the role function is doomed to fail and has already failed.

Quoting hal9g:

Quote:
What needs to be done is a list of "acceptable" alternatives for "Songwriter" needs to be sent to Ken to add to the "Credited As" column.  He has been pretty flexible in this area of late.

It will never be exhaustive, and then we will have to "keep it local".

We would need more acceptable alternatives for every role in the table. The lack in the "song writer" row is just more obvious than in other rows. But we could allow to also regard the function of a credited role instead of only look at the label.

Quoting hal9g:

Quote:
What needs to be done is a list of "acceptable" alternatives for "Songwriter" needs to be sent to Ken to add to the "Credited As" column.  He has been pretty flexible in this area of late.

It will never be exhaustive, and then we will have to "keep it local".

And where does that leave non-English credits? All local...?