Here's another "common name" decision: do we use Scott Hecker or Scott A. Hecker? FYI: he's a well-known (supervising) sound editor. Based on the credits I encountered in my own collection (credited WITH the middle initial eight times, WITHOUT it just once), I went with the full Scott A. Hecker. Using the new "credit lookup"-tool Scott Hecker gets the most hits in the database, but as always, I feel that's probably more based on fact that IMDb chose Scott Hecker as his "common name", then it is on his actual credits. As I said, I checked his appearances in my own collection, and a few were confirmed to me by others - he's credited as Scott A. Hecker in (at least) the following eleven profiles:

- Blues Brothers 2000
- Dawn of the Dead
- Hollow Man
- Hot Shots!
- I'll Be There
- The Interpreter
- King Ralph
- Meet Joe Black
- Something to Talk About
- Three O'Clock High
- Throw Momma from the Train

He's credited as Scott Hecker in (at least) the following three profiles:

- 300
- Back to the Future
- The Grinch

I'm sure there will be plenty more movies he's credited as Scott Hecker in - just as there will also be more movies in which he's credited as Scott A. Hecker. But these are the ones that I could check myself, or have been confirmed to me by others. It seems obvious the balance is tipping heavily in favour of Scott A. Hecker.

Additionally, IMDb seems to be one of the very few online sources that went with Scott Hecker - other online movie databases like allmovie.com, tcmdb.com and bfi.org.uk all refer to him as Scott A. Hecker. Links:

allmovie.com
tcmdb.com
bfi.org.uk

And also:

hollywood.com
oscars.org
mtv.com

So, I feel I've done the best I could: I have a list of eleven movies crediting him as Scott A. Hecker and I can refer to allmovie.com, tcmdb.com and bfi.org.uk. Doing that, I've been able to update/correct most of my profiles. Until now, however, I have not been able to succesfully add Scott A. Hecker as common name to one of my 'Back to the Future' DVD's - it was voted down. I'm therefore in search of some support, which I could then refer to when I try that same update again… So: can we come to a consensus on what name to use as his "common name"?

Quoting Martin_Zuidervliet:

Quote:
This official document calls him Scott Hecker.

It does, yes, but other than that, I'm still faced with a vast majority of confirmed Scott A. Hecker credits, and a couple of online movie databases who refer to him as such... I'm also quite amused by the Emmy Nomination mentioned in this document for the 1985 episode 'Smuggler's Blues': I checked it, and he isn't credited at all in that episode, nor anywhere else in the entire season, I believe. I'm not saying that the Emmy remark is false - he must just have been uncredited - but I find it interesting to see that so many 'Miami Vice' profiles (the "credit lookup" feature shines again!) seem to list him as sound editor, while I can't find him in the credits...

Also, I see that this document refers to his Oscar nomination, so I checked at www.oscars.org. And yes, he is referred to as Scott A. Hecker there as well, so there's another independent source:

http://www.oscars.org/75academyawards/nomswins.html

Quoting Martin_Zuidervliet:

Quote:
Quoting T!M:

Quote:
... one of the users I argued with about this issue mentioned '300', 'Dawn of the Dead' and 'The Grinch'. I cannot check those myself, but I'm happy to believe that he's indeed credited as Scott Hecker in those.

I checked my credits again and in '300', 'Back to the future' and 'The Grinch' he is credited as Scott Hecker. Only in the remake of 'Dawn of the Dead' he is credited as Scott A. Hecker. I'm still not convinced.

I've updated my original post with this, and some other confirmed credits: I'm now up to eleven Scott A. Hecker credits, against three Scott Hecker credits...

Well, this seems to be settled. The poll results indicate that we have a winner: Scott A. Hecker it is. In the meantime, I already resubmitted my original 'Back to the Future' updated that got voted down the first time (referring to this thread), and it was now approved with 20 yes-votes and not a single no-vote.

I also see that the balance in the "credit lookup" tool is changing: it now indicates 294 entries for Scott Hecker, against 282 Scott A. Hecker credits. Still a (very!) minor lead for Scott Hecker, but it's important to know that his "IMDb name" is Scott Hecker, and that many of his credits found using the credit lookup tool will have been taken from IMDb. I therefore value these 282 Scott A. Hecker hits a bit more than the Scott Hecker ones - at least we know for sure these didn't come from IMDb. IMHO, it'll just take a few more "as credited" profiles for Scott A. Hecker to take the lead in the "credit lookup" feature.

In my own collection it was 50/50 so I'm fine either way. 

The CLT shows the total number of titles someone's name is credited as. So if you change all entries from "Scott Hecker" to "Scott A. Hecker [Scott Hecker]" that number stays the same which is correct. Only if you change the name from "Scott Hecker" to "Scott A. Hecker" or "Scott Hecker [Scott A. Hecker]" the number changes, because that indicates that he is credited under a different name. So the CLT (if used correctly) really does show the most commonly credited name.

For example lookup "Scott Hecker" and click on UPC 7-321983-001581 of the movie "300" on page 1 and you will see "Scott A. Hecker [Scott Hecker]: Supervising Sound Editor" or lookup "Scott A. Hecker" and click on one of the two profiles of "Dawn of the Dead" at the top of page 4 and you will see "Scott Hecker [Scott A. Hecker]: Supervising Sound Editor".

The real problem is that the CLT doesn't differentiate between original titles and translated ones or editions, because it's not the total number of profiles we're after but the total number of movies someone shows up. By counting all titles instead of just the original ones it could appear that someone participated in more movies with a certain name than he/she really has. Also read this topic about why number of titles should be prefered over profiles.

One more for Scott Hecker:
Running Scared -> Scott Hecker

Seems to me he omitted the middle initial around 1999.
All movies I have with him after this year list him as "Scott Hecker"