Why did Seven Sharp credit Taika Waititi, James Rolleston for feminist film The Breaker Upperers?

Seven Sharp has come under fire for a social media post in which they neglected to credit two female creators of a film.

The Breaker Upperers was created, written and directed by Madeleine Sami and Jackie Van Beek, who also starred as the film's two hilarious leads.

It's a feminist film by women, for women about female friendship, empowerment, sexuality and shirking expectation.

However, when Seven Sharp promoted a piece on the film on its Facebook page, it simply wrote: "Kiwi star James Rolleston takes us on a behind-the-scenes look at Taika Waititi's latest film The Breaker Upperers".

The post on Seven Sharp's Facebook page. Photo / Facebook.

Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells introduced "Taika Waititi's new film" and "one of the film's big stars James Rolleston", and Sami and van Beek weren't mentioned until around the middle of the piece.

And at the end of it, Wells then haphazardly rattled off: "Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek, great. New Zealand's very funny women. It's a great film".

And it is a great film. It's just, that wasn't a great way to promote it.

This is not Taika Waititi's film, he was a producer on it. It's like saying Bruce Berman's Ready Player One, Victoria Alonso's Avengers: Infinity War or Louis D'Esposito's Black Panther.

I get it. Taika's name has been attached to some of New Zealand's biggest films and one of the world's biggest blockbusters so it carries a bit more star power.

But is that any excuse to almost completely erase the two women who created the film and brought it to life?

The short answer is no. The long answer can be found in the comments section underneath Seven Sharp's post.

A handful of viewers stopped to tell Seven Sharp: "C'mon...can't you credit the two talented women who wrote, directed and starred in the film?".

Others called for the same, with one adding: "I'm pretty sure Taika wouldn't want to claim this one as his for his producing role".

And one particularly impassioned viewer wrote: "Taika Waititi didn't direct this film - why say; 'Taika Waititi's latest film'? Let's name the directors...two women directed it. Credit where credit is due. Do you name the [executive producers] of other films?

"Do your job properly and don't undermine the women who no doubt toiled long and hard to get this to the screen. This stupidity is not just irksome but it perpetuates a male dominated industry and is just wrong on so many levels."

Waititi was Sami and van Beek's first choice to direct the film but he was busy working on Thor: Ragnarok and was unavailable.

In an interview with TimeOut, van Beek said: "We thought: 'What would Taika say?' And Taika has always said - certainly to me - 'Just do it yourself'. That seems to be his motto."

So they did. And they did a spectacular job of it, only to have the credit delivered to Waititi and Rolleston...

Like the commenters said: "C'mon Seven Sharp!". It's 2018. Try harder.