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That's my thinking too. It also ignore any and all social reasons for changing the order.

Shaking out a fairly optimal list that jibes with the instincts of people who have read a lot of credits has its uses, though; it feels like a good starting point from which to deal with the fact that this production had some incredible demands put on the Balloon Tech, and that the Basecamp Electrician's father is one of the studio executives and cut a deal to have their kid's name higher up in exchange for greenlighting the show. Or whatever.

No, it acknowledges that common practice varies such that there is no canonical ordering, and tries to get at an ordering that, when applied, minimizes difference with common practice.

I thought most of that was in the union contracts.