David Kevin Giler (July 23, 1943[1] – December 19, 2020) was an American filmmaker who had been active in the film industry since the early 1960s.
Giler began his career collaborating with his father for television programs such as The Gallant Men ("Signals for an End Run") (1962), Kraft Suspense Theatre ("Leviathan Five") (1964), Burke's Law ("Who Killed the Man on the White Horse?")
The resulting movie was a disaster but Giler's script – heavily rewritten by director Michael Sarne – was much praised.
He and Hill became embroiled in a much-publicized behind-the-scenes fight with Alien's original writer, Dan O'Bannon, over who was to receive screenplay credit.
Giler and Hill claim they completely rewrote the script [9] and therefore wanted to relegate O'Bannon to a 'story by' credit only.
Ultimately, O'Bannon was the only one to receive credit for the screenplay in the final film, alongside a 'story by' co-credit with Ronald Shusett.