Special Thanks

Special thanks is a common phenomenon when people not directly involved making the film, video game etc. are listed. These are most often found at the end of Closing Credits.

People who get special thanks are usually:

Friends of the makers of the work
Family members of the makers of the work
Executives from the network
Experts who were consulted while doing the research
And especially you!

Friends and family members often get special thanks because the creators of the work genuinely want to acknowledge their contribution to project morale, practical advice... ...or because they cooked the staff a particularly memorable meal during production. Executives may receive special thanks because the creators felt it was necessary to their careers, because it's really the network's pet project or because the executives were helpful in securing funding for the creator's pet project. Experts often appreciate acknowledgement for their advice in the same way as an actor or makeup assistant appreciates acknowledgement of their roles.

Occasionally, special thanks may be given to random things, which might not even be people. At that point, it's safe to assume the creators are going for a Creative Closing Credits and are not being entirely serious.

With the rise of Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites, it's increasingly common to see all backers who pledged above a certain amount getting their own section of "Special Thanks".

Examples of Special Thanks include:

Literature

In F1 Racing, there has been a special thanks box on the editor's column page every month. Many of those featured in the box are press officers and senior team members who help the magazine get interviews but otherwise wouldn't be credited. Other thanks have gone to Kate Middleton, a local theatre, various artists... ...and Steve McQueen's watch. Occasionally, there is a "No Thanks" section at the end, which was most recently (as of August 2011) given to the office café oven.

Video Games

In StarCraft, at the end of the regular credits are credits listing everything imaginable: things they ate, their family members, their pets, bands that made records they listened to...

Web Original

RWBY routinely loads the credits of the last episode of a volume with an extensive "Thanks to" list, which appears to include the families of cast and crew members, elite subscribers to Rooster Teeth's website, and occasionally firms and organizations which somehow contributed to the production that year. And then there's the "Security" section, which appears to list nothing but pets belonging to the cast and crew.

Other

Virtually every project funded through Kickstarter and other similar crowdfunding sites includes "get a mention in/on the product" as one of the benefits above the bare minimum contribution level. For example, the final three minutes of Bad Obsession Motorsports' later Project Binky videos is nothing but a list of Patreon members who've helped bankroll the show.