FAQ

His name was not listed alphabetically in the credits like the rest of the cast because he was a relatively unknown actor at the time and his role was considered a supporting one.

Scream is based on a script by American screenwriter Kevin Williamson who meant to present a satirical view of other slasher movies, e.g., Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980), so these movies can be said to provide part of the ideas on which Scream is based. Scream is also partly based on the Gainesville Ripper (real name: Danny Rolling), an American serial killer who murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida. Due to its box office success, Scream is followed by Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), and Scream 4 (2011), along with Scream: The TV Series (2015).

Billy is suspected of being the killer by the cops and Sidney, largely because he has a cell phone. At the time, in the mid 1990s, cell phones had just recently become widely available. Many adults did not have one and it was rarer for a teenager to have one. Since Billy knew most of the victims and since the killer had called some of them, his possession of a cell phone made him suspicious.