Imdb

Howdy,

As far as I understand it, there's a few different scenarios.

To have an IMDB entry, you need to have had a production listed on there. However, anyone can have an IMDB resume (a paid for service) if they fork out the cash. Theoretically you can have a resume on IMDB but no official IMDB entry (if you follow).

Have a look at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2429613/

Danielle has four credits listed, however, if you look at her IMDB resume (which she pays for), it's a lot more detailed.

• 15 years ago
• 1

Monty is right, you don't have to pay to have a general profile on IMDb.

Once the production company have listed the film with your name credited (a long, detailed process that an actor could not do) this automatically sets up a profile in your name. When you have further credits in other productions and these are accepted onto the site then they will automatically link to your name. If there is more than one person with the same name they add a I,II,III etc to your name so you can't get someone else's credits nor they yours.

An actor cannot set up a profile unless their film/series is already listed on the site and they have simply been ommitted from the original credits. If this is the case then you can add it yourself quite simply through the edit facility on the production page and it takes up to three weeks to get verified and become visible.

You can then add photos ($10 each but easily changeable), Bio, Trivia etc to build your profile.

Mine is here to give you an idea - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2358356/

Each Monday the Starmeter is updated (although it takes til Wed to show the actual ranking on the profile eg mine says I'm ranked at 12,352 but by tomorrow will show the real ranking of 4,297). This ranking is highly regarded (particularly here in the US)as it shows how bankable you are. The big names are ranked at the top with the lesser knowns around the 4,000,000 mark so it is worth having for that and that it shows you have been in credible productions.

It is worth joining IMDb Pro (a yearly charge - can't remember how much sorry) as it gives you a plethora of info that you can't get anywhere else including great contact details for upcoming productions and their status etc. I would recommend this highly.

Good luck with it and let us know when your name is up there!

All the best
Sasha

• 15 years ago
• 2

Yep, Monty is right about resume, which works like a Spotlight entry in most ways, but also, I believe, gives you access to certain functions (like being able to track your 'ratings value' on the database, should you so wish) which are only applicable if you *have* some listings! Anyone can sign up to IMDB resume, I think, but there is much less point if you don't actually have any credits on it!

As I understood it, however, Jason, your question was about allowing links to your existing IMDB listings to appear on other sites. I have PMed about this, as requested.

• 15 years ago
• 3

Ah, no, Sasha is right - my comments were incorrect. You can only gain a profile if you have a listing in place (so you can't just sign up on spec), BUT you don't have to pay for the basic functions of being featured on site.

You can pay a little extra to add basic elements to your profile e.g. headshots, and if you wish to fully subscribe, then you sign up for IMDB Pro. This will then allow you access to the casting information, industry analysis and the ability to follow your progress up and down the 'Starmeter'. I think Sasha is right that this is an extremely worthwhile investment if you are serious about pursuing a film career, but the functions are actually quite limited vis-a-vis what you pay for the privilege. Sasha is correct that these functions may be 'gold dust' if you are living and working in the U.S. - over here, I think it is more often a case that they are otiose, and you may question why you are shelling out the money, when you can have listings for free (and headshots shown etc. for only a nominal sum extra), provided the projects are prestigious enough to get on IMDB in the first instance! Admitedly, only the absolute top notch screen material (i.e. that which has genuinely been made to international standards of broadcast) gets listed on IMDB, so embellishing your IMDB profile may be more worthwhile than, say, spending all your cash on subscription to another online casting service - I think that's your call!

As to links, I think I covered that in the email. But to reiterate for anyone else: CCP should allow you to patch in the link manually; Spotlight I wasn't aware carried this sort of 'outside link' on the profile.

Sorry for momentarily upping the confusion quotient - some of those earlier posts should be deleted!

• 15 years ago
• 4

Hello, ladies and gents.

I've been a little confused about IMDB for a while now. Am I right in thinking that to add headshots to my main IMDB page (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3066780/) I have to sign up to IMDB resume or do I have to go the whole hog and use IMDB Pro?

Ta muchly.

• 15 years ago
• 5

Amelia

You can sign up for (pay) IMDB Resume to just have photos.
http://resume.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?resumeaddphotos

It's a lot cheaper way of getting a headshot on there than IMDB pro.

• 15 years ago
• 6

IMDBPro is a separate service, not connected to the resume service. IMDBPro gives you access to contact and production info. It's a more indepth..well..industry based version of IMDB.

• 15 years ago
• 7

Thanks, chaps.

And these photos on Resume would also go up on the main IMDB page, yes?

• 15 years ago
• 8

I believe so...

A word to the wise. You have full control over the IMDB resume service (as you would expect for something you pay for). But trying to get an entry changed that is in the general IMDB database is a complete and absolute nightmare.

My sympathies to you if you should have the misfortune to have something miscredited and need to get it changed.

• 15 years ago
• 9

its taking me years to get a production date from 2008 to 2006. no matter how many times i resubmit the data and email them! i think ive been trying now since 2007!

haha

• 15 years ago
• 10

Most annoying thing is when a company can't be bothered to check if you have an existing page so create you a new one when they log the project. At one point, I had 3 IMDB pages, and yes it takes ages to rectify the mistakes.

M.

• 15 years ago
• 11

I have never been quite sure if this lack of speed is just down to disinterest and lack of consumer care, or whether it is because IMDB actually has a remit to double-check all information submitted to it, and therefore, this can take considerable time to verify. I'd like to think it's the latter which would, at least, go some way towards being another feather in the site's cap, even if alterations can move at glacial speeds.

• 15 years ago
• 12

Hi All,

What an interesting thread.

Am I right to say that a film can take more than 2 years to verify? That seems to be happening to a film I was in, it was shot end of 2007. Director says he filled up the form, submitted it to IMDB (and his films are already on IMDB so he's not new to them).

It's 2009 now...does it really take so long for a film to appear on IMDB?

Am grateful for all your input!

• 15 years ago
• 13

That all sounds a bit dubious to me - certainly, as Mark said, *individual changes* can take a long time to be rectified, but I would have thought the basic template of a broadcast film's details should have been checked quickly and efficiently and added to the database - as IMDB's main function is, after all, to produce the most in-depth database of broadcast material available online!

Either there has been a snare up in the application process (in which case I imagine the director needs to chase IMDB up further), or there is some discrepancy in the verifying of the film's credentials. I have no idea how they actually define a film as suitable or otherwise for inclusion in detail, but it needs to have been made to a broadcast standard, and to have secured some kind of distribution beyond private screenings etc. As you say, if the director is already listed for other projects, it seems unlikely that IMDB wouldn't add the template for the new film also, but perhaps there is an anomaly somewhere. You might be able to get in contact with IMDB, and ask if they have any logged records of receiving the application for the film to be added to the database - but, then again, I'm not sure how you can contact IMDB as such - I don't think they give out phone numbers for offices etc?!

• 15 years ago
• 14

Hi

I am confused too, as I don't come up on regular imdb and haven't done imdb pro beacuse 1-you have to pay for it and 2-it's obvious you did it! However I have several emails with the imdb hostmaster and got a general reply saying if the production is already on there I should be able to add my credit. Not the case I have two credits that should have been added by the production company, I have tried so many times to get them on imdb phone the studios who are mainstream channel, and I am at the point now where I have had to stop myself throwing my laptop out of the window. Maybe I am just rubbish with the technical stuff I don't know?! xx

• 15 years ago
• 15

Sorry guys should have proof read that one! x

• 15 years ago
• 16

Hi Hayley,

Not sure from your post if you have done all this already, but from the description that you gave, there may be a simple answer to your problem. The production company can add its own credits to the site, if the production was demonstrably broadcastable. I assume you are saying that this has been done, and the basic page template is available to be viewed. All that has happened is that the production company have not seen fit to include you in the cast list - this may be because of time restrictions, because they did not wish to fill in a full cast list at the time they made the entry etc. *You* should be able to add your own credit to this page, which is what the webmaster appears to be talking about. All you need to do is go to the bottom of the page for the page already set up to advertise the production, and click on 'Update' (this isn't necessarily the most obvious route to do, I grant you). At this point, IMDB will allow you to alert them to any 'omissions or mistakes'. The fact that you were cast, but are not credited can be considered an 'omission', and so you can write to IMDB with the details of your part etc. and you should be able to get your credits added to the list. Even when wheels are in motion, this can take a month or two - and, as we have been discussing, IMDB can drag their feet over the update. If you have done this on several occasions, and are still not seeing an update, I am not sure what IMDB are playing at.

If the production company *haven't* actually put a page up, then that is not IMDB's responsibility, and there is little you can do about it. Similarly, it is not the production company's responsibility to get you listed on IMDB (or, at least, perhaps it should be, to make sure all actors are formally credited, but they are unlikely to worry about it). You should, by rights, be able to add your credits subject to verification - and, if the production company won't *verify* them, then you are dealing with another issue entirely (this is probably the sort of issue you could take to Equity!!).

Once you are on the basic listing, your name and part should appear - you won't see a headshot accompanying the link, nor any further information, as you have to subscribe to IMDB resume before you can add those. Some actors bother with this, many don't (including well-known ones!).

• 15 years ago
• 17

To sum up: as far as I am aware, the process goes: production company put the page up; you click on the 'update' link and report the 'omission' of your credit; IMDB receive the mail, consider it, and contact, say, the production house to confirm the credit (not sure about this, but they seem to verify details); the credit is added to the cast list following independent confirmation (though it may take a while). If what has been happening is that you have asked IMDB what to do repeatedly, then the message they are giving you is 'add the credit' (without helpfully making it clear how you do that) and the production company may be fobbing you off because they don't consider this their problem to be worried about - were IMDB to ring them on your behalf, and ask for the credit to be double checked, someone would probably do it. I think this is probably what has gone wrong - you are, as it were, sidestepping the 'proper' channels. But maybe you have done all this already - in which case, I can only commiserate, and suggest you take things up with Equity!!

• 15 years ago
• 18

Thanks Lee,

Yes I have done all of that, tried to update on the site several times the problem is the episode I was in doesn't show up. When you google the episode or the programme-the show comes up as it's still running however the actual episode doesn't. The production company did try and help, but it turns out they are not responsible for putting credits on imdb, but somehow all my friends who have been in thw prgramme or that of a similar calibre have not had to do anything it's just there. It's so frustrating because it look like I'm lying on my cv if anyone checks imdb. I will try equity-thanks :-)

• 15 years ago
• 19

Fair enough, Hayley - Equity may be your best bet - I hardly think this is something to take legal action over (its an oversight), but I would make sure to ask what the legal position is vis-a-vis your getting credited for work you have done - I'm certain you have a right to the credit, for paid, broadcast work: you might at least be able to get Equity to put some pressure on/write you a letter etc. and force IMDB to at least justify themselves to you, instead of fobbing you off (I assume they are trying to save space by leaving certain episodes unlisted - but, still and all...)

• 15 years ago
• 20