Getting your film on IMDB

[Jasper Blunk]

Hi,

I have been noticing some indie material (actors, directors, films) on IMDB... and am wondering how to get a film on IMDB.

Thanks.

[Reid Bailey]

It took a long time for my short to get up on imdb and one of my actresses did all the work, so I'm not entirely sure of the process.

But I do know it takes a long time and you have to be able to prove it's a "real" project. You'll need production stills, verifiable screening info, like festival screening schedules etc.

You can start the process from their site and then you work with a rep ( I think).

But it is possible. Here's the proof: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990424/

[Matthew Craggs]

You start here: http://www.imdb.com/updates?update=title

Here are the eligibility guidelines on that page:

For a work to be eligible for inclusion in the database it:

must be of general public interest and
should be available to the public or have been available in the past.

General public interest is assumed if a work...

- has been released to cinemas
- has been shown on non-local TV
- has been released on video or prints have been made available to the public (but see exceptions below on limited distribution titles)
- has been accepted and shown on film festivals that don't accept everything regardless of its quality (if you have doubt, see this page for details)
- has been made by a (now) famous artist or person of public interest.
- has become famous for some reason and is widely talked about/referenced in non-local media or the 'film community' or is now of general historic interest for some reason.

General public interest is NOT given just because a work...
- is of a strictly private nature (home movies)
- is an amateur production made for local consumption by friends, family members and neighbours, the local school campus etc. (including "local access television")
- has been digitized and put on some internet page for downloading (unless general public interest is assumed for one of the reasons stated above)
- is being offered to the public on the web via home made video tape copies (unless general public interest is assumed for one of the reasons stated above)
- has been made during/for a film class, workshop or any other educational program (unless general public interest is assumed for one of the reasons stated above)
- has been made for a local institution (such as a university or company) for internal use (unless general public interest is assumed for one of the reasons stated above)

[Jasper Blunk]

Thanks! I saw "Broken" up there so I wondered. But of course there are different levels of indie filmmaking.

[Heath McKnight]

I've seen student films listed up there, too, because they screened at major and minor film festivals.

When one of my films went to DVD and was on sale at amazon.com, only then could I get it up onto imdb. All the rest of my credits on imdb are from films that were in fests. If you're a member of imdb pro (I think it's $100 a year, pre-paid), your film will get up on the site faster than if you're not, provided there are no problems with the entry (ie, the link to the listing of your film on a film fest site or movie theatre site, etc., isn't dead and so on). imdb can take up to 4-6 weeks, even up to 10-14.

Hope this helps,

heath

[Dylan Pank]

Some older student films are up there because originally the IMBD didn't have any policy on submissions. But that was before the days of DV and short films were reatively hard to make.

Actually the only thing they really require is a link to a relatively established festival or other TV channel website that lists your short film in connection woth a bonafide screening.

The point being it's not enough for it to be a student film - it has to be a student film seen by people OTHER than classmates, teachers and family, which actually invalidates about 99% of all student films. Anyway, what do you qualify as "Indie".

[Greg Quinn]

Yeah, they're getting stricter, which I think is something of a mistake. I spent literally hours submitting my documentary via their antiquated web submission system a few days back (a client side app should really generate the final submission) only to get it bounced a few days later. I believe, at least theoretically, being a member of IMDB Pro doesn't speed up a submission (leastways, that's what I read somewhere on the site) but it does get your profile up there faster.

[Michael Vaden]

I was wondering how to do this. Thanks for the info guys.

[Richard Alvarez]

I got "American Jouster" http://imdb.com/title/tt0482453/ listed in about two weeks after submission, back in 2005. Maybe they are backlogged?

[Heath McKnight]

Unless you're an IMDb Pro member, you have to wait up to 14 weeks (ugh!).

heath