Right, you lovely Indie filmmakers out there! It must be very difficult to get your work out there, however a very good way of doing this would be to get your title added to the mother ship of all things film, IMDB.
Below are some helpful tips in order to get your film listed in their database, for the entire world to see!
1) At the top of the IMDB homepage, click the button labelled ‘help’
2) This will then take you to another page, which has a lovely long list of top questions. The one you want to click on is ‘How do I add my title?’
3) There will then be another long list of frequently asked questions, however the one that concerns you lot is ‘How do I add a new title to the site?’ and click on the link ‘New Title Submission’
4) The next step involves a lot of reading and you will see four important subheadings: General Notes, Title Formats, Capitalisation and (the most important) Eligibility: General Public Interest. Within the final subheading it is very important to read all of the information, below is a summary of what they deem both of public interest and what they don’t. It must be noted that they do not list commercials, video clips or music videos.
Public Interest
- It will most likely have been released in cinemas
- Shown on non-local TV
- Released on video or prints have been made available to the public
- Accepted and shown on film festivals
- Made by a (now) famous artist or person of interest
Not of Public Interest
- Digitised and put on an internet page for downloading
- For public viewing via the web
- Made during a film course/university local institution
- Made for a Local Institution for internal use
- Private home use
- Local consumption or for friends
5) After you have read carefully all of the information, then you can begin to fill in the actual submission form. Make sure you complete all the fields with the correct information. If you ever get stuck or need help, just look for the ‘blue’ question mark.
6) What Happens after? Well, if all goes according to plan, once IMDB adds your film to the database it can take another week for it to appear on the website. The reason for this is that an IMDB manager will then need to look through all of your information and verify it.
Of course, the quickest way to get an IMDB link is to submit your short, feature or documentary to the Raindance Film Festival. All films screened at Raindance through www.withoutboc.com automatically get onto IMDB. Saves a lot of hassle.
Good Luck submitting those titles!
