How does IMDB work?

Factual Questions
1

I sent updates to IMDB for a film I worked on. They only listed a few of the actors. I sent a list of the rest of them, including myself (I’m first in order of appearance – and I was also the Script Supervisor). I looked at the page a little bit ago, and some of the actors I submitted are there – but others, including me, are not.

So what’s up? Their autoreply when I sent the update said that I’d get an e-mail when the page was updated. I didn’t receive one. Maybe they’re checking out the other actors (including me)? How would they do that, anyway, for a bunch of no-manes? Do they only send out the notification after all of the updates are completed?

2

IMDB is notorious for two things above all else:

  1. inaccurate information (most notoriously F. Gwynplaine McIntyre), and

  2. being erratic in responding to efforts to add corrections.

I’m not certain as to exactly why it hasn’t done full corrections, but that it hasn’t is no surprise.

3

If I may perhaps hijack slightly with a closely related question, since I was thinking of starting a thread on this . . .

Why do so few of the actors on IMDB have photos available? Very few minor actors, even ones that have been in quite a few films, have photos posted. I would think that anyone in the business would submit a photo, no matter how small their part. After all, it’s basically free publicity.

4

It’s not free publicity — it costs $35.00.

5

It costs $35 to submit a photo? In any case, that strikes me as pretty cheap for the exposure.

6

Beg pardon?

I get frustrated with IMDB too. Sometimes when I submit a goof it’ll show up within a couple of days; other goofs I’ve submitted multiple times over the course of a year and they’ve yet to appear. Most irritatingly I’ve submitted goofs which have been posted, then are taken down again for no apparent reason. I used to think it had something to do with the relative popularity of the film to which the goof pertained (they’d probably want more content relatign to popular results) but then I submitted some stuff for films that I’d be willing to bet I was the only one to search for in years if ever and bam, the things were up within a week.

IMDB has a processing times status page but IMHO it’s not very accurate.

7

It seems to me that a lot of up-and-coming actors, unknowns, wannabes, use IMDB to post their picture and resume, as a means of getting more exposure. But because the site has such a “unofficial”/“do it yourself” vibe, I imagine most established Hollywood types, including any legitimate household names, don’t bother posting their pictures or information there because they don’t have to.

8

That’s the opposite of my experience with using it. Major actors always have photos available, minor actors rarely do.

9

I’m curious. What’s the deal with Froggy and the IMDB?

10

Not to hijack, but back when it started, IMDB was maintained by a bunch of hobbyists who depended on their fellow movie lovers to keep things up to date and keep the database self-correcting… Now that it’s been taken over by a corporate entity, I wonder how things have changed, for better or for worse…

11

Since Otto and RealityChuck asked…

F. Gwynplaine McIntyre is a reviewer of films on the IMDB.

There are several issues with his reviews:

  1. A large number of the films he has reviewed on the IMDB (especially the silent films) are films that no longer are known to exist.

  2. On a couple of occasions, information in his reviews is so inaccurate that it is questionable if he viewed the film or not.

  3. When questioned about 1), he has made claims about private collectors holding those films, without revealing any evidence to back these claims.

12

So you’re saying, they only have the info up for the lions of the industry?

13

No need to be catty. Have you no pride?

14

For those who don’t know, that corporate entity is Amazon.com

15

My only foray into editing an IMDB entry - they accepted the trivia I submitted, but ignored the advice that the bloke’s name was misspelled.

16

I appear to have wronged them, they’ve subsequently made the name change. Hurrah!

17

For the writing fields, they switched to using the WGA official credits. This removed a lot of ghostwriting and dialogue-polishing credits that were interesting to see – if not especially reliable.

18

Guys, its simple, IMDB is on the take.

They force actors to pay $35.00 to have a picture on their website

They give wonderful reviews to crappy movies, and negative reviews to really great films. And they skew the reviews of the people who comment on those movies. Just look at the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the movie sucked, but IMDB gave it a phenomenal review, and stiffled anyone who made negative remarks about it.

I mean, if I were running the website, I would give wonderful reviews also, for the right price…

19

F. Gwynplaine McIntyre–isn’t he a science fiction writer? I could swear that I have a couple short stories of his in old issues of Analog.

20

I had a goof published for “Friday Night Lights”. And then it got pulled.

But I won’t say what it was because I’m afraid my goof was a goof. At best, I thought I’d get a “incorrectly thought of as goofs”. But it just disappeared.