Contribution Guidelines Edit

TMDB aims to be a high quality and trusted source of entertainment data. As such, contributions that don't follow the guidelines outlined broadly in the bible will be removed. Repeated offenders will be banned.

We reserve the right to ban any account or person that violates these guidelines and engages in spam or data sabotage. This includes making edits that are deliberately incorrect, using vulgar or offensive language in edits or metadata fields, adding fake/trolling content, linking to illegal streaming websites, and misusing TMDB to promote your own websites/apps/YouTube channels.

As a general rule we expect everyone to follow a few simple rules:

1. Respect everyone, we're all here because we have something in common.
2. Be polite and welcoming to new users. We were all new once.
3. Ask for help and provide assistance to others when possible.
4. Offer constructive criticism or voice a dissenting opinion, but don't be mean or disrespectful.
5. Lead by example. Treat others even better than you expect to be treated yourself and the discussions become a better place for everyone.

On the other hand, some examples of contributions we do not tolerate:

1. Do not post vulgar or offensive language.
2. Do not post or ask for links to copyrighted, non-fair use material.
3. Do not post any NSFW* content (e.g. links, images, text etc.) anywhere other than within the adult section of TMDB.
4. Trolling, abuse, flaming and/or harassment (e.g. personal attacks, name-calling and/or insulting/ridiculing another user) are uncalled for and will not be tolerated.
5. Do not post spam or advertisements on TMDB.

Offensive or distasteful usernames are unnecessary and will either be changed or banned. One account per person is enough. Multiples are unnecessary and will be banned and/or removed. But most importantly; "Be nice or go home!"

[*] Content that might be considered offensive or too sexually explicit for the wide range of age groups within the TMDB user base. This includes, but is not limited to: erotic (e.g. nudity, implied sexual acts), excessively violent (e.g. gore, torture), bigoted (irrationally hateful content aimed at, or relating to, a group or individual) and harmful (e.g. those flashing seizure images) content.

General Tips Edit

Our data is 100% user contributed. We encourage you to add missing items yourself and edit any incorrect data that you find. You can click on "Edit" on any movie, TV show, people or collection entry to access the editing interface.

We recommend taking a look at our new content section as well as our complete editing guidelines for movies, TV shows, people, collections and images before creating or editing content. We also invite you to read the Source Reliability and International Editing subsections.

Please refrain from engaging in editing wars with other contributors. You can use the Report button to ask content mods to lock fields or to report recurring issues and make a final decision about the content in question. Mods will contact the users if needed.

Content Issue Reports

Content issue reports are mostly handled by content moderators who are volunteers. Moderators can help you with most data-related issues including but not limited to locking and unlocking data, deleting entries, seasons/episodes, images and keywords, resetting URLs and primary posters. Please do ask questions or ask for help. They are happy to assist you to the best of their abilities.

Including official sources in your report will greatly speed up the disposition. Investigating the sources may also answer your question and avoid the need to file a report.

Before creating a new content issue report, make sure the issue was not already reported or your question already answered. Click on the "Discussions" button on any people, film, TV show or collection. Content issues reports are located in the "Content Issues" section under the General discussion topics.

A "Report" button is located under the Overview section (top white bar) of each people, film and collection entry. There is also a "Report an Issue" link under the "Edit Page" buttons. TV shows have multiple report buttons at three different levels: series, seasons and episodes. Choose the one you feel is the more appropriate for your issue.

Try to select the right type of problem (Duplicate, Bad Image, Incorrect Content, Offensive or Spam, DMCA Takedown Request, Design or Functionality Issue). You can select "Incorrect Content" and use the Extra Details box to explain the situation if none of the options works for your type of problem.

You can choose to make your content issue report public or private. Only the moderators can read private reports. You should set your thread to private when:

• it directly addresses issues with other users
  
• you post sensitive information (such as your API key)
  

One report per issue. Please include all the info in one content issue report when an entry has multiple issues such as multiple bad or incorrect images, multiple episodes need to be deleted or edited, or multiple duplicates. If you find more duplicates or other issues after making a report, you can edit your previous report to include links to other entries or other related information.

Please use English if you can.

Do not erase data or edit it to something like "Delete!!!" or "Duplicate!!!". We have to double check the data before removing an entry.

Please make sure you watch your reports. We may ask for your help or for clarification.

Be patient! We receive a high volume of reports. Getting a reply may take a few weeks or months. You can bump your request after six months.

Incorrect Entries Edit

The two golden rules to remember are:

We do not recycle entries—AKA use them for something else. Duplicate entries and incorrect entries are deleted.

Entries with incorrect data (e.g. a misspelled original title or an incorrect cast) should be fixed, not discarded.

Duplicates

You can use the report button to report duplicate person, movie, TV shows or collection entries. Please remember to add links to the original entry and any extra duplicate in the Extra Details box. A link to a trustworthy source is always welcomed.

The entry with the lowest ID number is the original entry and the entries with higher ID numbers are duplicates. The ID number is part of the URL of each entry e.g. Will Smith is person entry number 2888.

We typically want to keep the original (lowest ID number) entry.

Before reporting a duplicate movie entry, make sure it is not a different movie with the same name. It is not uncommon that a director expands a short film into a feature film (e.g Whiplash by Damien Chazelle, The Strange Ones by Christopher Radcliff) or that movies are (re)made in other languages (e.g. Boy 7).

You are welcomed to help moderators move the data toward the original entry. But for duplicate person profiles we recommend you let moderators move the TV and film credits. They can move them in one click with the Move Credits tool. Duplicate companies and networks can also be merged by moderators so there's no need to move them around, just report the duplicate.

Please always double-check the data with a trustworthy source and, before making any changes, make sure the entries truly are duplicates. Check the change history to see if the entries were originally created as duplicates. Two different entries might look like duplicates because of a poster or translated data accidentally added to a wrong entry.

Misplaced entries

The report button can also be use to report entries that were mistakenly created in the wrong section. Unfortunately, we do not have magic tools to move the data from the TV section to the movie section or vice-versa. A new entry has to be created from scratch in the right section.

TV episodes

While regular television episodes are not allowed in the movie section and should be reported, some content is currently allowed in both sections. We are still weighing our options and trying to figure the best way to deal with things like special episodes, episodes from umbrella series and other confusing series.

Please try to include the incorrect entries in a single report and to clearly explain the situation. Why do you think the entries should be deleted? It is recommended to back up your arguments with proper references.

Content not allowed

If you stumble upon entries that appear to be content we do not support—video games, ads, music videos, amateur films, alternative versions and more—please report it. We'll investigate and take action if needed.

Image Reports Edit

Bad Images

If you find a misplaced image, wrong image or accidentally uploaded an incorrect image, please use the report button.

A link, technical info (backdrop or poster, language, size, uploader) or a description of the bad image (e.g. the DE poster with the pink elephant) is necessary.

Please refrain from systematically reporting posters with a "wrong" aspect ratio. Good posters with an aspect ratio between 1:1.33 and 1:1.67 are allowed and should only be reported if there is a properly cropped version. If you don't like them, you can downvote them.

We also have a long standing exception for extra long posters for old movies. They shouldn't be deleted.

Duplicate

Duplicate images are identical, but can be different in size and/or quality. The bigger image is the one we want to keep if the quality is good enough for its size. If not, we keep the better quality smaller one. The decision is always a judgement call by the moderator.

For duplicate image reports, please include links to all the duplicate and specify the language where the images can be found.

We allow several different versions of the same image. Please do not report posters or backdrops with small but significant differences in text (e.g. A/B or C/D), image, coloring or framing.

Even though we prefer naked posters as primary, good posters with credits and/or text (e.g. this one or that one) should not be deleted!

Primary Poster

Please keep in mind that the primary poster designation should only be used to override a less-than-ideal top voted poster (currently airing TV series are the exception).

We won't grant primary poster requests if the poster does not meet all our primary poster requirements.

If you are unhappy with a primary poster designation, you can ask for an objectively better poster to be made primary.

When two or more posters are equivalent options, the choice comes down to our personal preferences. Please don't ask us to make your favorite posters primary if the primary posters are equally great.

Incorrect Episodes Edit

Wrong Order

If you are not well-acquainted with the database and our guidelines, it may be best to check-in with a mod before making any drastic changes.

Please keep in mind that we use the original airing order. Our data may be different from other databases if they choose to use a different order such as the DVD order, a revised order, the production order or an international order.

Please also keep in mind that a significant amount of data is attached to each episodes (cast and crew, pictures, external IDs, title and overview translations). Each episode has an individual "Changes" history. If the episodes were originally created in the wrong order, it is preferable to change the episode numbers instead of moving the data.

Before editing or reporting episodes, always check the change log to make sure the "wrong" order is not a result of an incorrectly (or correctly!) added translation.

Please do not ask us to change the episodes to a non-original order. There is an "Episode Group" feature that can be used for all and any alternative orders.

A link to a reliable source (ideally the original network) in the Extra Details box is always welcomed.

Missing Episode

Please use the report button if a season is locked, but an episode is missing.

Keep in mind that special episodes are hiding in the Specials (season 0).

Also keep in mind that episodes should be added as they first aired on their original channel. We do not support different episode splits at this time (e.g. if a miniseries aired as three episodes in the US and five episodes in the UK).

Deletion

Please specify which episodes or seasons need to be deleted in a single report (e.g. 'please delete episodes 11 to 15').

Keywords Edit

The only way to successfully remove unused keywords from the system is to ask a mod to delete them. Please post in the Support Forums if you see keywords that you think should be merged or deleted e.g. keywords that are too trivial, similar or not in English.

Please do use the report button to report bad keywords added to an entry. We prefer to remove keywords ourselves.

Please do report (privately) users who are adding bad keywords or deleting good keywords.

Locked Fields Edit

Confirmed data is routinely locked by content moderators. Moderators may also lock data to prevent vandalism.

When you stumble upon incorrectly locked data, please use the report button, explain the problem and link us to a proper source if needed.

Be understanding! We do our best, but we are not above making mistakes. :)

Website Translation Edit

The website translations are contributed by our users. Please head over to our Locale Project should you find an incorrect or missing translation.

The genre translations are handled by Travis. Email [email protected] or reply to this thread on the support forum should you find an incorrect genre translation.

Language translations are on GitHub.

The website is built in English, then translated into the other languages. When a translated item is confusing or contradictory in your browsing language, please check the original (English) item.

FAQ Edit

TV & FILM

This is a miniseries, it shouldn't be in the movie section!

You are right! Most miniseries are no longer allowed in the movie section. While hundreds of miniseries duplicates have already been merged and deleted in 2018, we need your help finding the misplaced entries we missed. You can help speed up the process by making sure the miniseries has a TV entry with good data and by sharing your sources. The most important fields to verify are the episodes and air dates, the country of origin and network, and the TV show type (miniseries) and status (ended). Any future miniseries incorrectly added to the movie section will be deleted upon being found or reported.

The (year) in parenthesis next to the title is wrong!

For movies, the year is automatically calculated using the data added to the Release Information section. An incorrect year of release might be the sign that a release is missing or incorrect. Make sure all the releases have the correct Country, Date and Type. For example, festival screenings are Premiere releases, never Theatrical or Theatrical (limited) releases.

Please do not systematically report years as wrong because they are different from IMDb. We have different policies: we use the first non-premiere theatrical release; IMDb uses the festival release.

If the year in parenthesis next to the title is missing, please try adding a release date yourself.

For TV series, make sure the series has an episode 1x01 with a proper airing date.

The episode order is wrong! There's a missing episode! The episode order doesn't match the DVD listing!

The episode order we use is the aired order on the original network. A DVD may have a different order or different episode split, like Lost season 1. However, we now have Episode Groups which can be used to create different orders such as the production order, the DVD order, a new order, or country-specific orders.

I want to add a missing season to a TV entry, but there is no "Add New Season" button!

The "Ended" and "Cancelled" TV Show Status now automatically disabled the "Add New Season" button. New seasons can't be created when a TV entry is set to Ended or Cancelled. For ongoing series, fixing the TV show status will also bring back the ability to create a new season. For ended/cancelled series with a missing season, you are allowed to temporarily change the TV Show Status back to "Returning Series". Just don't forget to set it back to Ended/Cancelled when you are done adding the missing content.

Please file a content issues report if you need us to unlock the TV Show Status field.

I'm unable to add series regulars, there is no "Add Season Regular" button! I can't add the main crew, the "Add a New Crew Member" button is missing!

The regular cast and the main TV crew can only be added to an existing season. Therefore, to fix the issue, you have to create the missing season(s).

The original Star Wars titles are wrong and should be changed!

The English titles for the original trilogy are "Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". This is a decision we made after years of users making reports and asking for more consistency between the three titles. No, we won't change them back. If it causes issues with your media center, we advise you to check their FAQ. The same goes for "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

WEBSITE

I'm unable to rate a movie or TV show, the rating tool is missing!

Rating only becomes possible seven days before the primary release date. If the item is released and rating is still not possible, please make sure the release dates (or first air date) are correctly entered.

The content score is not 100, but I don't know what's missing!

Here is a list of the items to double check:

• Movie: a director, a writer, four or more cast members, an overview, a poster, a backdrop, a release date and a trailer.
• TV: a creator, four or more regular cast members, an overview, a series poster, a series backdrop, a first episode air date and a genre.

However, an incomplete content score does not necessarily means that an entry is incomplete. For instance, some movies and series have less than four cast members and many series do not have a creator. Good data is far more important than a "perfect" score.

The overview won't save because the wrong language is detected!

We use Google Translate for the language detection. You can use https://translate.google.com to play around with the text until you find a solution that works.

I can't save the homepage, I get a "Homepage is invalid" validation error!

We only allow official websites! Please read the homepage guidelines for movies and/or people.

I'm trying to add an image, but it doesn't work!

There are a couple reasons why an image upload may have failed.

First off, image upload is not supported on mobile devices. It would be pretty difficult to ensure image quality control on a tiny phone screen. Therefore, the circled plus symbol ⨁ that opens the image uploader is not displayed on mobile devices. Please switch to a computer to upload images.

Was the upload received? A checkmark symbol ✔ is sign that all image were successfully submitted for upload. An exclamation point inside a circle (!) means that at least some of the image were not received. The problematic files are red instead of green. You can try to upload them again using the circular arrow symbols.

Was the upload successful? A green "Success" message means the image was successfully uploaded. A red "Error" message means the image was rejected because it didn't meet at least one of the conditions.

A "The image is not a JPG" error is displayed when the poster, backdrop or profile picture has an invalid file format. The image has to be converted to JPG.

A "Size is too large. For 4K images, please resize the images to WidthxHeight" error is displayed when the image is larger than our maximum resolution requirement. The image can be downsized to our maximal resolution, while keeping the original proportions (see Tip 6).

A "Width of XXX pixels does not meet our minimum size requirement of XXX pixels." and/or "Height of XXX pixels does not meet ou minimum size requirement of XXX pixels." is displayed when the image does not meet our minimum resolution requirement. Unfortunately, it means the image is too small and can't be uploaded on TMDb.

An "Aspect ratio is not within our acception ratio (x:y)" error is displayed when the image has an incorrect aspect ratio. The poster, backdrop or profile picture has to be cropped to meet an accepted ratio (see Tip 5).

The technical requirements for each type of image are in the Image Bible.

The upload might also be blocked because the file is a duplicate of an already uploaded image. Much more rarely, the image might be over the 14MB file size limit.

SVG logos are trickier. There's a troubleshooting guide here.

This person profile is wrongly marked as an adult actor!

The best way to get rid of of an incorrect adult flag is to add more non-porn movie credits or find the movie(s) incorrectly marked as adult, then come back and save the profile. Please file a report only if the info are locked or if none of those things works. As a preventive measure, when you fix a movie entry wrongly set as adult, please check the profiles of its cast and crew to make sure they are not stuck as adult:true.

This person profile does not have a Known For section!

A person needs to have at least four credits within the same department to have a Known For section. If a person has the minimum credits required, but no Known For section on their profile, an incorrect department might be selected. The selected department (e.g. Acting) appears in the Personal Info section of the profile. It can be edited with the Known For field located in the Primary Facts section of the editing interface.

I cannot watch anything on TMDB!

The primary purpose of TMDB is to be an information database about films and television. We do not provide direct links or access to watch films or television directly on the website. However, TMDB now has integration with JustWatch, which provides streaming and purchase options localized to a given country. To access JustWatch options, navigate to any film or television main page and click on "Watch Now" just below the poster. Inaccuracies with JustWatch data can be reported on their website.

Person X was credited on TV series Y, but Y premiered years before they were born!

All television credits on a person profile are assigned the year that the series premiered. For certain long-running tv content, such as The Oscars, that may mean that some credits are assigned a year that is before the person was born. If you click through to view the credits, you will find that the person is typically credited on episodes that are years/decades after the premiere, such as here.

THIRD PARTY SERVICES

I added information on TMDB but my updates aren't showing up on Kodi/Plex!

Changes made on TMDB's website are not instantaneously available to third party applications, websites, or services, due to there being a cache on the API. If you look for your updates soon after making them, you won't necessarily see them right away.

I can't add a movie to Letterboxd because it's marked as video and locked!

Unfortunately, we can't accommodate everyone. Please do not make a report unless you believe that an entry has been wrongly set to video as per our guidelines.

Search Tips Edit

Year Filter

You can use the 'y:' filter to narrow your results by year (e.g. 'star wars y:1977'). Keep in mind that when using the 'y:' filter, the year of the actual release should be used. e.g. y:2015 for a film with a festival premiere in 2014 and a theater release in 2015.

No Results

When a non-original title returns no results, try the original title.

When a romanized title or name returns no results, please try the original script. The opposite is also true. A difficulty with non-roman titles is the item may be hidden under a slightly different romanization.

Search by IDs

We do not support searching for items using their IMDb ID. However, you can use the redirect path when needed:

https://www.themoviedb.org/redirect?external_source=imdb_id&external_id=nm3918035

You may also use /redirect for the TVDB IDs:

https://www.themoviedb.org/redirect?external_source=tvdb_id&external_id=305288

Adult Content

If you would like to search for adult (pornography) items, make sure to enable the "Include Adult Items in Search?" feature in your account settings.

We also recommend including adult items in the search before searching for erotic, non-pornographic content. Erotic films including pinku are sometimes incorrectly set to adult: true.

Source Reliability Edit

The original distributor in the original country of release should be used as the official source of information.

The most reliable source for the cast, crew and production companies is the original on-screen credits. We recommend copying the data directly from the credits if you can. When you do not have access to the on-screen credits, press releases, press kits and information from the official website or production company/studio are usually the best substitutes.

When the official website is no longer available, web archives such as the Wayback Machine can be very useful. They may also be used to access an earlier version of a website.

Sources such as articles, reviews, books or guild releases should be used with caution (guilds - like the WGA - often release early information which can change upon release; it's best to wait until the information is officially released). User-contributed data sources like IMDb, Wikipedia, TVDB and fan websites should only be used if there is no official information available (anymore) or to double-check information found in secondary sources.

International Content

Unfortunately, IMDb tends to be less than reliable for non-English, non-American and non-mainstream people and content. We strongly recommend using local or specialized databases for international content.

For example, for East Asian content, databases like Asianwiki, D-addicts wiki and HKMDB or language-specific portals and databases (e.g. Douban/Naver/Daum/Eiga/Yahoo映画/tvdrama-db) are much better sources of info than IMDb.

New & Upcoming Content

Be careful when adding data too early, it's likely to change. The best kind of data is verified data!

When movies do not have a detailed cast and crew in their official promo material or on their websites, it is better to wait until the movie is released (on-screen credits) than copy all the info from another user-contributed source.

When there is no confirmed TV episodes data for upcoming episodes (air date, title, synopsis), it is best to wait until the press releases or TV listing info are released before creating the new episodes. It is also better to add the cast and crew info from a press release rather than user-contributed databases.

Moderation Edit

Content moderators may try to contact you using the support forums or our private message system. Please listen to their advice and make changes to your edits when necessary.

Account Suspension

We reserve the right to ban any account or person that violates our Community Guidelines and engage in spam or data sabotage. This includes making edits that are deliberately incorrect, adding fake/trolling content, linking to illegal streaming websites, and misusing TMDb to promote your own websites/apps/YouTube channels.

We may temporarily suspend contributors involved in repeated or significant contribution guidelines violations.

Suspended users are notified via private message. They may reply to support to learn if and how they can get their account back.

International Editing Edit

We know editing non-English content can sometimes be a little confusing. Here are a few quick tips and reminders to help you navigate the database.

Create a new translation

Movie, TV and people translations are created on a need-to basis. If an entry has not yet been translated into your language, you will first need to create a new translation.

For example, the movie Lightyear currently has five translations: English (en-US), Spanish (es-ES), French (fr-FR), Italian (it-IT) and Korean (ko-KO). Before adding Portugal Portuguese data (title, overview, videos, etc.), we would first need to create the pt-PT (Portuguese - Portugal) translation.

Tip: You can see and modify your Default Language using the translation widget in the top right header or directly in your account settings.

Those of you that have their Default Language set to Portuguese (pt-PT) should see their [PT] language button turn orange upon arriving on an entry without a pt-PT translation. It's a visual cue that the pt-PT translation has not yet been created.

Those of you that do not have their Default Language set to Portuguese (pt-PT) have to set your "browsing language" to Portuguese. The language can be changed directly from address bar using "?language=language-COUNTRY" or the "/language" shortcut for primary languages. For example,"themoviedb.org/movie/718789-lightyear?language=en-US" should be edited into "themoviedb.org/movie/718789-lightyear?language=pt-PT." You can also use the "themoviedb.org/movie/718789-lightyear/pt" shortcut.

There are two equally valid methods that can be used to create a missing translation. You can use the "Create Translation" button in the translation widget. Or you can attempt to edit the entry (Overview -> Edit) and you will be redirected to the missing translation page where you will find the same button.

The same procedure can of course be used for any other entry or language.

A few fields do no yet have translations.

The very few fields that are not yet localized are:

• People: Place of Birth (English), Homepage
• Characters (English and Romanized)
• Production Companies & Networks: Name (English), Headquarter (English), Homepage, Type of Alternative Titles (English)
  
• TV: Homepage (original network), Social IDs (originals), Type of Alternative Names (English)
• Movie: Social IDs (originals), Type of Alternative Titles (English), Release Dates's Notes (English)
• Keywords (English)
• Episode Groups (English)

The purpose of this list is to give international content contributors a general idea of the fields they should pay a greater attention to. We strongly recommend reading the guidelines for each of these fields to understand all of their subtleties.

We only support official titles.

While you are welcome to translate overviews and biographies yourself, the titles are off-limits. The translated titles field should only be used for official titles.

We only support the original cast.

We only support the original, non-dubbed cast for both live action and animation content.

Use Google Translate (with caution).

We do not recommend using Google Translate to translate or transliterate content. However, it can be very helpful to navigate languages you can't read.

For example, it can be used to pair names in non-Roman languages with their Romanized versions. While not perfect, the transliterations (located under the translation box) are close enough to be recognized. This is true for most languages including Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Russian and Hindi.

Take advantage of the alternative name fields.

People, production companies and TV networks have alternative title fields. You can use them to add non-Roman names or any translations. It makes the pages much easier to find.

Use the original titles.

We support film, TV show and episode titles in their original, non-Roman alphabets.

We need and value your input!

Please do use local data sources and share them with the mods in your content issue reports. It can sometimes be difficult for us to navigate so many different countries and languages.

Try to put your personal feelings aside.

Most of us also prefer the original titles over the (often bad!) official translated titles. But when you are editing, please try to put your personal preferences aside.

It can be very tempting to set English language posters to your native language(s), but this is against our image guidelines.

Vibes Edit

Welcome to Vibes, TMDB’s new rating system! Not only has the rating tool been given a shiny new skin, Vibes introduces Moods and Tones as new ways to share your feedback about movies and TV shows with the community.

After adding your vibes, you can find them displayed beside the community user score and popular moods.

Rating

The rating system has remained unchanged, however you’ll notice the previous star rating tool has been replaced by a (colourful) rating slider.

Mood

Moods are reactions, separated into 7 emotion categories. Select moods that describe your reaction(s) to a movie or TV show.

Tone

Tone keywords add a slightly different spin on keywords. As its name suggests, tone keywords provide information specific to the tone of the movie or TV show.

..the tone of a literary work expresses the writer's attitude toward or feelings about the subject matter and audience. Source: Tone (literature)

Search or use the dropdown list to select tone keywords that capture the tone of the movie of TV show. Other tone keywords added by the community will appear along with your selections.