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IMDb: Contributor zone: Useful links
These are some other sites we've found useful for doing credits research. Remember to use these sites mostly for verification; in particular, any plot summaries or biographies should be your own work.
Censorship/classification boards
These can be useful for confirming the existence of a title; however, they usually don't include enough information by themselves to add a title to the database. Don't waste time harvesting certificate information; we'll be harvesting most of these ourselves shortly. We've omitted a few countries from this list that only have overviews of their process and no actual database of titles.
National organizations
Unlike the ratings boards, the better of these have enough information to add a title to the database.
A reminder that these sources are for reference only; in particular, plot summaries and biographies must be your own work.
Other film/TV-specific references
- New York State Film Script Index
From 1927-1965, films screened in the state of New York had to be approved by a censor board. This page (which tends to move to different addresses fairly often) contains an index of all such films, and thus provides a fairly complete index of films that screened in the USA during that time period.
- American Film Institute catalog - silent era
The remainder of the catalog is members only, but this portion is open to all. Note that titles after 1911 are features only. This portion of the catalog often relies on secondary sources (sometimes because that's all that still exists), so can be unreliable; the volumes covering 1931-1950 are the most reliable.
- AMPAS Credits Database
Any picture hoping for Oscar consideration submits a credit list, covering complete cast and major crew; these are published annually, and usually match on-screen credits extremely closely (as far as they go). The database currently covers, at least partially, from 1984 to present. This is only useful for feature films shown theatrically in the USA.
- BBC Programme Catalogues: October 2007 onwards and older programmes.
Extensive, though not complete, database on those programs shown on the BBC - particularly strong in non-fiction. Availability has been sporadic.
- ITN Source
A similar catalogue of Channel 4 / Granada programmes. Also has valuable newsreel archives from both USA and UK. Focus is on licensing material.
- The Big Cartoon DataBase
Use with some caution, as it lists segments within animated series as separate titles (we don't generally consider them to be).
- The Encyclopedia of Television
Worldwide coverage; not comprehensive, but still fairly impressive as a secondary source. The program archives are pretty impressive, too, though the search engine for them is not.
- The Online Film Dictionary - lots of job titles in lots of languages
Other media
Relevant general references
- Library of Congress Online Catalog
Particularly useful for confirming information about source novels.
- British Library - similar uses
- U.S. Copyright Records
Covers titles after 1978. Sometimes useful in identifying aliases or sorting out authors with similar names.
- The World Factbook
Definitive source of geographical information.
- Geographic Names Information Service
Definitive source of place names for the USA.
- Social Security Death Index: site 1 site 2
Useful for confirming death dates for most people who have lived in the USA; however, should probably not be used as a sole source, since dates can be vague -- months only -- or can be off by a few days. At this writing, only site 1 has data from 2005.
IMDb adjuncts
Peter Brandt Nielsen's collections of thread links:
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