IMDb Part 1: The Basics and Starmeter
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Posted under: Marketing, Resources, The business, Thousands of Stories
WTF is up with IMDb
Ahh, ye olde Internet Movie Database. If you don’t know what it is, then I’m very impressed that you’re reading this blog from a cave. In this (now) 4-part series I will tell you what (I think) you need to know…
Who Uses It
The general film-and-tv-watching public (read: fans) typically knows that IMDb is the standard for looking up actors’ work.
In the industry, my theory is that actors are actually the primary users of it, followed by casting directors, then agents, then everyone else. I’ve heard numerous stories of casting directors looking up an actor’s IMDb profile within seconds of receiving a submission, or while on the phone with an agent who is pitching said actor.
What it Means
Honestly, a film on your resume that isn’t on IMDb doesn’t mean much. Because you have to go through some (very minimal…see part 2) effort to get a project listed on IMDb, there is a certain legitimacy that comes with having projects listed on IMDb. It’s not the be all end all, but let’s just say that the more things you have on IMDb the better.
IMDb Pro
If you’re an actor and you haven’t signed up for IMDb Pro you should be ashamed of yourself. The name of this game is research, and IMDb Pro allows you to do just that. You can view budgets of movies, what agencies actors are with, contact information for people, starmeters, and the like.
Note: If you are a SAG member you can go to SAG.org, sign in, go to Member Services > Deals & Discounts > Media Subscriptions and get a 30% (I believe) discount.
What the Heck is a Starmeter and Why Did my Popularity drop 472%?!?
Here is IMDb’s explanation of the Starmeter, but basically it’s a measure of how many hits you get. A veritable (rather arbitrary) online popularity contest.
How to Raise Your Starmeter
- Get people to click on your IMDb profile (post the link on your Facebook or Twitter profiles, have it in your email signature, etc.)
- Get people to comment on your IMDb profile in the “Message Boards” section (this is worth much more than a simple click)
- Be in more things that get listed on IMDb
- Be in popular movies. The more popular the projects are that you’re in, the higher you get rated
- Get mentioned in news articles, social media outlets, and television guides
- Be the star in a once-every-ten-years-movies-like-this-are-crazy-popular movie like Paranormal Activity. (The actress in that movie was ranked #1 on starmeter the week it blew up.)
- Sleep with a celebrity. This will probably accomplish 1 and 2 above, and will give you the added bonus of caring less about your starmeter because you’re now getting freaky with Johnny Depp.
What do the Numbers Mean?
In short, nothing. Again, it’s a rather arbitrary measure of popularity. However, I know a number of casting directors who put actors’ IMDb starmeter ranking in their pitches to producers and such on what actors to get. Agents also look at it sometimes to get a sense of how bankable you are. Remember, the more popular you are, the more money people can make off of you. 🙂
To give you some (very unscientific) bars, here are my observations on different “levels” of starmeter rankings:
- 1,000,000 or below: Was probably in a family video that somehow made it on IMDb.
- 1,000,000 – 200,000: Just another actor
- 200,000 – 100,000: Just another actor who’s makin’ things happen
- Less than 100,000: You might still be a waiter, but you probably take time for your career to do things like read this blog post
- Less than 15,000: This is generally working actor territory
- Less than 1,000: You’re working. A lot. Good chance you’re repped by one of the big 5 agencies…or are about to be. Alternatively, you were recently on the cover of National Enquirer (see: #6 above)
Again, the number is easily manipulated and pretty random, so please don’t go freaking out about your starmeter. Your time will be much better spent running sides or working on your reel.
Help each other out: Give your friends “a bump” in their starmeter by clicking on their profile or leaving comments. That karma will help you when you ask them to give you a bump when you have a bunch of important agent meetings coming up.
Helpful Tip on Using Starmeter to Find the Right Agency
I would recommend looking up an agency (in IMDb Pro, of course) and comparing the starmeter of their client roster with yours. This is a good initial-first-glance-kinda-unscientific way of seeing if the agency is the proper level for where you are in your career right now. (Note: the more extensive way to do this is go through their client roster and see if their clients are booking mostly co-stars, guest stars, etc.)
Other
The starmeter rankings refresh every Monday. They compare your ranking for the new week with the previous week to determine your “popularity.” Know that your actual ranking is probably more important than your popularity increase or decrease, but also know that if industry-types see a huge jump in your popularity, they might be curious as to why, and want to get in on the action.
Also note that starmeter is often an indication of the online presence an actor has. That’s why you see a lot of higher-up working-actor types with starmeters far below that of some of us youngins, because we have a gajillion friends who will click on our profile if we post it on Facebook.
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**Want more IMDb awesomeness?**
Part 2 in this series tells you how to get a movie listed on IMDb
Part 3 discusses how to manage your IMDb profile
Part 4 in this series explains recent updates to IMDb like your Bacon Number
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If you gained anything from this post, please give my starmeter a bump by visiting www.imdb.me/BenWhitehair. If you gained a LOT from this post, or just want to make feel better for not being nominated for prom king in high school, then leave a comment on my IMDb profile. 🙂
Ben Whitehair is the Los Angeles contingent of this blog. Find out more information and view his materials on his website, or read the rest of his blog posts.
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Hi Ben – thanks for this infor about imdb and I found it very helpful. One thing I haven’t been able to track in my research however, is how can I get a news article in imdb? I’m on imdbpro and have looked through all the help topics and can’t find the info… I was featured in The Sunday NY Times and I want that star on there! Thanks very much; appreciate it.
By the way 🙂
Thank you!!! I will be following instructions as much as I can.
All the best,
Florin MARKSTEINER
http://www.imdb.me/florinmarksteiner
Ireally appreciate the talent of Zachary Quinto.He does theatre,good tv and the upcoming Star Trek!!!!Has lots of fans,etc.Why is his starmeter not higher?
I’m still not sold on IMDb. I’ve been on everything from the Board of Directors for USA Film Festival to Women in Film.Dallas (another board position with another film industry group is about to begin); I’ve also been a 3-term City Producer for 48 Hour Film Project in Dallas.
I only have 1 IMDb credit.
Even though I have Producer and Executive Producer credits for numerous productions, the vast majority of my projects are for the European market through one of the networks; notably, the American motorcycle. IMDb is not a player in the international markets the way it is in the US.
Is IMDb truly a barometer to gauge an industry professional’s value or are we simply being told that so that Amazon can continue to plump their financial coffers by having articles like this say we should be “ashamed” of ourselves by not signing up – and paying – for the Pro edition?
Raine,
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
To be clear, I don’t work for IMDb or Amazon. My personal opinion is that IMDb is just one tool that is available for actors, and that IMDb Pro is particularly useful in terms of research. Particularly in the american market.
I will also say that my own experience is that almost ALL casting directors are now using IMDb as the standard to look up actors. So whether or not amazon makes money, my personal view is that actors would be doing themselves a disservice not to utilize IMDb.
Thanks again!
Ben
Thank goodness, a comprehensive guide to the acting world’s equivalent of Facebook friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you, sir!
Thank you so much for shedding some light on this …i will go click on your imdb page for sure -i sometimes get down if i have been busy with projects and i am excited to see my number go higher and in fact it doesn’t
-now i feel better 🙂
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191747/ I forgot to leave my link- thanks!
The IMDb starmeter is really overrated. One can go to a site such as “Like My IMDB and I’ll like yours?” on facebook and everybody can just like each other’s pages. You can also pay to raise your starmeter. Totally bull and any casting director who takes that starmeter seriously isn’t a serious casting director.
Great information Ben, keep it coming…
Please visit me on my site.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4917849/
this was great insight. thanks for the post bro!
Johnny Alonso
imdb.me/johnnyalonso
How the hell did mine drop over 200,000 I’m a week??!!?!
I have been in the 30,000’s (give or take some…no lower than 50,000) for over a year now. I’m so confused and worried I have been hacked.
HELP GENIUS❤️
What does the green arrow or red arrow mean by the star meter?
Ty
funny
Hi Ben, great article you got there! Hoping to read more of your articles. 🙂
hi Ben I need any help to get my Daughter into the acting and modeling world. she is 16 now and been expose at the age of 10 going to acting and modeling school at Barbizon and many other classes, she been gaining experiences in many background scene in movie and television show, showcase at the event in Disney also her feature film speaking role in FOLLOWING PHIL now in Amazon. As I am her DAD I have gain experience at the same time representing her and to be honest its a big challenge to get a break, coming to agency is only telling you how great you are and you could become famous soon by paying $$$$ and attending class after class. I been to several agency and same.
one favorite line use- you have been choosing by a director for a lead actress on a upcoming shoot and you have to come to an audition and on that day for the interview they you have to pay for classes to for training and photo shoot etc.
what advice you have for me to gain success
Hello Ben,
Thank you for taking the time to write this blog article, I found it really helpful!
thanks Ben, I didn’t really know what Starmeter was but looked it up and your article was near the top of the search. without knowing much about it I’m not sure how starmeter might help someone who is not an actor but just a film maker of documentary films; is there any point to bother with it?
more specifically; is it worth it to have IMDB pro account if not an actor .thanks again
Hey Ben, Thanks for the info. I will work on this. I signed up for your Newsletter.
Simply a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw great design and style.