What if a movie I want to submit doesn't have an iMDB entry?

[iceblox]

I was just about to submit an Indian movie to the Criticker database is when I found out that the movie is not in iMDB. It's a movie released in 2007, so I am guessing that whoever was supposed to update iMDB just missed adding it to iMDB. It's not like it's a small-time movie either. It has some big star names, so I am really surprised that the movie isn't in iMDB. I cross-checked this by going into the pages of the actors who acted in the movie and saw that none of them is listed as having acted in the movie.

So, anyway, my question is - what do I do about it? Will Criticker accept the movie without an iMDB link? (I can provide links to other websites to prove the existence of the movie). Or must it absolutely have an iMDB entry first? I looked around in iMDB to see how I could submit a new movie, but couldn't find out how. Does anyone know? I don't care if iMDB has the movie or not, but I'd like to submit it to Criticker anyway. How do I proceed?

All help is appreciated.

[whatismyname]

This is the response I received a few months back, and to my knowledge, their policy hasn't changed.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=444

[iceblox]

It's sad that we are allowing iMDB's shortcomings to trickle down to Criticker too.

Mike, can we make an exception here please? I can provide link to other websites by which you can verify the cast, production credits etc.

But if that's what it takes, I am willing to submit the movie to iMDB, if only I could figure out how. Does anyone know?

[iceblox]

OK, I've figured out how to submit a new title to iMDB and just submitted that movie.

For anyone else who may be interested in adding a new title to iMDB, use this link: http://resume.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?resumenewtitle

[mpowell]

Our policy hasn't changed on this. This is from a recent email on the subject, where we attempted to explain the reasoning behind our thinking:

There are a few reasons we require an IMDB entry, before adding a film to Criticker. Mainly, it's a useful yardstick for determining that the film is, in fact, valid. We've had a lot of would-be filmmakers submit their projects, and the IMDB requirement has come in very useful in that way. We can just be like, "Sorry! No IMDB Entry, no Criticker entry!" If we start allowing some, but not others, it makes for a messy situation in which we'll have to justify every decision. We just don't have the resources for case-by-case decision making, and can't start allowing exceptions.

Also, we use the IMDB id to protect against duplicate entries, and as a source for conflict resolution. Having this requirement for entry into Criticker has proven extremely useful.

We understand that this might be annoying, and that IMDB can occasionally be slow to add new (especially non-USA) films. Still, our experience is that every valid film eventually gets added to IMDB and, at that time, we're more than happy to add it to Criticker. We hope you understand our reasoning as to the requirement, and thank you for being patient!

Thanks a lot to Iceblox, who posted that link for adding a new film to IMDB... this is the route we're happiest with.

In short, we know that this requirement can be a pain, but ask you to bear with us on it. It makes our lives a lot easier. If we do someday get a work force, we'll probably start opening it up to non-IMDB entries.