Mini bio, "known for" is not accurate

The situation at hand does sound like it could be a mixup bred of homonymy.

Nope. That's me. But according to you (and IMDB), I should be "best known for" my AD work, which well outweighs 2 ancient, irrelevant art department credits. And, yet...

The algorithm has failed me.

Any other suggestions?

@jeorj_euler​ I applaud your stick-to-it commitment, but I am afraid IMDB Pro is not a solution. That is a pay-to-play solution. The only way to correct my mini Bio is to subscribe. But the minute I unsubscribe it says that the bio will return to the default. 

That sounds like extortion. If I don't pay it doesn't get corrected. According to IMDB's own claims they prioritize your primary profession, and "best known for" bio, based on volume of work in a specific field, as well as the "weight" of the position itself. Not to disparage any other departments, but I'm pretty sure that Assistant Director is weighted higher than a prop master or set painter.

What do you think?

Well, there is always room for improvement of the algorithm. Until that happens, there are limited options. Just to note, submitting a mini bio doesn't require IMIDbPro access, and the content of its overrides the template-based automatically-generated stock biography, "So-and-so, Such-and-Such, is known for...".

When I say "mini bio" I mean the one IMDB generates, it states Wickham is known for "Graveyard Shift" 1990 and "Jezebel's Kiss" 1990. Nothing to do with my 30 year career as an AD. And when you do a search of my name, it reads Wickham Irwin, Art Department, 1990. So anyone searching for me who is looking for an AD will only see a guy who worked in the art department back at the turn of the century. 

Out of curiosity I decided to search more prominent and famous people and have found a definite flaw in the search feature. For example, Steven Speilberg, Producer, Schindler's List (1993); Martin Scorsese, Director, Taxi Driver 1976; Julia Roberts, Actress, Pretty Woman (1990); Kevin Costner, Actor, The Postman (1997); Tom Cruise, Actor, Top Gun (1986); Sigourney Weaver, Actress, Alien (1979); Meryl Streep, Actress, Out of Africa (1985); Julianne Moore, Actress, Boogie Nights (1997); Quentin Tarantino, Writer, Reservoir Dogs (1992); Sofia Coppola, Actress, Godfather III (1990).

At least I'm in good company with others who are most noted for work from the last century. I would definitely say there is room for improvement.

And all of these mini bios automatically generated by IMDb can be overridden with manually-submitted paragraphs, DWI. You can directly access the submission form for that purpose, and in regards to yourself, by visiting https://contribute.imdb.com/updates/edit?update=nm1721516:bio_bg.correct.all/bio_bg.add.1. Somebody else can also do this, but he/she will need to know enough about you in order to submit anything meaningful.

Okay, I've given this a go. Let's see what happens. My guess is that the bio on my page will change, but the brief description in my search query will remain "Art Department, Graveyard Shift (1990)." But let's see what happens.

Thanks for your patience and commitment to resolve this.

As I understand it, If the submission is approved, the effect of a human-made mini-bio applies to search results too.

@Sandy , admittedly I was deliberately selective to prove a point. As I was searching I went through several different successful professionals to find a pattern, and "most famous for" certainly appeared to be the front runner. However, and I understand this is an imperfect system, this "most famous for" doesn't really hold up. I would argue that Steven Spielberg is not most famous for producing Schindler's List, or Kevin Costner is most famous for acting in The Postman. The point I was trying to make is that it is very much an imperfect system that should allow for updates or corrections, most especially for below-the-line crew members who may have future producers check their credits on IMDB. I am certain that a lot of crew members may have gotten their start as a PA, and some on very successful movies. But as their career advances I would think the descriptor under their name when searched would not say Production Assistant. Likewise, I have worked on bigger, more notable projects than Graveyard Shift and yet it is the first impression I make when my name is searched. Sigh.

To my recollection, Schindler's List is in IMDb's Top 250 movies. Maybe Steven Spielbering is most famous for Jaws and E.T., though. I can see how The Postman most not be the film for which Kevin Costner is best know, since one might think firstly of The Untouchables or Field of Dreams. However, as we know, both of these guys have a ton of greatest hits.