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Sunday, May 12th, 2013 4:38 PM

12

Stop the TV special title type from automatically adding everyone to the Self category

As noted here there is a problem with credits being automatically put in the self category by the TV special title type:
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topi...

There is no clear guidelines on what a TV special is:

http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?ti...
http://www.imdb.com/updates/guide/tit...

All we can really say is it is a one-off TV show, that can't really be defined as a TV movie, which could include a whole range of production including ones where actors play characters (a one off variety show or a taping of a stage play). However, getting flagged as a TV special puts every credit into the self category, even when they are playing a character, who they are also listed as playing under the actor credits:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302002/#...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0130587/#Self

It is possible that staff have a stricter definition of what a TV special is and these should be changed to TV movies, but there is no guidance on this and it would be better to stop this happening based on title type and allow the credits to do the work as they do in other categories.

756 Messages

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29.6K Points

9 years ago

Please see this discussion:   http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000042/nest/242642589
... no clear guidelines on what a TV special is ....
Am I correct in believing that the user named "Kerrydow" is an employee?
If so, the following reply appears to provide some guidance:

http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000042/thread/242642589?d=243520743#243520743
... the TV-special keyword ... is used for non-fiction titles ....
(Emphasis added.)