What is IMDbPro? Is It Worth the Money?

If you’re a movie fan, then you’ve probably heard of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), one of the web’s leading sources for information about TV shows, movies, and the professionals who make them. IMDb is the largest, most popular TV and movie database on the internet. It lists thousands of TV shows, movies, actors and other information about the entertainment business. It tells you who starred in, wrote, produced, directed, and featured on nearly every TV or movie that’s ever been released.

What is IMDbPro? Is It Worth the Money?

Most of us have gone to IMDb.com at least a few times, searching for pictures of our favorite actresses or reference material about our favorite movies or shows. However, not everyone has heard of IMDbPro, the site’s exclusive paid subscription level. In this article, I’ll tell you all about IMDbPro and give you the pros and cons of having a paid membership to the site.

The standard site is free to use and doesn’t need a membership. Anyone can look up all the information they want, all day long. There is also a registered user model, where you can register and in return for your email, you get the opportunity to customize your experience and write reviews, comments and whatever else you feel the need to share on the site.

What Is IMDbPro?

IMDbPro was initially launched in 2002 and provided a forum for anyone who wanted to research the entertainment industry. Membership to IMDbPro is theoretically intended for industry professionals, but in practice, most subscribers are just ordinary folks, not TV actors or movie producers. In return for a monthly subscription, IMDbPro allows you to see what productions are on the horizon, who is working on what, how to contact directors and agencies and a host of other resources for the budding actor/cameraman/writer or whatever.

A couple of years ago, IMDbPro also added the Pro Casting service. This is a listings service featuring casting calls, auditions, and upcoming roles. It is another way for the aspiring star to find work and seems to be working quite well. The Pro Casting service isn’t just for those in front of the camera but for all of those aspiring screenwriters who want a break too.

IMDbPro is not designed to be the one place to find your next role. It is still primarily for research, to find out what’s going on, where and with whom. But also, it does feature some listings for those within the industry.

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How Much Does IMDbPro Cost?

IMDbPro has either a monthly subscription or a yearly charge. Currently, it costs $19.99 per month or $149.99 per year. You do get a 30-day free trial of IMDbPro and then after your initial trial, you will be billed to continue to use the site.

In return for that investment you get:

  • An IMDb name page with vanity URL
  • Your own resume page
  • A place to add demo reels, breakdowns, and roles
  • Image gallery with headshots and up to 100 images
  • Twitter and blog feed
  • The ability to post notices or apply for roles

There are other benefits to IMDbPro that revolve more around research so it isn’t just about actors and acting. There are also complete filmographies, a much more detailed database of people, places and their contact details, company, and agent contact information and daily industry news from insiders.

Is IMDbPro Free With Amazon Prime?

That’s right! You may have never realized it, but IMDb is owned by Amazon. The online retail giant purchased IMDb in 1998, long before they became the giant that they are today. That’s why you can create an IMDb account using your pre-existing Amazon account.

If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, you’re probably wondering if that means you have access to IMDbPro, the same way you have access to Prime Video and Prime Music. Unfortunately, however, IMDbPro is not included in Amazon Prime. Though that may be a little disappointing, it makes sense as the average Prime user won’t get a lot of mileage out of IMDbPro as it’s intended for industry professionals and aspiring students of the film industry.

You Can Still Enjoy IMDb TV!

Yep! Whether you have IMDbPro or Amazon Prime, you can watch IMDb TV for free. It’s a service that Amazon launched in January of 2019 that allows anyone to watch a (small) selection of movies and television through their IMDb account. The catch is, as you can probably guess, that there are ads on these movies. But considering it’s a free streaming service, like YouTube, we think it’s more than fair.

And surprisingly, the movies on IMDb TV aren’t terrible. Sure, there are a bunch of “eh” movies on there, like the 2016 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action movie or 2007’s Dragon Wars. But there are also a handful of classics on the platform, like Donnie Darko and the 80’s TV show ALF. It’s worth giving a shot if you need something to alleviate the pain of having to pay for IMDbPro.

Is IMDbPro Worth The Money?

Whether IMDbPro is worth the money or not is very subjective. If you’re into research, want to know what’s coming up or work in the industry and want an insider view, then likely yes. The ability to see projects currently in development, answer casting calls or apply for roles is fantastic for those working in entertainment.

IMDbPro provides an excellent resource for screenwriters to get their work noticed, for actors to display themselves, for filmmakers and producers to research applicants, for journalists to research people, movies and more and for general movie lovers who want every last detail about their chosen hobby.

When I used to write movie reviews, I would always go to IMDb to check facts before publishing. As a resource it is unsurpassed. I didn’t subscribe to IMDbPro, but could see the value in it for a full-time movie writer or journalist.

The Starmeter is also a neat aspect of IMDbPro that will suit the narcissistic side of the industry. Each subscriber has the option for a Starmeter which shows the rise and fall of their career. If you’re in the industry, this is more amusing than informative but is a useful feature nonetheless.

IMDbPro is an excellent resource if you’re in the entertainment industry or are heavily invested in the business. For most people, a subscription won’t be necessary but if movies and TV play a big part in your life, it probably is.

8 thoughts on “What is IMDbPro? Is It Worth the Money?”

Peter says:
NOT worth it at all.
I represent an upcoming star and we wanted to add some pictures, demo reel, etc. But once you stop your pro membership, they remove everything except what you can already add for free. So you’re stuck with a membership for life. What a ripoff.
CrosswalkX says:
To the Tech Junkie, if I sign up for IMDB pro, will I have the privilege to remove the wrong credits on the Shimajiro and Doraemon Japanese Anime imdb film pages?

I’ve been trying to clean out the credit vandalism in Shimajiro and Doraemon but when I submit the deletion requests, they kept declining it and I’ve even talked to them about getting the incorrect credits of Shimajiro and Doraemon removed but they won’t listen or believe me.

Also in the imdb pro membership I want to add the actors, directors, musicians profile pictures as there’s alot of missing pictures to the biography pages.

Please let me know if I can edit the Shimajiro and Doraemon imdb film pages and remove wrong imdb actors using my imdb pro account because the credits are a cluttered mess.

Leanette says:
I unfortunately encountered nothing but problems when trying to set up a new actor profile, a few months ago. Because IMDb is owned/governed by Amazon now. So I ended up having to change my Amazon login JUST to access IMDb (when they are two different sites!) And encountered endless pages of garbly gook, just to add a few film credits. NOT WORTH IT.
Claire Arnold-Knight says:
I have a jailbroke fire stick ( installed 3 months ago) it seemed to work great, at first..but when I tried to use SyFY App and some other apps it asked for my internet provider..My WiFi is through Spectrum but my internet I have a Netgear router,..and Netgear is not listed as a service provider…How do I get to watch shows on apps that require info like this.. Also in recent weeks my Firestick drops what I’m watching..saying no reception, then as it starts to reboot it has NTSD in the upper right corner of the screen.. and I don’t know what that stands for. Why is my Firestick doing this?? Home is not the problem as my brother has Firestick in his room and doesn’t have this issue
chyna says:
I have a jailbroken fire stick and found an app like hulu that plays syfi you’d have to look up how to use an app like downloader mobi and other apps made for your type of fire stick. you can look it up on youtube. It will explain what you can dowload and what you can get. There are apps where you can get free tv channels movies and such.
Kaushiik says:
Can I refund my IMDb membership amount? As I have charged from IMDb membership amount after free trail
Helen says:
Why are you asking this question on the technjunkie site and not the IMDB itself?
Joan Manson says:
What would cost me NZ$268 for a subscription? IMDB have taken $268 out of my bank and I have no knowledge what for. I have had no notifications from them as to why they took this money
Bruce McKenzie says:
I joined IMDb last year because another actor with my name was listed as the narrator of a short film called RedRuby which i narrated. My Name is Bruce McKenzie I am a Canadian , The other Bruce McKenzie is an American actor. I inadvertently signed up for 1 year. How ever for some reason or other the narrator change was not made . I joined again for 1 month and the
change was made.However I am still being charged monthly even though i stated i was only signing up for i month. This whole identity mixup has cost me a lot of money $200 Cdn for the I year and 4 x30 $ for the last 4 months. I would appreciate if you could at least reimburse me for the 4 monthly fees.I am 79 years old and it takes me a long time to type as I am a one finger
typist.
Bruce McKenzie 11
Garnet says:
I feel like you must be lost..

Comments are closed.

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