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In Development titles


Industry Insider? Join IMDbPro to add in development titles


IMDbPro lists feature films, TV movies, unaired TV pilots, and TV series in various stages of development including pitch, option, script, treatment/outline and turnaround. In order for your title to be considered for listing, it needs to meet the following criteria:

Projects must be in active development at a production company, which can be easily verified (i.e. the company currently exists in the database and has an established IMDb filmography of credited, released feature films). We will also consider development titles from newly formed production companies if the filmmakers attached to the project have an established IMDb filmography and the project can be independently verified.

In all cases, to help us verify that this title is in active development we require working direct link(s) to a third party site in the "miscellaneous links" section of the new title form. For example, something from a recognized industry source (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Screendaily etc.). For independent productions, independent press articles and/or local press coverage (e.g. near shooting locations) will be considered. For unaired TV pilots, we will only accept announced projects produced by major networks, studios or production companies.

In Development titles must be in one of the following stages of development:

  • Pitch -- An idea for an upcoming project that has been presented and sold to a production company, which agrees to develop it.
  • Optioned Property -- A piece of literary work (book, short story, play, news article, etc.) where the exclusive rights to purchase the property are currently held by a production entity for consideration to develop into a feature length film or television project for a defined period of time.
  • Treatment/Outline -- An idea or abridged script; longer than a synopsis containing a rough outline such as a summary of each major scene and descriptions of the significant characters in the project. While a complete script is around 100 pages, a treatment is closer to 10.
  • Script -- Completed, copy written manuscript, which has been picked up by a production entity for development. A script may take the form of a screenplay, shooting script, lined script, continuity script, or a spec script.
  • Turnaround -- A project, which was previously picked up by a production entity, but has been dropped and is currently in a state of limbo allowing the producers to set up the project with another studio.
  • Development Unknown -- The project is in some form of development stage that is completely unknown to you.

  • In Development - Title Removal Criteria

    Please know that not all in-development listings on IMDbPro last forever. While many titles eventually get produced, some titles are removed from the site for various reasons. Below are the following reasons why in-development titles are eligible for removal from the site:

  • A request from the project's original submitter or a published news article states that the title is dead and no longer a possibility.
  • The title's status is inactive/unknown over an extended period of time (approximately 5+ years for feature films, 1-2+ years for other listings) and its MOVIEmeter ranking is not within the Top 100K titles. These conditions indicate that a title is inactive and is of little or no interest to IMDbPro subscribers.
  • Any useful or pertinent data (writer, producer, production company, plot etc.) is no longer listed on its page.
  • A title receives data additions that are false, intentionally misleading or malicious. These violations include:
  • Adding unverified credits of high-ranking STARmeter names, which only appear to boost the title's legitimacy or visibility on the site, i.e. resume inflation.
  • Adding an unverified company or studio to the title, which is not involved with the project and only appears to boost its legitimacy or visibility on the site.
  • Submitting false screening dates to film festivals such as Sundance, Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Venice, etc.

  • If a submitter's in-development title is removed for violating any of the aforementioned policies, any and all remaining unreleased titles in their filmography or their company's filmography also run the risk of being removed until they are completed and their official release is verified.


    You can update your existing project by clicking on the "edit" or "update" button on its title page. If no updates are made to a project after a certain period of time, then the title may be considered for deletion.


    Industry Insider? Join IMDbPro to add in development titles


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