Wikipedia:Filmographies and Discographies

Wikipedia:FAQ

What are filmographies and discographies? A filmography is a list of all the films that an actor has acted in, a director has directed, a producer has produced, etc.. A discography is a list of all the albums that a musician has created. Wilkipedia contains many filmographies and discographies.

A standard format helps to make the list easier to read and edit: Keeping to a standard has the obvious advantage of making it easier for the reader to compare and contrast different articles and for subsequent authors to build upon a filmography when it becomes out of date.

A standard format helps to reduce the possibility of breaching copyright: Many people think that facts cannot be copyrighted and therefore filmographies and discographies contain no copyright. It is true that facts do not contain copyright, but the layout and sort order of the facts do contain copyright. If you just copy and paste a filmography or discography then you may be breaching copyright. However if the facts are placed into a Wilkipedian layout and sort order then they will be free from copyright.

The standard for filmographies and discographies

There seems to be general consensus on the following points:

1. Each object on the list should be marked by a bullet point not a number.
2. The list should be on the same page as the article about the author.
3. The list should contain at least the title and year of first publication.
4. When more than one film/album lands upon the same year then (in the absence of information about specific release dates) they should be sorted alphabetically.
5. Titles of albums and films are always italicized (in bulleted lists, too).

The following point is in dispute:

1. The list should be in ascending chronological order. This means that the earliest film/album should be at the top of the list and the latest film/album at the bottom.

NB: Using a spreadsheet is one of the easiest and most reliable ways to sort a list.

Example filmography

Below is an example of a model filmography for Natalie Portman:

• Léon (a.k.a. The Professional, a.k.a. The Cleaner) (1994)
• Developing (short) (1995)
• Heat (1995)
• Beautiful Girls (1996)
• Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
• Mars Attacks (1996)
• Anywhere But Here (1999)
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
• Where the Heart Is (2000)
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums