Letterboxd Needs to Fix This

[@guyinc0gnito]

I know that guy IRL and he wears a hat that says “ARBITER OF MOVIES” 24/7 even when sleeping

[@Notsram77]

Is Joel going to sell those hats? Could be a loophole to getting movies listed.

[@Yancey_Thompson_IX]

I bet the TMDb mod is the same dude who made 50 accounts on IMDb to fuck with indie creators

[@b1i9]

​@@Yancey_Thompson_IXexactly what I thought. 90% chance it's him

[@jacksonepperson6162]

This guy took down me and my friends short films too, talked to a lotta filmmakers who have dealt with him too and it’s horrible. Thank you Joel for bringing a light to this.

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

It’s utterly baseless. Of course they’ll have the formative shorts of established filmmakers, even the shorts that are still amateur by definition. But if you’re a filmmaker still building your body of work, those same type of shorts don’t exist.

[@jacksonepperson6162]

@@joeltalksaboutmovies It’s just pure pettiness, disgusting

[@racheperry2502]

@@joeltalksaboutmovies Exactly. Me and my friends often rely on sites like letterboxd to grow some awareness of our films as it can be expensive to get our films out there in other ways. It's so discouraging to see the actions that ONE moderator takes to silence our art. One site shouldnt be dictated by one guy its so frusterating.

[@maximumoccupancy]

A TMDB mod once called me mentally challenged after removing all of my short films and contributions. I wonder if it was the same guy

[@racheperry2502]

@@maximumoccupancy Almost certainly was.

[@ArijanMiletić]

Even while he is Angry Joel, he is still very nice

[@netux]

Angry Joel just swears slightly more and throws some side shade from time to time

[@roramdin]

The Angry Joel Show strikes back

[@wackmidi]

The TMDb moderators are just the real life versions of Randall from Recess. Utterly the most punchable people on planet earth and the sole reason why I stopped making short films entirely. Not because my shorts suck because APPARENTLY to them, I'm not a filmmaker at all to them and it's actually more degrading and insulting than actual negative reception. They stripped my right to be a filmmaker away from me because APPARENTLY I don't fit into their awful guidelines. Letterboxd needs to sever ties with them PERMANENTLY.

[@dp-bh5fh]

Don’t give them that power over you bro

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

Don’t let a man who doesn’t have a creative bone in his body take the creative bones out of yours - Confucius maybe

[@andilengcizela]

Make more films, you do yourself an immense injustice by letting other people tell you that you're not a filmmaker. Who cares what they think? Are you really going to make choices about how you spend your life based on the opinions of a man who curates an extensive porn catalogue? Who cares what those people think at all? It seems like Letterboxd only uses them for their database, not their thoughts on filmmaking. Their cruelty and indifference aren't worth giving up on your dreams. Make more films. Don't think about those people.

[@glitchsister]

and yet they allow movie reviews from youtube to be rated, interesting.

[@Black_Jesus3005]

Don’t let yourself be judged by people who don’t know more than you. Keep making films 🫶🏽

[@leedayunderwood]

Sorry “Angry Joel” (if that is your real name), but this video seems very amateurish. I’m afraid I will be contacting KZbin to get it removed.

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

Please don’t, I need this. My family needs this.

[@nolannice]

​@@joeltalksaboutmoviesif you really needed the money you would've made this rant an adult film and sold it in a seedy gas station

[@cookierill]

@@nolanniceto be fair, I don’t think 🎉should be blamed for this either. Only a smaller fraction of the history of adult film is on Letterboxd, and it is decided BY the site themselves; as someone who considers herself a full-on historian of fat 🎉, hardly any of it is documented there, which I think has the same root problem as with folk film being allowed (along with other legal stuff, but that’s a story for another day)

[@szinyk]

@@nolannice if you REALLY want to make that youtube rant money, just put "this is why disney is KILLING starwars!" in the thumbnail. 🙄

[@DirectedBySamLink]

Ok well I just made my own film festival and it's called the "Joel Haver's Real Film Festival" and you've actually been nominated several times.

[@cactusman5603]

The cat painting in the background perfectly describes my feelings on letterboxd

[@codyclarke]

Thanks for the shout out to my piece! One other thing to add: the tmdb mod added a rule specifically in regards to me that says that even if a movie is released to Amazon Prime Video, it’s not necessarily a movie. (He did this because I release a lot of my movies on there.) Probably one of the most insane rules ever, because if it wasn’t a movie, Amazon would reject it! They have that in place! And also obviously selectively enforced by the tmdb moderator, because he’d never take down bigger movies released to Amazon, just ones by people like me.

[@kelownatechkid]

I sympathize, but cannot disagree more with "if it wasn’t a movie, Amazon would reject it" - really poor example as Amazon has some of the worst quality control in the industry.

[@codyclarke]

@@kelownatechkid I'm not talking about quality-there's plenty of crap on every streaming service. As someone who has submitted over a dozen movies to Amazon, their quality control is actually quite exacting, and sometimes overkill. (I once had a movie rejected because there was a URL in the end credits as part of Creative Commons legalese.) Any movie that makes it through is definitely a movie. For the TMDB mod to act like Amazon is some entity that allows cat videos and the like is preposterous.

[@racheperry2502]

This is a problem I consistently deal with as an independant filmmaker. Thank you for discussing it Joel.

[@datacentre81]

In this country so many people think of big corporations as the natural overlords of everything. And it seems like some people have even gotten to the point of deciding that corporations get to determine what "real" art is. Because you're right. There isn't any formal difference between your stuff and Clerks or Blair Witch Project, movies made with no resources besides friends and off the shelf equipment. The only difference is that big media companies got involved and gave them the stamp of corporate approval.

[@thejesuschrist]

Angry Joel is forgiven. 🙏🏼 A disciple turned me on to Criticker, also lacks the social aspects and has old school design, but their rating system is far superior. Great tool for finding great films to watch. I love it.

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

Oooo thank you for the suggestion and the forgiveness, Jesus❤️

[@KeithSammut]

LOL

[@ClayDress]

Didn't Joel kill you? I guess Jesus always comes back

[@Pigwars420]

I made a bunch of short films and he deleted every one and threatened to ban me. Even when I asked to have 24 hours so they could be on Letterboxed, he yelled at me. It's so frusterating.

[@dlbma30677]

I recommended your movie to a friend. Movies are like restaurants, critics are nice, but word of mouth is what builds a following

[@Zack-bl2gg]

So I looked up the Movie Database, since I had never heard of it before. They have GOOD MYTHICAL MORNING on it! Which is a PODCAST! Nobody would even consider that a film, but I guess they consider that better than an independent film 🤦‍♂️

[@AnthonyValli]

If they’re going to not allow your films, they may as well delete any low budget indie movies like ones from Duplass Brothers or Joe Swanberg.

[@TheOrian34]

The fact he dared call your heartfelt films "viral videos" is so insulting. No wonder Joel becomes Angry Joel...

[@SoFarSoGoodShow]

Joel, this is something we've been dealing with over the past years as well. TMDB removed two of our movies and one of them was removed from Letterboxd as well. I was trying to log The Text last night and was thinking about if you were facing this same scenario. So annoyed that this keeps happening. Let's do something about it. I'm not sure what, but there's gotta be something. Let us know if you need any support in fighting this.

[@Mr_Wallet]

If the problem is one dictator acting as a gatekeeper, then the most realistic solutions are to either find a way to get the dictator removed from the platform, or create a competing database and campaign for letterboxd to accept both sets of data in the interest of allowing more discussions on their platform.

[@thefilmarchive]

I imagine if TMDb was a thing in the 1970s they'd also be banning John Cassavetes!

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

Amen!!!

[@uselessfuse]

Thanks for standing up for art Joel

[@NathanLathroum]

I knew a bit about this, but I had no idea it was this bad of a problem. (What a ridiculous, stupid, insane problem to have... this person sounds like such a mindless mess.) I'm glad you're covering this -- this is obviously a super important thing. Thank you for bringing this to light. Here's hoping we can all start banding together to do something about this.

[@AsterSkotos]

You know it's serious when Joel is angry

[@SpudMackenzie]

Holy Hell, just read the substack you linked. What a rollercoaster. Sorry for everyone that had to go through all that.

[@andrewfoshee]

"Anyone Else But Me" is one of the best movies I've ever seen, Joel. In my humble opinion, I feel like you have the platform and social network to make something better and more progressive than how you've described Letterboxd. I hope you find a way to disrupt this community and build something more appropriate that doesn't once again succumb to gatekeepers.

[@laylahassomethingtosay]

It's absurd to me how people like that manage to maintain some sense of self-respect. Like somehow gatekeeping gives them a sense of pride strong enough to completely override everyone around them thinking they're a massive loser. Baffling.

[@KeenMurphy]

Thank you Joel, please keep using your audience to try and convince Letterboxd to finally fix this. If you don't know it's been going on for nearly a decade, I first heard about it when the late experimental filmmaker Eli Hayes (who Letterboxd has now given an In Memoriam page to) had his films pulled. I also haven't had as much luck as you, where my films were permantley pulled from the site and my friend's lovely reviews lost forever. Letterboxd has grown a tremendous amount this decade, and seem to be pulling further and further away from independent filmmakers as they do press for big directors with new releases, work with the studios and large media outlets, start podcasts and sponsorships, but still don't have the resources to fix this issue. There's also a quote from the Letterboxd CEO on the TMDB website where they specifically mention their sway over TMDB; "we also enjoy having a voice when it comes to the design of new approaches."

[@Foxmosis_]

As someone who's a big fan of video games and music, both mediums that contain obscure genres, I've grown to really detest gatekeepers. And I've used everything in my power to make a mockery of their hypothetical gates. I've often thought about like starting a publishing company that's just technically qualified enough to let artists step over, and on, people like this. Like I'm not getting any money, I'm not getting any rights, I'm just a middle-man for bullshit like this. But I think starting that is a little over my head and really shouldn't be necessary to begin with.

[@BostonMBrand]

As a younger filmmaker who just recently graduated, I also find this incredibly frustrating because TMDB doesn’t consider student films legitimate either. I understand that student films can widely vary in terms of quality but student filmmakers need an avenue to post and advertise their films. And what’s frustrating is that there are already 1000s of student films in TMDB, and some of them are films that were made by already accomplished filmmakers when they were students. And sometimes these films are hard to come by, not available to the public and maybe didn’t go through the festival system. And yet they get a pass because the person who made them is at a later point in their career? Why?

[@ColeProtocolFilms]

Yeah they deleted my short film and banned by account. They were very mean to me over my private message and said they won’t unban me for awhile because it wasn’t a theater release.

[@toby7032]

I hate this mindset of keeping cinema in the stone age, if there was a means for filmmakers pre digital era to have their films shared and accessed by anyone at anytime sure as fuck they would use it Classifying what is and isn’t art isn’t productive or interesting discourse. It’s this negativity bias, this urge to control that has held back countless great films throughout history that deserved to see the light of day. Art is freedom the internet should be a place to celebrate that not hinder it. I hope that mod will realise that.

[@Calob]

Thanks for putting a spotlight on this issue Joel. This situation is incredibly frustrating and while I also sympathize (to a degree) with Letterboxd’s side of things, there is still far more that could be done. What a clusterfuck.

[@Cleron]

I had this issue! My films were taken off TMDB because they are online videos and not commercially distributed. Great vid as always man

[@OskarProkop]

This happened to me too, I'm glad you made a video talking about this with the platform you have

[@curbsideaudio]

I've been fighting this fight on TMDb for years. Until recently, they've contradicted their content bible incessantly. I've pressured them to be less vague in their policies. They've only partially succeeded in that in the last 5 years, usually at the detriment of indie filmmakers. They used to say if your movie was picked up by mainstream outlets (reviews, etc.) then it should count. But they readily ignored this so many times they just removed it from the "Amateur Content" section of their submission policy altogether. It's textbook "moving the goalposts" behavior. For what it's worth, moderator Janar has been open to discussion on this topic in the past. Lineker has been dismissive if not outright indignant at even the most level-headed questioning of the site's content policies. It's a real problem and I commend you for continuing to speak out-even if I don't believe it's a Letterboxd issue.

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

Thanks for sharing your accounts of this, the goalpost moving is insane. It’s ironic how their “content Bible” is treated how many treat the actual Bible, malleable based around personal vendettas and ignorant beliefs. I don’t believe it’s a Letterboxd issue either, but sadly as long as Lineker holds power on TMDB they are not changing a thing. So the best I can do is ask Letterboxd, a platform I know to be intelligent, to do anything in response.

[@curbsideaudio]

@@joeltalksaboutmovies The wild thing is, you and others that have been targeted do have *cough* "professional" credits in their database. So adding anything you make outside of an "established content publisher" should be no different to the student films of, say, Ridley Scott or Ari Aster. I can't speak for Letterboxd, but I imagine their position is precarious. Because they don't have their own database (which would be expensive to build and maintain), they're mostly beholden to the content policies of the one they license. They've made steps (like you mentioned) to reduce the removals of LB listings when TMDb entries disappear, but it is inconsistent and leads to cleanup tasks like duplicated cast and crew (LB, I'm available to help with this!). Beyond making that process more codified (because there are a LOT of junk entries that do need to be culled to match TMDb), their only option would be another data source. And beyond the technical complications of differing schemas and all that mess, there are few external options for film (the others are both expensive and suck). We've emailed about this before, but I still think an Independent Film Database might be the ideal common ground. Same schema and API as TMDb, but with a focus on independent film and a wider array of classifications (film, vlog, serialized) for youtube content. That said, I'd rather that NOT be necessary and would prefer to see TMDb extend their own policies to account for the state of indie filmmaking and distribution that's been proliferating for *checks watch* the last ~15 years.

[@TySPAID]

This is wild, I had no idea this was even a thing. Thank you for shedding some light on this and sharing your experience!

[@RobbsHomemadeLife]

Years ago when eBay first started I was selling a book in digital form on a floppy disk and eventually eBay removed my listing and said I could no longer sell it because it was not a book it was just a collection of information. That made me so angry I ended up going to Office Depot and printing out the pages and a cover then stapling it with an industrial stapler to make it into a paperback book which state were happy to let me sell. Don't give up.

[@woolsey_pictures]

it is so fucking gratifying to finally hear someone give voice to this. i have been stonewalled by this exact same freak on several occassions. dumped over a year of my life and 6k into my first short only to have it be discarded for not getting festival play. have tried to raise the flag to friends and colleagues to no avail. it is also worth noting that the discovery aspect of letterboxd is a huge avenue that myself and countless others on the platform use to find new movies. and in gatekeeping smaller films in the name of some budgetary puritanism, they are actively keeping those films and filmmakers from ever being able to be exposed to new audiences. i wouldnt know about so many obscure and fantastic movies and directors i now hold dear without falling down those weirdo letterboxd rabbit holes. and it drives me up the wall to know my work could not be discovered in the same fashion. so thank you, for saying something. maybe the needle moves as a result, maybe it doesnt, but youve finally said what a shit ton of people have been bemoaning for years.

[@supercococaleb]

I just stumbled across your comment explaining this below one of your movies just a couple days ago. I went to letterboxd expecting to find all of your movies and was confused to find so many missing. This is so ridiculous.

[@ABurst0fSunshine]

You know if this moderator was around in the 90s he would have shot down all of the awesome indie films from that era. Like seriously, what's different between something like Drowing in Potential and Slacker? Both are smart, well-made, low budget classics. If it's well understood that Slacker has artistic value and is a "real" movie, the same should hold for the indies of today

[@grape_salad]

Glad you spoke on this Joel! I'm an indie musician, and over the last decade-plus I've seen a huge shift in attitudes towards independent music - 'bedroom pop' is a genre now, and more artists are gaining access to the basic tools they need to make their art (and studios full of expensive equipment are no longer 'necessary' to make it). The industry is far from perfect (some people still see artists on streaming services like Spotify as more 'legitimate' than those that release on other platforms, and major labels still take the biggest slice of the pie), but it's baffling to see the shift in attitude in music circles and then compare that to the elitist/exclusionary/antiquated perspectives of moderators at TMDB. Imagine if sites like LastFM, Discogs, or RateYourMusic only allowed submissions by artists with Wikipedia pages? Imagine if those sites only allowed submissions by artists that have a certain # of streams on Spotify? Keep fighting the good fight!

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

Wonderfully put, the democratization of the tools to make music and release is a beautiful thing. Film is there too, perhaps it’s less obvious. Thanks for sending Letterboxd an email.

[@dadapotok]

freeform descriptive tags by Last FM users are the single best thing that ever happened to the music search in the history of the digital search that i know of. How come "Cambodian", "choir" or "female vocals" are any less relevant than something being "metal" or "pop" lol. I never ever cared about which musician landed a deal with what label in my life. Well, ninja tune, PAN, Mille Plateaux or Raster-Notion still matter just a little, but yeah, it's not like bandcamp-only, soundcloud-only or "that local band on a local indie fest i visited years ago and then saw disbanded" was not music, it were if anything but the best things i've ever heard.

[@Flippo___]

and even on the other side, he removes advertisements as well (though some he likes get an exception). you cannot tell me that Ridley Scott's 1984, created for Apple, is not only an amazing short film but a great adaptation as well.

[@urbaneblobfish]

Moderators are universally awful across the internet. The sliver of power that comes over being a chronically online overlord over a niche corner of the internet corrupts some people's minds lmao.

[@zedudli]

I agree, cat videos should be on letterboxd, whatever that is

[@holyflutterofgod]

more like LITTERBOXD

[@owenhuyge]

I'm sorry Joel, this is infuriating. Letterboxd needs to address this and TMDB needs to fire their loser moderator.

[@jessesfilms1269]

agreed plus its really difficult to add a poster to your film on Letterboxd because of tmdb it just won't let you add a poster for some reason. for me anyway

[@HyperKryst]

When Joel mentioned that the guy is literally upkeeping the porn on the website sent me

[@ZackarySmigel]

Hearing this upsets me too. It should be easier to get your film on websites like letterboxd not harder. That's the whole point. If people don't like it, they'll review it accordingly. It's not the moderators job to determine what is classified as a movie. So dumb.

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

Exactly, they would be losing nothing by allowing these movies on TMDB. It’s a power trip plain and simple.

[@bornassassin9630]

Joel your carrer has substance, and your platform has uplifted an unprecedented number of people. People who are ungreatful, unsocial, meddling, Malicious, and Aggressive. Act the way they are out of ignorance.

[@WHITEPERSUAS1ON]

Love the Dogme 95 mention! Made one in college and it was a great expernice

[@deannickname]

the moment they deleted 'Patrick Goes to Jollibee' from Letterboxd we failed as a society

[@c_hoffrun7020]

My name is Caleb, and your movie about "Caleb" struck me so hard I bawled my eyes out. My mom "kicked" me out of her life, she was religious and I was rebellious... all I want is my mom to welcome me back into her life and only within the past year have we been able to talk because she's now been through some "real" stuff. The line "it's from Mom, come home." will forever sit in my soul...

[@horatiuromantic]

Gatekeeping sucks and I had this convo with some musicians recently - it happens in all art forms. It's great that you're still making movies in spite of The Man not recognizing them. They'll come around later on, when they're catching up with history, and they'll continue to have no shame, it's just how it is. Hopefully other people will also be able to keep creating in spite of the gatekeeping nonsense. As for fighting this fight, I feel like it's unfair but you're one of the best suited for this fight, because you have indisputably high quality movies, you're independent and at the center of this movement, and also have a fairly big following to back you up. There's little chance someone like 2019 Joel could really make a dent in the system, but there's better chances for Angry 2024 Joel. So thanks for fighting and good luck!

[@SofaPop.]

Hi, director of the Adventure’s of Chuck and Warren films here. Me and my pal Charles have had nothing but trouble trying to get our films on the site. As a burgeoning director who uses Letterboxd more than any other app, it really hurts to see my friend struggle and fail to get our movies up for everyone to see and discuss. I myself had my self written bio deleted for seemingly no reason. Even if It’s because I’m not in “actual movies”, that is factually untrue, as I was an extra like 10 years ago. The way TMDB is being controlled is ten times more unprofessional than the random bullshit comedies we spent 3 hours shooting.

[@NickOwens]

So glad to see you finally addressing this in a video, sticking up for independent filmmakers. TMDB is really a blight on low budget art.

[@NickOwens]

Turns out they even added a point in the content guidelines to specifically justify removing the work of influential photographic artist Eadweard Muybridge, which is just sickening.

[@2025Productions]

Hi Joel! Someone actually brought this up in Patrick Willem's discord server(now a deleted user, didn't mention their film or name unfortunately) so you're definitely not alone in this.

[@KenjiMcGuire]

I’m always frustrated by stuff like this, and I always come back to the same question: how does TMDB even define a movie? Does it have to have a certain budget? Does it have to been distributed in theaters? What about straight-to-DVD movies? What about straight-to-streaming? Does it have to be a certain length? Does it have to have a certain amount of crew members? It’s so arbitrary and opinionated and inconsistent. It really seems that TMDB just does not value films released on KZbin. El Mariachi, Who Killed Captain Alex, Primer, Chan is Missing, Shadows, etc had productions/budgets very similar to your movies, but do those count as movies because they received distribution? Or is it because they weren’t made by filmmakers on KZbin? Side note: they have such a dumb and inconsistent rule for TV shows. TV shows are removed all the time, but Twin Peaks is allowed for some reason. They have these rules in place but made arbitrary exceptions when they feel like it.

[@KnuckleHunkybuck]

The thing I find most confusing is what the actual purpose of the database is if it isn't to simply be a list of every movie ever made along with all available relevant information on each movie. What useful function is a database that's specifically and intentionally incomplete?

[@forestfilms472]

Hello Joel normally I don't watch your videos but a friend recommend this to me (I believe that he left a comment here but I digress). This fella has removed my films and my friends films and its very infuriating and discouraging to young aspiring filmmakers like myself. This is a serious issue and thank you for making this video.

[@Guyzo997]

Also the movie database website is extremely unfriendly in terms of mobile user interface

[@chelosoyyo5099]

I was surprised to see some of the recent movies removed but the goodlongpee movie was still up.

[@marvellousm]

I hate this, these gatekeepers just ruin platforms. It's so frustrating

[@BenFilmsArt]

This has also been very frustrating for me. Recently all my films were removed and don't even appear on Letterboxd anymore.

[@markschonfeld2241]

I'm reading "Our Band Could Be Your Life" right now about the rise of independent music in the 80s as a reaction to the commercialization of the 70s. The second chapter is on Minutemen who had a very strong working class "econo" philosophy to their art, touring, and performances. I think there's a lot of overlap with your philosophy and some of these obstacles you are describing! Highly recommend the book although I'm only on chapter 3 so far

[@ricebrown1]

There's only one option. Start an LLC and start publishing your friends movies.

[@FishboneINK]

Weird. I joined TMDB specifically to update PsychOdyssy and Developing Hell, two video game docuseries that as far as I know were exclusively released on youtube. And they're still up. Why would those not fall under the same criteria as Joel's movies?

[@Slimeboy-gb2di]

Here's an idea, from now on why not submit all your films to the most obscure tiny film festivals you can find? Surely one of them would accept your movie. That way, you wouldn't be joining in with the film festival route that you're trying to avoid but the mods could no longer say that the film hadn't played at a festival.

[@thereliablesource7938]

I really respect your 12 viral videos in 12 months challenge. Keep it up!

[@em4nuelis]

Hi, Joel. I believe I saw you in Edinburgh and I could not bring myself that evening to thank you for fighting for this specific thing. It is so nice to see you actually posting a video about this problem. TMDb is such an annoying platform to use. While posting my short films I was so afraid they could also be split into multiple accounts due to the bans (just because I did not, again - by choice, participate in any festivals or anything). So yeah, thank you so much for the words and for inspiring me.

[@ethanpierce2014]

Funny to see you specifically talk about this as a few years back I tried adding “this video goes INSANEO STYLE” to TMDB so I could rate it on LB (still my favorite thing you’ve ever made, genuine masterpiece in my mind) and it got taken down by this guy. Also had almost all of my own stuff taken down (everything except my crappiest short film).

[@jamerstime]

Sounds like you need to open up a Joel Haver film festival to bypass these rules

[@timmiller1]

I was thinking the same thing. Then I suppose the guy would become an arbiter of film festivals as well.

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

@@timmiller1 We’ve joked about exactly that and realized he absolutely would add a “no new festival” clause

[@ElvenSonic]

@@joeltalksaboutmovies Have you/someone you know directly asked him before if you started a film festival like this if it would count? Because while I’m sure you’re right, you never know. The guy counts cheap, exploitative porn dvds as movies after all.

[@yifun6187]

this is the plot of a nathan for you episode lol

[@Jeffool]

​@@joeltalksaboutmoviesOr, conversely, if you want to play his game, find a small publisher to issue DVD/Blu-Ray version. I'm sure some people would like offline copies, both for posterity and as a way to support you and get something for it.

[@NathanaelNewton]

A minute or two in and I'm just now realizing this isn't going to be a video about aspect ratios

[@ayeg-dp5to]

we're behind you joel! keep fighting for the right to ART!!!

[@MegInWhispers]

Completely agree with you Joel. FIX IT, LETTERBOXD!

[@nickl2854]

How do gatekeepers not cringe at themselves constantly, I’d lose my mind if I was them

[@johnrivers3813]

Because they honestly believe they're doing the right thing

[@rumfordc]

because they're paid to gatekeep, duh.

[@johnrivers3813]

​@@rumfordcfrom what I've learned a majority of moderators don't get paid even for big websites. It's usually on a volunteer basis which is probably why they're reluctant to remove him

[@rumfordc]

@@johnrivers3813 They're not paid by the platforms they moderate, they're paid by public relations firms and they then work hard to "independently" become moderator of whatever site they're targeting.

[@non_brewed_condiment]

this is the best "angry" outfit I've ever seen

[@defnotkevin]

I like being able to log your stuff on letterboxd alongside the big budget studio stuff, there's no reason for the gatekeeping from tmdb

[@bccronin25]

Just keep doing you. You make great films, and some movie rating/sharing website can't take that away from you. We all see and appreciate the hard work you put into these films regardless if some website moderator doesn't.

[@dannyfunnyshet2586]

This was dope. and also hilarious. We've gotta fight our way through but you really are paving the way one battle at a time so that filmmakers can be recognized even without all the big resources.

[@williambulger854]

Thank you man, I am in my second semester of college as a film major and recently I have been struggling to fit in because a bunch of the other film majors who can be very judgmental of other people's taste in film and this just reminded me to just make what I want to make so thank you

[@rohanimations]

If lineker from tmdb has no enemies i have left this planet

[@_charlier]

Time to go full Nathan Fielder and make your own film festival to work around TMDB’s asinine requirements

[@NYCIndieFilmmakerSujewa]

that would be hilarious. "websites are not taking my movies seriously, so I made this super elaborate project to defeat them." - in NF type voice :)

[@Av3rag3Cadav3r]

Joel is just someone's grandfather who reincarnated with all his memories intact

[@jesusmahman]

Joel you (and your colleagues') movies have more artistic merit than a lot of consumerist media pushed out nowadays. I think you know that deep down, but I hope you and others get more of the recognition and respect ya'll deserve.

[@waywardlaser]

It's so weird how some stuff isn't allowed on there, and yet there's just countless random KZbin videos you can log.

[@kurekureci]

This really calls for some open source movie database with proper UI and a modern API

[@indiefilmmovies]

Publicity is a business, and movie databases are an element of the gatekeeping in the film industry. We had a movie removed from Letterboxd. Meanwhile it's still streaming on a couple Roku apps. Go figure. Indie filmmakers need to support each other and you do a great service to uplift your talented friends and shoutout worldwide filmmakers that you've enjoyed. Thanks Joel

[@MattH039]

Just wanna say I've never watched a 'viral video' with my friends on movie night, but we've seen many of Joel's films.

[@GaryOPostle]

I remember being surprised that there are tv shows on there like Maniac and episodes of Black Mirror

[@thekingsome8573]

My friends an I made a film for the Oscars thing in 2022 (The Woods: Man’s Natural Enemy) and they took it down from Letterboxd literally a year later. I stopped trying to get my stuff on there because they always take it down.

[@lilbobross4626]

I appreciate your efforts in bringing us all art, thanks for all the fish.

[@DecentlyWeaKo]

This happened to me a year ago as well. I tried to get my two short films Nico & Emilio get some Mcdonald’s and The Untitled Sequel only to get them deleted off of TMDB, so I had to re enter them into the Database and now have two versions of the short films on Letterboxd, one where I’m credited, and one where I’m not. This so stupid and utterly ridiculous Especially for Joel Haver who has become one of the most inspirational filmmakers in the modern day! We’re all sorry Joel, you don’t deserve this.

[@BrandonCourt]

It's indicative of a collapsing society where in this example, outdated ideas held by those who can only gatekeep; perpetuate a suboptimal experience for the masses. Like it's clearly holding the industry back from where it's inevitably heading.. But making a new platform is pretty daunting..

[@HollyHargreaves]

'Salty virgin' made me laugh.

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

I had to just this once haha

[@alrightbrainlessproduction4321]

Went through the same thing.

[@MonDiabolique]

Fuck'em Joel, lets make our own website for indie films

[@DannyReguinho]

Amen, Mr. Movies

[@Sabbatic]

In regards to why Letterboxd doesn't use IMDb, I remember reading that it was an API cost issue-that IMDb charged a lot more to use their API than TMDB does. What would it take to make a new database that would be too exhausting for Letterboxd? Not saying it's a small feat, but it's a major part of their site and they're a lot bigger now than they were before. This feels like something we could pool together a community effort for.

[@Sludge_Inc]

Imdb used to have forums/comment sections that were unhinged in the best way possible

[@yyalp]

joel, your passion for film is contagious! i have put up some of my short films on letterboxd but luckily never came across this particular moderator. it really sucks.

[@Watersurf]

I feel you man. I don't even bother putting my movies on another platform as they aren't "professional" or they weren't at a "film festival." I honestly enjoy YT movies way more than traditional films as they aren't held back by their producers. We are able to make stuff that we want on our own budget and not have to worry about appeasing the system.

[@andilengcizela]

Gatekeepers continue their unbeaten thousand-year streak of being the absolute worst. I hope this video gains more traction and that Letterboxd finds some other means of collecting their data. You're absolutely correct when you say that there are probably many filmmakers out there from marginalised communities or foreign nations whose films may never get onto a valuable marketing channel like Letterboxd all because this particular threshold guardian decides it. That such a man should have so much power over the work of artists is both frustrating and upsetting. How can the rest of us help? Is there an official email address or suggestion box we can use to send enquiries to Letterboxd?

[@joeltalksaboutmovies]

I believe they have a support email! I’ve reached out many times and totally understand that it’s a big ask for very little perceived gain on letterboxd’s behalf. At the very least if they allowed independent submissions directly to their platform, at least starting with feature length stuff, it could circumvent these headaches.