Information tools and sources which can provide authoritative or background information on a wide variety of topics or issues. They can be used for fact checking or to help you learn more about your topic. They often provide a good place to start building research or gathering information.
Entertainment Industry – General
Billboard (Magazine)
International newsweekly of music, video and home entertainment; profiles, commentary, album ratings, feature articles, marketing and reviews. “The world’s premier music publication”, serving the entertainment industry since 1894.
“Billboard.com features an extensive array of searchable, playable charts, breaking music news, artist interviews and exclusives, news, video and more…”
Broadway Licensing Global and its family of imprints (Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, and Stageworks) is the global leader in theatrical licensing and distribution
Canadian Women Film Directors Database
A bilingual research tool about Canadian women directors and their films. The Database contains (so far) information about 2,688 films (1920-2023); 6,334 bibliographic references; 2,534 quotations; and the names of 1,746 directors.
Criterion Pictures has developed an on-line digital delivery feature film platform called Criterion-on-Demand. Our goal is to provide easy access to educationally relevant feature films used in Canadian Higher Education Institutions.
The Film Reference Library (TIFF):
The Film Reference Library is dedicated to preserving Canadian cinema heritage and promoting cinema scholarship by collecting, preserving, and providing access to a comprehensive, non-circulating collection of reference resources, as well as film and archival materials — including the corporate archive for the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Academy Awards Database contains the official record of past Academy Award winners and nominees. The data is complete through the 2023 (96th) Academy Awards, presented on March 10, 2024. It offers a searchable database including statistics and acceptance speeches.
The “world’s most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content”
“Expand your network, showcase your best work, and build your career on IMDbPro. “
“provides free and easy access to moving image collections of film archives from all over Europe. Via the multi-lingual web gateway, film works can be searched for by content, filmographic data and physical characteristics. Search results provide information on existence and location of the materials as well as contact details to facilitate access.”
Focus is on non-fiction-material, such as documentaries, educational films, newsreels, travelogues, commercial advertising, industrial and much more. scientific, industrial, experimental, as well as animation films and more.
Promotes “the study of media history from petroglyphs to pixels.” Includes an excellent timeline of media history covering art, music, television, the Internet, and video games from pre-history to today, along with an article archive on media resources.
“A TRUSTED THEATRE RESOURCE SINCE 1884”. This website presents the latest news, information and tips related to Broadway.
An information site for actors, students, writers, etc., offering a range of resources. Established in 2012, the site offers resources for Acting Articles,Acting Resources,Useful Lists, Shakespeare Information, How to Guides, Acting Tips , and Let’s Talk Acting (Podcast)
An online aggregator of critical reviews for games, movies, TV shows, music, books and more. The website compiles and summarizes critical reviews by creating a “Metascore” for each product.
