On this page
Updated . Example details checked against Lady Bird (2017), written and directed by Greta Gerwig, released by A24.
The MLA format
Pattern
Title of Film. Directed by First Last, Studio, Year.
- Title first, unless your paper focuses on one person’s work. Then that person leads: Gerwig, Greta, director. Lady Bird. A24, 2017.
- Other contributors such as performers can follow the director: “performance by Saoirse Ronan.”
- Distributor or studio as the publisher.
- Streaming: add the service as a second container: Netflix, and the link if you have one.
A real example
Works Cited entry
Lady Bird. Directed by Greta Gerwig, A24, 2017.
In-text citation
(Lady Bird 01:12:30)
When details are missing
- No director listed: leave out “Directed by.”
- Citing a scene: the time stamp from the player, hours:minutes:seconds.
Common mistakes
- Quotation marks around the title. Films are standalone works: italics.
- “Dir.” MLA 9 spells out “Directed by.”
Or let Format do it.
Choose Film and fill in the title, director, studio and year, plus the streaming service if you watched it on one. Format writes the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation in MLA 9, exactly as shown above, and builds the Works Cited page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Which year do I use?
The year of release. A later re-release on disc or streaming can be added as a second container with its own date.
How do I cite a performer?
Add “performance by” and the name after the director, or lead with the performer if the paper is about them.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in MLA
Every source kind is on the MLA page, and every style is on How to cite.