How to Write a Movie Title in an Essay in APA (With Examples)

Here is how to write a movie title in APA: italicize it and use title case in your essay, as in The Shawshank Redemption. In the reference list, keep the italics but switch to sentence case, as in The Shawshank redemption. An APA movie title in text is followed by an author-date citation that names the director and the release year, and each title you cite needs a matching reference entry.

For example, you could write: Darabont (1994) shows how hope survives inside a prison in The Shawshank Redemption. The reference entry reads: Darabont, F. (Director). (1994). The Shawshank redemption [Film]. Castle Rock Entertainment.

This guide explains how to italicize and capitalize movie titles, cite one or several directors, add timestamps to quoted dialogue, and build the reference entry under APA 7th edition.

How to write movie titles in APA: key formatting and citation rules

A movie’s title, its in-text citation, and its reference entry each have a specific format. Follow these rules when discussing a film in your essay.

Italicize movie titles

Italicize the full movie title wherever it appears in your paper, including the reference list. Leave surrounding punctuation in regular type unless it belongs to the title.

Example: The film Jurassic Park explores the consequences of genetic engineering.

An APA movie title in text does not need quotation marks. Use quotation marks when quoting dialogue from the film.

Use the director and year in in-text citations

APA treats a film’s director as its author. Cite the director’s last name and the film’s release year when analyzing or paraphrasing material from the movie.

• Parenthetical citation: The film presents scientific ambition as a source of danger (Spielberg, 1993).
• Narrative citation: Spielberg (1993) explores the risks of commercializing scientific discoveries in Jurassic Park.

The movie title helps readers identify the work you are discussing. The author-date citation connects your analysis to the reference entry. You can include the title in your sentence and place the citation after the claim it supports.

Format citations for multiple directors

For a film with two directors, include both last names in every in-text citation. Use an ampersand in parentheses and “and” in narrative citations.

• Parenthetical citation: In The Big Lebowski, a case of mistaken identity draws the central character into a kidnapping scheme (Coen & Coen, 1998).
• Narrative citation: Coen and Coen (1998) use mistaken identity to set the plot of The Big Lebowski in motion.

For a film with three or more directors, use the first director’s last name followed by “et al.” and the year in the in-text citation. In the reference entry, list all directors when there are up to 20.

Add a timestamp when quoting dialogue

A direct quotation from a movie needs a timestamp showing when the quoted material begins. Use hours, minutes, and seconds.

Citation format: (Director’s last name, Year, HH:MM:SS)

Place quotations of fewer than 40 words in quotation marks, followed by the citation and the sentence’s closing punctuation.

For quotations of 40 words or more, begin a block quotation on a new line, indent the entire quotation half an inch, and double-space it. Omit quotation marks and place the citation after the quotation’s final punctuation.

A timestamp is optional for a paraphrase, but it can help readers locate a specific scene. Use the timestamp from the version of the film you watched.

To see timestamps and citations used in a full paper, look at this film analysis paper example.

Create the movie’s reference entry

Include a reference entry for each film you cite. Use the director’s name, the director’s role, the release year, the title in sentence case, the description “[Film],” and the production company.

Template:

Director’s last name, Initials. (Director). (Year). Movie title in sentence case [Film]. Production Company.

Example:

Spielberg, S. (Director). (1993). Jurassic Park [Film]. Universal Pictures; Amblin Entertainment.

Jurassic Park retains its capitalization because it names the fictional park. Sentence case preserves proper nouns.

For multiple directors, put “(Directors)” after the names. Separate multiple production companies with semicolons.

A standard movie reference does not require the streaming platform where you watched it or a URL. Use a half-inch hanging indent for each reference entry and double-space the reference list.

Writing movie titles in APA-style essays: capitalization

APA uses title case in the body of your essay and sentence case in the reference list. Apply these capitalization rules whenever you write a movie title. 

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Use title case in your essay

When mentioning a movie in a sentence, capitalize:

• The first word of the title and subtitle, including an article such as “A” or “The.”
• Major words, including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
• Words of four letters or more, including prepositions such as “With,” “From,” and “Under.”
• The major parts of hyphenated compounds, as in Spider-Man.
• Proper nouns, including names of people and places.

Lowercase articles and short conjunctions and prepositions, such as “a,” “the,” “and,” “of,” and “in,” when they occur within the title. A short verb still takes a capital letter, as in “Is” or “Be.”

Examples in essay text:

• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Use these rules even when a movie poster or logo displays the title in all capital letters.

Use sentence case in your reference list

In a film reference, capitalize the first word of the APA movie title, the first word of the subtitle, and any proper nouns. Keep the movie title italicized.

In The Shawshank Redemption, Shawshank is the prison’s proper name. The title therefore keeps the same capitalization in both locations.

The bracketed description “[Film]” follows the title in regular type. The production company’s name also appears in regular type and retains its usual capitalization.