director

director · Recommended

Appears in

• Movie

What is it?

The person who directed the movie, TV show, or other media production. director identifies the creative lead responsible for the film's vision, distinguishing them from actors, producers, and writers. It is one of the most important metadata fields for any movie page.

Why this matters for AEO

Director names are among the most common movie search queries. When a user asks "who directed Inception?" or "list all Christopher Nolan movies," the AI reads the director property to return an immediate, verified answer. Structured director data feeds filmography construction, making it possible for AI engines to connect a director's body of work across multiple movie pages.

What the specs say

Schema.org: Person. A director of e.g. TV, radio, movie, video gaming etc. content, or of an event. schema.org/director

Google: Recommended. "The director of the movie." Google Movie docs

How to find your value

• IMDb — Director credit on the movie's main page
• TMDb API — crew array, filter by job: "Director"
• Wikipedia — Infobox "Directed by" row
• Film credits — Opening or closing title sequence

Format and code

director takes a Person object. For films with multiple directors, use an array.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Movie",
  "name": "Inception",
  "director": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Christopher Nolan"
  },
  "dateCreated": "2010-07-16"
}

Multiple directors (co-directed film):

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Movie",
  "name": "Everything Everywhere All at Once",
  "director": [
    {"@type": "Person", "name": "Daniel Kwan"},
    {"@type": "Person", "name": "Daniel Scheinert"}
  ]
}

Webflow implementation

Static pages

Add the director in the JSON-LD block in Page Settings > Custom Code:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Movie",
  "name": "Movie Title",
  "director": {"@type": "Person", "name": "Director Name"},
  "dateCreated": "2024-06-15"
}
</script>

CMS template pages

Create a plain text field for director name in your movies CMS collection. Reference it in the JSON-LD embed inside a Person object. For sites with a directors collection, use a reference field and pull the name dynamically.

In Schema HQ

Field mapping pulls director CMS field to the director property automatically, wrapping it in a Person object with the correct @type.

Real examples

Rotten Tomatoes (rottentomatoes.com/m/inception):

{
  "@type": "Movie",
  "name": "Inception",
  "director": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Christopher Nolan"
  },
  "dateCreated": "2010-07-16",
  "contentRating": "PG-13"
}

Rotten Tomatoes (rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_knight):

{
  "@type": "Movie",
  "name": "The Dark Knight",
  "director": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Christopher Nolan"
  },
  "dateCreated": "2008-07-18",
  "contentRating": "PG-13"
}

Related fields

• actor
• dateCreated
• contentRating
• name
• author

FAQ

Can director be an Organization?

No. Schema.org defines director as Person only, not Organization. Even for studio-driven productions, the director credit goes to the individual(s) who directed the film.

How do I handle co-directed films?

Use an array of Person objects. Each director gets their own entry with @type: "Person" and name. This matches how sites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes credit co-directors.

Does Google require director for Movie rich results?

Google lists director as Recommended, not Required. Movie carousel results can appear without it, but including the director strengthens the structured data and improves entity association in Google's Knowledge Graph.