How to Cite a Film or TV Show in Any Style

You’re writing about a specific scene for a media studies paper, or citing a documentary as evidence in a research project, and the citation rules suddenly split three ways depending on what you’re actually watching. A whole feature film cites differently from a single episode of a series, and a series cites differently depending on whether you streamed it or watched it broadcast live – the “container” a TV episode sits inside (the series, the network, the platform) adds a layer that a standalone film doesn’t need.

This guide covers a feature film in all six major citation styles, then walks through how the format shifts for a single TV episode.

Feature Film

Here’s the example we’ll use: a 2024 film titled The Long Thaw, directed by Simon Kaczmarek and distributed by Argent Films.

APA 7th Edition

Kaczmarek, S. (Director). (2024). The long thaw [Film]. Argent Films.

The director is treated as the author, credited with “(Director)” after their name
The title is italicized and in sentence case
“[Film]” identifies the format

MLA 9th Edition

The Long Thaw. Directed by Simon Kaczmarek, Argent Films, 2024.

MLA leads with the film’s title rather than the director’s name, since the film itself – not any single contributor – is usually the object of discussion
The director is credited as “Directed by,” a contributor role rather than an inverted author name

Chicago (Notes-Bibliography)

Footnote:

The Long Thaw, directed by Simon Kaczmarek (Argent Films, 2024).

Bibliography:

The Long Thaw. Directed by Simon Kaczmarek. Argent Films, 2024.

Chicago also leads with the title, matching MLA’s approach for films
The distributor and year appear in parentheses in the footnote, but as a plain trailing clause in the bibliography

Harvard

Kaczmarek, S. (2024) The Long Thaw [Film]. Argent Films.

The director functions as the author, the same role they play in APA
The format label appears in square brackets after the title, without italics on the bracketed portion

IEEE

[1] S. Kaczmarek, Director, The Long Thaw. Argent Films, 2024.

IEEE rarely cites films, but when it does, it follows its usual author-first, numbered pattern
The director’s role is spelled out directly after their name

Vancouver

Kaczmarek S, director. The Long Thaw [film]. Argent Films; 2024.

No periods in the director’s initials
The format label sits in lowercase brackets after the title, matching Vancouver’s website and lecture conventions

TV Series Episode

A single episode adds a layer that a standalone film doesn’t have: the episode itself, nested inside the series, nested inside the network or platform. Here’s the same director’s work, now as an episode titled “The Long Thaw,” season 3, episode 8, of the documentary series Frontline Dispatches, which aired on PBS on November 12, 2024.

APA:

Kaczmarek, S. (Director). (2024, November 12). The long thaw (Season 3, Episode 8) [TV series episode]. In Frontline Dispatches. PBS.

MLA:

“The Long Thaw.” Frontline Dispatches, season 3, episode 8, PBS, 12 Nov. 2024.

Chicago footnote:

“The Long Thaw,” Frontline Dispatches, season 3, episode 8, directed by Simon Kaczmarek, aired November 12, 2024, on PBS.

Harvard:

Kaczmarek, S. (2024) ‘The Long Thaw’, Frontline Dispatches, season 3, episode 8. PBS, 12 November.

IEEE:

[2] S. Kaczmarek, Director, “The Long Thaw,” Frontline Dispatches, season 3, ep. 8, PBS, Nov. 12, 2024.

Vancouver:

Kaczmarek S, director. The Long Thaw. Frontline Dispatches. Season 3, episode 8. PBS; 2024 Nov 12.

Notice the episode title moves into quotation marks (APA sentence case, MLA and Chicago title case) while the series title takes over the italicized “container” role the film title held on its own in the standalone example above.

Streaming vs. Broadcast

If you watched the episode on a streaming platform rather than during its original broadcast, swap the network for the platform name, and add the platform as a second container in MLA:

APA: ... In Frontline Dispatches. Netflix.

MLA: “The Long Thaw.” Frontline Dispatches, season 3, episode 8, PBS, 12 Nov. 2024. Netflix, www.netflix.com/example.

Cite whichever version you actually watched. If a show airs on a network and is also available on a streaming platform, you don’t need both – only the one your citation reflects.

Citing a Specific Scene or Line of Dialogue

When you’re referencing a particular moment rather than the film or episode as a whole, add a timestamp. None of the six styles have a formal timestamp rule for film, but the practical convention mirrors podcast and video citations:

APA in-text: (Kaczmarek, 2024, 1:12:40)
MLA: reference the timestamp in your prose rather than the citation itself: “At 1:12:40, the film cuts to...”
Chicago footnote: ..., 1:12:40.

If you’re quoting an extended line of dialogue rather than a single moment, the same block-quote length rules that apply to written sources apply here too – our guide to block quotes and long quotations covers exactly when a quoted passage needs to be set off from your own prose.

Documentaries

Documentaries follow the feature-film format above, with one adjustment: if the film has both a director and a separate credited writer or narrator whose voice drives the analysis, you can credit the narrator as a secondary contributor in your prose even though the director remains the author in the citation itself.

When You Watched It on YouTube

If the film or episode you’re citing was uploaded to YouTube rather than watched through a streaming service or broadcast, use YouTube video citation rules instead – the uploader and channel take priority over the traditional director credit. Our YouTube citation guide covers uploader versus creator, timestamps, and channel handling in detail.

Citing a Still Frame or Screenshot

If you’re including a still frame from a film or episode as a figure in your paper, you need both a caption note and a full reference entry for the film itself, the same two-part rule that applies to any borrowed image. Our guide on citing images, figures, and tables covers the caption format each style expects alongside the citation.

Common Mistakes

Crediting the streaming platform as the author. Netflix or Hulu is the distributor, not the creator – the director remains the author in APA and Harvard.
Treating an episode’s citation like a standalone film’s. An episode needs the series as its container; a film doesn’t.
Omitting the season and episode number. Without it, your reader can’t locate which of dozens of episodes you’re referencing.
Using the streaming platform’s own episode numbering instead of the network’s original broadcast numbering, when the two differ (this happens with some anthology and international series).
Forgetting a timestamp when citing a specific scene. Without one, your reader has to watch the entire film to verify your claim.

For the authoritative word on how Chicago treats film and broadcast media specifically, The Chicago Manual of Style publishes its full audiovisual citation guidance online.

Try It with CiteTools

Film and TV citations have more moving parts than most students expect – director versus creator, network versus platform, film versus episode. Paste the title, director, or streaming URL into CiteTools.io and get a correctly formatted citation in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, or Vancouver, container logic handled automatically.