How to Cite a Documentary in APA
How to Cite a Documentary in APA
In APA 7th edition, a documentary is cited like any other film: director as author, year in parentheses, italicized title, format in brackets, and the production company or streaming platform as the source. That's the whole formula. The tricky part is knowing which name goes where when Netflix made it, Ken Burns directed it, and PBS aired it first.
The Basic APA 7 Format
Here's the reference-list template for a documentary:
Director, D. D. (Director). (Year). Title of documentary [Film]. Production Company.
Note the capitalization. Only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns get capitalized. Everything else stays lowercase, even if the DVD cover shouts it in title case.
Worked Example
Say you're citing Won't You Be My Neighbor?, the 2018 Morgan Neville doc about Mister Rogers. Your reference entry looks like this:
Neville, M. (Director). (2018). Won't you be my neighbor? [Film]. Tremolo Productions; Focus Features.
In-text, you'd write (Neville, 2018) for a paraphrase, or (Neville, 2018, 00:12:45) if you're quoting a specific moment. APA wants timestamps for direct quotes from audiovisual work, formatted as hours:minutes:seconds.
Streaming Platforms Change Things
If you watched the documentary on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, or Disney+, the platform usually functions as the production company or distributor. APA's rule: list whoever produced or distributed the work, not the platform you happened to watch it on, unless the platform is the producer.
Netflix Originals? Netflix is the production company. Same with Hulu Originals, Apple TV+ Originals, and Prime Video Originals. But if you watched Blackfish on Netflix, Netflix didn't make it. Magnolia Pictures did. So:
Cowperthwaite, G. (Director). (2013). Blackfish [Film]. Magnolia Pictures.
Don't mention Netflix at all. Where you watched it isn't part of the citation.
When It's a Netflix Original
Berlinger, J. (Director). (2019). Conversations with a killer: The Ted Bundy tapes [Film; documentary miniseries]. Netflix.
For a docuseries, add "documentary miniseries" or "documentary series" to the bracket so readers know it's episodic.
Citing a Single Episode
If you're pulling from one episode of a docuseries, treat it like a TV episode. Writer and director of that episode become the authors, and the series creators or executive producers move up to the series-level position.
Writer, W. W. (Writer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Year, Month Day). Episode title (Season, Episode) [TV series episode]. In E. Executive (Executive Producer), Series title. Production Company.
Real example, from Making a Murderer:
Ricciardi, L., & Demos, M. (Writers & Directors). (2015, December 18). Eighteen years lost (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In L. Ricciardi & M. Demos (Executive Producers), Making a murderer. Netflix.
No Director Credit? No Problem
Some older documentaries or archival films don't credit a director in a way you can find. Move the production company or the primary creator into the author slot and keep going. If nothing works, start with the italicized title.
The plow that broke the plains [Film]. (1936). U.S. Resettlement Administration.
In-Text Citations, Short Version
Paraphrase: (Neville, 2018)
Direct quote: (Neville, 2018, 00:34:12)
Narrative use: "Neville (2018) captured Rogers's philosophy in a single scene at 00:34:12."
For a docuseries episode, the in-text uses the episode authors: (Ricciardi & Demos, 2015).
Common Mistakes That Cost Points
Listing the studio you streamed it on instead of who made it. Netflix is a delivery pipe half the time, not a producer.
Capitalizing every word in the title. APA uses sentence case for reference-list titles. Your professor sees this one constantly.
Forgetting the [Film] bracket. Without the format descriptor, your reader can't tell if it's a book, article, or film. It's required.
Skipping the timestamp on direct quotes. APA 7 made this explicit for audiovisual sources. If you're quoting dialogue or narration word-for-word, the timestamp isn't optional.
Adding "Retrieved from" plus a URL. You don't need one for a film, even if you watched it online. The platform info in the source position is enough.
Quick Checklist Before You Submit
- Director's last name and initials, followed by (Director)
- Year of release in parentheses
- Title in italics, sentence case
- [Film] or [Film; documentary miniseries] in brackets
- Production company or Netflix/HBO/Apple if they produced it
- No URL, no "retrieved from"
- Timestamps on any direct quotes
Get those seven pieces right and you're done.