NOVEMBER 05, 2023
Chris Green
Image: An abstract example of verification and accreditation.
In every creative profession, your credits are your currency. They demonstrate a public record of accomplishment, the foundation on which your reputation rests. Consider how central IMDb has become to the film and television industry.
No comparable resource exists for creators. By creating a certified public record of your work—independent of who owns that work or where it's hosted—you establish yourself as a professional, whose skills have been validated by your partners in the creator economy.
Before the end of the year, the CGA will release the first iteration of its Creators Code of Credits, outlining the system and standards by which the guild will review submitted work and evaluate it for certification. It's a complicated problem—our system has to be able to encompass everything from influencers creating a brand activation on the part of a sponsor, to a Patreon user creating content for their subscriber base, to an entrepreneur creating an entire platform that serves as the basis for commerce and communication.
Likewise, the creation of a comprehensive database isn't the sort of challenge a team can complete in a week, a month, or even a year. IMDb wasn't built in a day, and neither will the CGA credit database. Making it work is going to require buy-in and patience from you, your fellow creators, your (current and future) backers or sponsors, and the creator economy at large. But when it's built, it will provide the living framework for a profession—not a hobby or a pastime—that its practitioners can learn, advance in, and achieve mastery of.
