How can movie list markup identify release dates and directors?

Definition: In Google movie carousel markup, put a movie's release date in dateCreated and represent its director as a nested Person object. Google documents both fields as recommended properties of a Movie object.

Key facts

• Google's Movie structured data documentation lists dateCreated as Date or DateTime and describes it as the date the movie was released.
• Schema.org's Movie type defines director with an expected type of Person, and defines dateCreated as a Date or DateTime inherited from CreativeWork.
• Schema.org's Person type describes a person and gives name an expected type of Text, which fits the name inside Google's director example.

How should release dates and directors be written?

Place both properties inside the object for each movie. For this Google feature, dateCreated carries the release date. Google's Movie structured data documentation accepts a Date or DateTime; its example uses the date value 2024-10-05. The field name comes from Schema.org, but Google's Movie documentation supplies the feature-specific meaning of a movie release date.

The director value is an object rather than a bare name. Set its type to Person and add the person's name. Google's example uses Bradley Cooper, while the Schema.org definition of Person makes name a text property.

{
  "@type": "Movie",
  "dateCreated": "2024-10-05",
  "director": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Bradley Cooper"
  }
}

How does this fit a movie list?

Google's Movie documentation uses JSON-LD with an ItemList, whose itemListElement contains ListItem objects. Each list item can contain a Movie object with its own name, image, release date and director. The same page also shows a separate summary-page pattern in which list entries point to details pages.

The Movie documentation marks image and name as required properties for the carousel object. It marks dateCreated and director as recommended properties. The director object therefore belongs alongside the movie's other properties, rather than being attached to the list itself.

What does Schema.org clarify?

Schema.org's Movie type lists director as a Person property and describes it as a director of movie or other creative content. Its inherited dateCreated property has a wider description: it is the date on which a CreativeWork was created or an item was added to a DataFeed. For a Google movie carousel, Google's documentation identifies the value to use for a movie as its release date.

The Person type defines a person as “A person (alive, dead, undead, or fictional).” It lists name as Text, so a director object can identify the person with a name string. The Movie type's expected type for director is Person, which is why a nested object is the documented shape.

How can you check the markup?

Google's implementation workflow says to validate structured data with the Rich Results Test and then use the URL Inspection tool to test how Google sees the page. The page must be accessible to Google and cannot be blocked by a robots.txt file, a noindex tag or login requirements. Google's troubleshooting section also states that features consuming structured data may fail to appear in search results, so valid field syntax is an eligibility condition rather than a display outcome.

Related terms

• Which image requirements apply to a movie carousel poster?
• Person structured data
• How does Schema.org validation differ from Google's Rich Results Test?

FAQ

Is dateCreated the page publication date?

For Google's Movie carousel documentation, dateCreated is the date the movie was released. The generic Schema.org definition is broader because it also covers the creation date of a CreativeWork or an item added to a DataFeed.

Should director be a text string?

Google documents director with the Person type and shows a nested object containing @type and name. Schema.org's Person definition gives the Person name property the expected type Text.

Does valid markup ensure a movie carousel appears?

Google presents the required and recommended properties as part of carousel eligibility. Its troubleshooting guidance says that features consuming structured data may fail to appear in search results.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Movie carousel structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "Movie", August 2026
3. Schema.org, "Person", August 2026

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