FilmScorecardHelp

Working with an AI app

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Connecting Cursor

Connect Cursor, the code editor, to your FilmScorecard account through its MCP settings, then ask its chat about your festivals in plain words.

Once it is connected, Cursor can look through what your own screens show you (submissions, judges, scorecards, awards, judge pay and settings) and answer questions about it. It acts as you, so it reaches exactly what you reach and nothing more, and it can change only three things: a film's status, your own flag, and Priority. Everything a connected app can do is in Connecting an AI app.

Before you start

  • Your organization needs AI access. FilmScorecard switches it on one organization at a time. To check, open Your profile in the menu behind your name and choose the Connections tab: if Cursor's row offers How to connect, you have it. If the AI apps card says "AI access isn't on for your organization yet", press Request AI access: it opens our contact form with the request already written. See Connections.

  • Cursor installed.

  • The address. Every app needs the same one. It is already inside the file snippet below, and Cursor's steps on the Connections tab show the whole snippet with a Copy button beside it:

    https://www.filmscorecard.com/api/mcp

There is no key, token or password to copy anywhere. Cursor never sees your sign-in code: FilmScorecard gives it a pass of its own when you allow it, and you can take that back at any time.

Connecting Cursor

  1. Open Tools & MCP. Open Cursor Settings, then Tools & MCP, and add a new MCP server. Cursor opens its mcp.json file. Older versions of Cursor call the settings page MCP.

  2. Add FilmScorecard and save. Put this in the file:

    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "filmscorecard": {
      "url": "https://www.filmscorecard.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

    If the file already lists other servers, keep them, and add only the "filmscorecard": { … } entry inside mcpServers, with a comma between it and the one before. Save the file.

  3. Log in. Back in Tools & MCP, filmscorecard is listed as needing you to log in. Choose to log in. Your browser opens on FilmScorecard.

  4. Sign in, if FilmScorecard asks. If you are not signed in to FilmScorecard in that browser, you get the log-in screen first. Sign in with your emailed code as usual (see Logging in), and you come straight back.

  5. Check the request. The connection page asks whether to let the app in. It shows the app's name, with "wants to connect to your account." under it; Will act as, which is the address you sign in with; and It can, which reads "read and update festival data you already have access to". Make sure it names Cursor, the app you just added. If you did not just start connecting an app, press Deny, and nothing is connected.

  6. Press Allow. Your browser goes back to Cursor, and filmscorecard is connected in Tools & MCP.

To check it worked, open the Connections tab on your account screen: Cursor reads Connected, with the date you allowed it.

Using it

Ask about your festivals in Cursor's chat the way you would ask a colleague. For example:

  • "Which festivals and seasons can you see in FilmScorecard?"
  • "Give me an overview of this season's submissions and judging."
  • "List the films in this season that are still In Consideration."
  • "Mark these three films as Priority."

Cursor starts by finding your festivals, because every other question names an organization, a festival or a season. If you belong to more than one, say which one you mean.

It changes only three things, and a status move is always previewed first. Before any film moves between In Consideration, Selected and Not Selected, FilmScorecard shows Cursor exactly which films would move, and nothing changes until Cursor asks again to confirm. Each tool that changes something is marked as doing so, and Cursor can use that mark to ask you first. See Moving films between statuses.

A change Cursor makes is the same change you would make on the Submissions screen, made as you. Your colleagues see it on their own screens when their list next refreshes.

For more to ask, and habits that get better answers, see Using an AI app.

If something goes wrong

What you seeWhat to do
filmscorecard does not appear in Tools & MCP after you saveThe file has a mistake in it, most often a missing comma between two servers or a missing brace. Compare it with the snippet above, and save again.
filmscorecard still needs you to log inThe browser half was not finished. Choose to log in again.
"AI access isn't enabled for your organization.", with Deny and no AllowNone of your organizations has AI access, or you are signed in on an account that belongs to no organization, such as a judge's. Press Deny so Cursor stops waiting, then press Request AI access on your Connections tab.
"This connection request has expired or was already answered. Start again from your AI app."A request does not last long and can be answered once. Choose to log in from Tools & MCP again.
"This connection request is incomplete. Start again from your AI app."The page was opened from a bookmark or typed by hand. Choose to log in from Tools & MCP again.
"That didn't go through. Try again."Your answer did not reach FilmScorecard. Press Allow again. If it keeps happening, log in from Tools & MCP again.
Cursor says it was told "Too many calls in the last minute. Wait a moment and try again."Each person can make 120 calls a minute across every app they have connected. Wait a moment. See 120 calls a minute.
Cursor says it was told "AI access isn't enabled for this organization."AI access for that organization has been switched off since you connected. See When AI access is switched off.
Cursor says it was told "That needs … and your role doesn't include it."Your role does not reach that screen, so Cursor cannot either. See When the app is refused.

Disconnecting Cursor

  1. Open Your profile in the menu behind your name, and choose the Connections tab.
  2. On Cursor's row, press the amber Disconnect beside the connection.
  3. Press the amber Disconnect in the dialog.

Cursor is refused from its next request. To use it again, choose to log in from Tools & MCP, and FilmScorecard asks you again.

Taking the entry out of mcp.json removes it from Cursor, but FilmScorecard keeps listing the connection until you disconnect it on the Connections tab. To tidy up completely, do both.

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