Creating an account

Most people never need this page. Read Logging in first if someone has already told you your festival is on FilmScorecard.

If your beta request has been approved, you never need this page either. Approval creates your account for you, so there is nothing to sign up for: go to the log-in screen with the address you registered and a code lets you in — and if the account has not been made yet by then, the log-in screen makes it. See Requesting beta access and Logging in.

Sign-up itself is in a private beta. The screens below still exist and still work, but an address with no approved beta request is turned away at the moment you press the button. Anybody arriving from an invitation is unaffected: the invitation is its own permission, and the beta never stands in its way. Neither is a judge arriving from the Apply to judge button on a festival's public page while its judge call is open — see A festival's public page goes around it too — nor a filmmaker arriving from Save to your account on their own submission page or scorecard — see A submission's access code goes around it too. And a filmmaker pressing Keep it on their scorecard never meets a sign-up screen at all — see Keep it, on a scorecard, needs no sign-up at all.

Who needs to sign up, and who does not

Do not sign up if any of these is true:

• You sent in a submission to a festival that runs on FilmScorecard and only want to fix its details or read your scorecard. The link and the code in the festival's email are all of that, with no account. A festival entering your film does not create an account for you; if you want one, press Keep it on your scorecard, or Save to your account on either page. See Keep it, on a scorecard, needs no sign-up at all and A submission's access code goes around it too.
• A festival invited you as a judge or as staff. Your account was created with the invitation. Log in with the address the invitation arrived at.
• Your beta request has been approved. Your account is made for you by the approval, set up for the page you registered on — Festivals, Judges or Creators — if not before you reach the log-in screen, then the moment you ask for a code there. Log in with the address you registered.

Signing up in those cases only creates confusion: the account already exists, and the name and role you would type on the form are ignored. The log-in screen puts it this way: "If a festival invited you, your account is waiting, so log in with that email." Sending in a submission does not make an account, so unless you made one yourself, logging in with your submission's address sends no code.

That leaves almost nobody. During the beta the sign-up screens are what invitation links, festivals' public pages and Save to your account use, and little else: an address with no approved request is refused, and an address with an approved request already has an account waiting on the log-in screen. The rest of this page describes them as they stand, for invitees, for judges applying from a festival's page, for filmmakers saving a submission, and for the day the beta ends.

Judges a festival already invited should still log in rather than sign up: your account exists, so use the address the invitation arrived at.

The beta list, and what happens if you are not on it

Both sign-up screens carry a note under the form, headed This is a private beta:

Approved beta accounts are created for you, so log in with the address you registered. Request access if you have not yet, or log in if you already have an account.

On the sign-up screen, Request access opens the home page, where you choose A festival, A judge or A creator. On the host sign-up screen it opens the registration form on the Festivals page.

The check happens when you submit, not before. You can fill the whole form in; the address is checked at the moment you choose Create account.

The refusal

An address with no approved request gets one message, in amber, and stays on the screen:

This address is not on the beta list yet. Request beta access, or log in instead if you already have an account.

• Nothing is sent. No code email goes out, and you are not moved on to the Check your email screen. Nothing about your account, if you have one, has changed.
• Request beta access is a link. It takes you to the registration form for the card you chose: Festival Host to the Festivals page's form, Judge to the Judges page's, and Creator to the Creators page's. On the host sign-up screen it always goes to the Festivals page's form. See Requesting beta access.
• Everybody refused gets this exact sentence. Somebody who has never been here and somebody who already has an account get the same words, in the same order — and so does an address a festival has on a submission. It is not a hint about which of these you are: FilmScorecard never reveals which addresses have accounts, or which have entered a festival, on this screen or any other.

So if the message surprises you, work through both halves of it:

1. Try logging in with that address at /login. If the account exists, a code arrives and you are in. Sign-up was the wrong screen, not the wrong address.
2. Check the address. Your account is created on the one exact address your request was approved for. If you registered on a work address, log in on the work address.
3. Register if neither of those is it — or, if you are a filmmaker a festival has sent a submission page or scorecard to, use Keep it on the scorecard, or Save to your account on either page, instead.

An invitation goes around the gate entirely

If you reached the sign-up screen from an invitation link — from a judging invitation, or an invitation to help run somebody's festivals — the beta list is never consulted. The festival or organization that invited you is already in the beta, and their invitation is the permission.

You will notice two other things about that version of the screen: the role question is not asked, because the invitation already settled it, and the address the invitation was sent to is filled in for you. The agreement box described below is still there, because you are still creating an account. See Your judging invitation and Your organization invitation.

An invitation does not let you create an organization of your own. It puts you in the inviting festival's or organization's world and nowhere else. To run a festival yourself, your address needs its own approval as a festival host — see If your account is not approved yet.

A festival's public page goes around it too

A festival that has switched its public page on, with a judge call open, is treated as having invited whoever presses its Apply to judge button. That button takes you to the log-in screen, whose First time here? note then offers Create an account; choosing it opens a version of the sign-up screen that does not consult the beta list either.

• The account is created as a judge account. There are no role cards to choose from.
• Your address is not filled in — nobody sent it to you — so type the one you want to use.
• The note under the form is different: "Already have an account? Log in with that email instead." The private-beta note is not shown, because it would not be true here.
• After the code, you answer the four judge profile screens and land back on the festival's application form.

It holds only while the call is open, the festival's page is on and its organization is not suspended, and it is checked again when you press Create account. If any of the three has changed in between, the screen behaves as the ordinary sign-up screen and you get the refusal above. And it only works from that button: typing /signup yourself gets the ordinary screen. See Applying to judge from the page.

A submission's access code goes around it too

A festival that sends you your submission page or your scorecard has vouched for you, and the nine-character code in its email proves it. Save to your account, on either page, uses that proof: signed out, it takes you to the log-in screen, whose First time here? note then offers Create an account. Choosing it opens a version of the sign-up screen that does not consult the beta list.

• The account is created as a filmmaker account. There are no role cards to choose from.
• Your address is not filled in. Type the one you want to log in with; it does not have to be the one on the submission.
• The note under the form reads "Already have an account? Log in with that email instead."
• After the code, you are taken back to the submission's page, and from there to the screen headed "We set up Title from your entry", where Open Title makes your first project from the submission. Nothing is saved to the account until you press it. See Your first project.

It holds only in the browser where you typed the code, and only while that code is still the submission's current one, and it is checked again when you press Create account. If a new code has been sent in between, the screen behaves as the ordinary sign-up screen and you get the refusal above: go back to the page, type the new code and press Save to your account again. Typing /signup yourself gets the ordinary screen. See Saving a submission to your account.

Keep it, on a scorecard, needs no sign-up at all

A filmmaker reading their scorecard without being logged in, after typing its access code, sees a bar offering to keep it, with Not now and Keep it. Keep it goes straight to the code screen: no sign-up screen, no name, no role cards, no box to tick, and the beta list is never consulted.

• The code goes to the address the festival has on your submission, not to one you type. The Check your email screen shows it partly hidden, such as n••••@studio.co, and has no Change email link.
• Under the code boxes it reads "By entering the code, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy." The two names are links, each opening in a new tab. See The Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.
• If that address has no account, the account is made as a creator account. If it already has one, the code logs you into it and nothing about it changes. The screen reads the same either way.

It works only while the code you typed on the scorecard is still current. If the festival has sent a new one since, Keep it takes you back to the scorecard to type it. Where you land after the code is in Where you land after logging in.

Creating an account

The sign-up screen (/signup) is headed Create your account and reads "No password to choose. We send a code instead."

1. Enter First name and Last name. Both are required.

2. Enter your Email address — the address your beta request was approved for.

3. Under I am joining as, choose Judge, Festival Host or Creator (the card for filmmakers and writers). Nothing is selected to begin with — the line underneath reads "Nothing is selected yet. Pick one to finish." and Create account stays greyed out until you pick one. Once you do, that line tells you what happens next:

   Card	The line under the cards
   Judge — "Score films and write feedback on a panel"	A judge account stays inactive until a festival adds you to a panel.
   Festival Host — "Run a festival, invite judges, set the season"	Next you'll set up your festival once your host access is approved.
   Creator — "Keep your films and screenplays, and follow your festival entries"	Next you'll add your first project.

4. Tick I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The two names are links that open the documents in a new tab. See Agreeing to the Terms and the Privacy Policy below.

5. Choose Create account. The button reads "Creating your account..." for a moment.

6. You land on the Check your email screen. Enter the 6-digit code we emailed you and choose Log in. See Entering the six-digit code.

Logging in with that first code is what activates the account.

Choosing Creator here does not get you past the beta. The address still has to be approved, as for the other two cards. The ways a filmmaker opens an account without approval are Keep it on a scorecard and a submission's access code.

Choosing Festival Host here does not get you an organization either. The sign-up screen lets in any approved address, whatever role it was approved for, and the Festival Host card takes you to festival setup. But only an address approved as a festival host is shown the form there. An address approved as a judge or a creator is shown "Your account isn't approved to create an organization yet." with Request host access instead — see If your account is not approved yet.

If you were approved for the beta, use the log-in screen instead of this one. Once your account exists — set up for the page you registered on — the role cards here cannot change it: a code sent from this screen logs you into the account you already have, and the name and role you typed are ignored. But if the account has not been made yet, this screen makes it from what you type here, not from your registration — so a host who picks Judge on this form gets a judge account. The log-in screen makes it as the role you registered for. See What the page decides.

Creating a host account

Most hosts never need this screen: choose the Festival Host card on the ordinary sign-up screen and you are in the same place. But a separate email-only screen for festival organizers does exist at /host/signup, headed Create your host account. Nothing links to it — reach it by typing the address.

1. Enter your Email address. That is the only field — there is no plan to pick, no tier, and no card.
2. Tick I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
3. Choose Email me a code.
4. Enter the 6-digit code on the next screen and choose Log in.

This screen is gated too, and it has no invited version, so an address without an approved beta request is refused here exactly as it is on the ordinary sign-up screen. An approved host does not need it either: their account is created from the approval, and the log-in screen leads to the same place.

You land on festival setup. With a festival host approval, the Set up your festival form is waiting, where your organization and your festival are created together. With an approval for another role — your address was approved as a judge or a creator — the account is still made, but the setup screen says "Your account isn't approved to create an organization yet." and offers Request host access. The whole journey from here is covered in Setting up your festival.

The other way to the same place: on the ordinary sign-up screen, choose the Festival Host card rather than Judge. Its help line reads "Next you'll set up your festival once your host access is approved." — with a host approval you go to the setup form; without one, to the request for host access.

Neither screen is linked from the home page or the Festivals, Judges and Creators pages during the beta, and the approval email does not link to them either: it sends you to the log-in screen, because by then your account exists. Those pages end in registration forms instead. The home page's Sign up as a festival, Sign up as a judge and Sign up as a creator buttons go to those forms, not to these screens.

Agreeing to the Terms and the Privacy Policy

Both sign-up screens, in every version, carry one box above the button:

I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are links. Each opens in a new tab, so the form you have half filled in stays where it is; clicking a link does not tick the box. Tick it by clicking the box or the words around the links.

Press the button with the box unticked and this is all that happens: one amber sentence appears under the box, and nothing is sent.

You need to agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to continue.

No code is emailed, you are not moved to the Check your email screen, and the beta list is not consulted; that check comes after this one. Tick the box and press the button again, and everything you typed is still there.

Once you are through, the agreement is recorded with your account: the moment you pressed the button, and the version of the documents you agreed to. That happens at the first press, not when you enter the code, and Resend code on the code screen never asks again. What is recorded, what it means when the documents change, and what the documents contain are covered in The Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.

The log-in screen has no such box. Nor does the code screen, or the One question left screen below: none of them creates an account. The one code screen that does carry the agreement is the one after Keep it, as a line of text rather than a box — see Keep it, on a scorecard, needs no sign-up at all.

Under the form on every one of these screens sit four small links, Help · Terms · Privacy · Contact: these guides, the two documents, and the contact form, which is where to write if you are stuck.

The "One question left" screen

One short screen, headed One question left, asks the role question on its own. Almost nobody meets it now. It appears only when your account exists but has never answered that question — which today means an account created through Google before the beta began. An approved beta account never sees it: the page you registered on is the answer.

1. Check the name and address shown at the top. If it is the wrong account, choose Not you?, which logs you out and takes you back to sign-up.
2. Choose Judge, Festival Host or Creator. Nothing is preselected here on purpose; until you pick, the screen reads "Nothing is selected yet. Pick one to finish." and the button stays greyed out.
3. Choose Finish and continue.

Invited judges and festival staff never see this screen, and nor does a filmmaker who created their account from Keep it or Save to your account. What they are was settled when the account was made.

What choosing a role does — and does not do

Choosing a role here, or the page you register on for the beta, decides which screens you get. It is not a permission: nothing on either sign-up screen grants access to anything.

• A judge account does nothing on its own. Choosing Judge takes you straight into a short profile — formats, genres, a few words about you, and how much you can take on. See Setting up your judge profile. Filling it in does not put submissions in front of you: judging appears only after a festival adds you to one of its panels, and until then your judging home says exactly that. You can apply to a festival's open call yourself once the profile is done.
• A host account has no festival attached to it. Creating the account and creating a festival are two different steps — the second is covered in Setting up your festival — and the second needs your address to be approved as a festival host.
• A creator account lands on Your projects, where you keep your own films and screenplays. A festival submission reaches it only when it was entered under the address you log in with, or when you prove its access code with Save to your account. Until the account has a project, nothing joins it by itself: a waiting submission is shown first on the screen headed "We set up Title from your entry", and joins only when you press Open Title there. See Your projects.

None of the three gives you access to another festival's submissions, scores or submitters.

If the address already has an account

You cannot end up with two accounts on one email address. If you use a sign-up screen with an address that already has an account, the code we email you logs you into the existing account — and the name and role you typed on the form are not applied to it, because that account already exists. Nor is the box you ticked recorded against it: the agreement is recorded only when an account is created, so an account that has none on file does not gain one this way.

An approved beta account is this case once it exists, which is why the approval email sends you to the log-in screen: the account is made from your registration, and the sign-up form has nothing to add to it.

During the beta you will usually not get that far anyway: an address without an approved beta request is refused before any code is sent, whether or not it has an account. If you think you have an account, log in rather than sign up.

If you do get in this way and FilmScorecard still does not know what you do here, you will be asked on the One question left screen.

Changing your role later

Once the role question is answered — on a sign-up screen, or by the page you registered on for the beta — FilmScorecard stops asking, and there is no screen for changing the answer yourself yet. If you picked the wrong one, use the Contact link at the foot of any log-in screen, which opens the contact form, and tell us which one you meant.

Wanting to run a festival is the exception. Signed in with the account you already have, open /host/festival and press Request host access. Your account stays exactly as it is while the request waits, and once it is approved the same address shows the form that creates your organization. See If your account is not approved yet.

If a festival later invites you as a judge, coordinator or administrator, that invitation decides what you can do — it does not depend on what you picked here.