Inviting submitters to their submission page

Every filmmaker in a season has a private submission page where they can check what the judges will read about their film, fix it, and ask the judges two questions of their own. Those questions lock when the first creative judge files a scorecard on the film, so a filmmaker who hears about the page after judging has started has usually missed half of what it is for.

FilmScorecard can email each filmmaker their page on its own, as their submission arrives. Each season decides once whether it does, and nothing is sent on its own until somebody chooses. This guide covers that choice, when the email goes, Send to N now, the count that tells you how far it has got, what the filmmaker receives, and how it fits with the Email submission links button on the Submissions list.

Where it is

Settings → Emails (…/settings?tab=emails), on the Step 1 · First contact card. Its head carries a pill from the saved setting — Not decided, On arrival or Manual — and a Preview email button, then the sentence "Asks each submitter to finish their submission page." and two lines that describe the email:

Who gets it: "Every submitter, one email for each submission they entered."
What's in it: "A link to their submission page, where they add the tagline, synopsis, statement and poster judges read. Anything left blank earns no points."

Under the head are two rows: the setting, How it sends, then Sent so far, with the count and the Send to N now button. Until recently the setting was on the Submitter profile tab, now called Results.

A season that has not decided is also asked on its season overview — see Deciding on the season overview.

The tab opens for the same people as the rest of Settings — see Who can open it. The Email submission links button on the Submissions list takes the same permission — see Emailing the links.

How it sends

Choice	What it does
As each one arrives — "Each new submission gets it on its own, once it's in a category."	FilmScorecard emails each submission that arrives from now on, once it is in a category — usually within minutes. The pill reads On arrival. See When the invitations go out.
Only when I click Send now	Nothing goes out on its own: Send to N now is how the season sends it. The pill reads Manual.

A new season has neither selected, and its pill reads Not decided: nothing is sent on its own until somebody picks one. Once a season has decided, nothing takes it back to Not decided — you can only switch between the two.

The choice saves with Save changes on the bar that appears at the bottom of the screen as soon as you pick one — nothing happens while it is only picked. Saving asks for no confirmation.

Saving As each one arrives covers what arrives afterwards, not what is already there. When the season already holds submissions in a category that have not had the email, an amber line appears under the choice — "28 submissions already here in a category haven't had it. Only new arrivals get it on their own, so use Send now below for these." — and stays until you change the choice or send them. Nothing is sent for those submissions until you press Send to N now.

The choices have changed. As each one arrives replaces Automatically, which sent a set number of days before judging opened, and the When it starts sending day count is gone. A season that was set to Automatically now reads As each one arrives; one that was set to Only when I click Send now now reads Not decided until somebody chooses. How it sends was called Send it.

Deciding on the season overview

While a draft or open season is Not decided, its season overview asks the same question, for anyone who can change the season's settings:

How should filmmakers hear from you?

Email each one as it arrives I'll send them myself Preview the email

On a season you have not opened it sits at the top, under the Finish setting up strip while that is showing; once judging is open it is the first card in Needs attention.

Email each one as it arrives saves As each one arrives, and I'll send them myself saves Only when I click Send now — the moment you press it, with no confirmation.
The card turns into a note. "Each filmmaker will be emailed as their film arrives." — followed, when submissions already in a category have not had the email, by "28 submissions already here in a category haven't had the email. Send now on Settings → Emails sends them." — or "Nothing will be sent on its own. Send the emails when you're ready." Under it, Open Settings → Emails →; Dismiss puts the note away.
If a colleague chose first, your press changes nothing and the note reads "This choice was already made."
Preview the email opens the same preview as Preview email on Settings → Emails.
Once a season has decided, the overview no longer asks. Change the choice on Settings → Emails.

When the invitations go out

On a season set to As each one arrives, a new submission is emailed once it is in at least one category — usually within minutes. FilmScorecard looks for submissions due the email each time its background work runs, so:

A submission FilmFreeway brings in, or an import adds, is emailed as soon as that sync or import has finished, if it landed in a category.
A submission with no category waits. Give it one — Edit categories or Move on the Submissions list — and it is emailed within minutes. Until then the card counts it under Waiting for a category; see Sent so far.
There is no send date. The judging dates do not hold it back: a submission that arrives before judging opens, while it runs, or after it closes and before your Notification date is emailed all the same, in the version for that moment — see What the filmmaker receives. A season with no Judging opens date sends too, in the before-judging version with no date in it.
Once the opening date and time has passed on a season you have not opened, the email is held. New arrivals are not sent anything, because judges are offered nothing until you press Open judging, and an email sent then could only say judging is under way when it is not. The moment you press Open judging, the held ones go out, usually within minutes, in the judging-has-started version. Before that date and time, the season sends as usual whether or not you have pressed Open judging.
While your organization is suspended, nothing is sent on its own. The submissions it would have sent go out within minutes of the organization being reinstated.

Only when I click Send now and Not decided send nothing on their own.

Who gets one

On a season set to As each one arrives, the automatic send takes a submission when all of these are true:

It arrived after the season was set to As each one arrives, on Settings → Emails or on the season overview. Submissions already in the season at that moment are never sent it on their own — Send to N now reaches them. Switching to Only when I click Send now and back again starts over from the second save.
It is in at least one category.
Its page is open. A page is open while the submission is live — not withdrawn or disqualified — the season is not Completed or Archived, and its Notification date has not arrived; closing judging and releasing scorecards leave it open. The three conditions are set out in When a submission's page is open. A submission whose page is closed is never invited and is not counted.
Its submitter has never been sent it, by any route (below).
The automatic send has not taken it before. It tries each submission once.

A season that was set to Automatically before the choices changed has no "arrived after" rule: every submission in it counts, whenever it arrived.

Each submitter is invited automatically once, and only once. "Invited" means their page has been emailed to them successfully at least once, by any route:

the season's automatic send, as each one arrives;
Send to N now, below;
Email submission links on the Submissions list, or the Email button on one submission's Submission link card;
the filmmaker pressing Email me a new link on their own page.

So a submitter you sent a link to by hand last week, or who asked the page for a link themselves, is already invited — the automatic send and Send to N now both skip them.

Why only once. The invitation is how a filmmaker learns the page exists; after that, every email is somebody deciding to send one. The automatic send never reminds anybody.

The automatic send emails every submission it takes, whatever it is missing and whether or not a judge has started scoring it — since it takes each one once, passing one by would mean that filmmaker never hears. What the email says changes with the moment; see What the filmmaker receives. Email submission links on the Submissions list keeps two passes once judging is under way: it skips a submission a judge has already filed a creative scorecard on, and one with nothing missing. Each is on the submission's Audit tab as "Not sent: already being scored" or "Not sent: nothing missing" — see Emails on the Audit tab.

A submission already waiting in a send you started — Send to N now, Email submission links or one submission's Email button — is left to that send. If that send does not reach the filmmaker, the automatic send can still take the submission afterwards.

A submission moved in from another season keeps its invited mark, and so does one updated by a later import. Neither is invited again. A moved submission also keeps the time it first arrived, so one that was never invited is sent it on its own only if it first arrived after its new season was set to As each one arrives.

Sent so far

The card's last row, Sent so far, once the season has at least one open page:

112 of 140 submissions have been sent it

● 112 Sent. Emailed to the submitter.

○ 25 Not sent yet. New arrivals go out on their own. Any others wait for Send now.

○ 3 Waiting for a category. See them in Submissions

Send to 25 now Sends to the 25 submissions in a category that haven't had it.

The total is every submission whose page is open, with a progress bar under it: Sent is how many of those have been invited by any route, Not sent yet how many in a category have not, and Waiting for a category how many have not and are in no category. All three are measured when the page loads.
Waiting for a category shows only when there are any. Its link — See it in Submissions or See them in Submissions — opens the Submissions list showing only the submissions in no category. Neither the automatic send nor Send to N now takes them; once one has a category, a season set to As each one arrives sends it on its own, if it arrived after the season was set to that.

The Not sent yet line follows the saved setting:

It reads	When
"Nothing goes out on its own until you choose how it sends."	Not decided.
"Nothing goes out until you send it."	Only when I click Send now.
"New arrivals go out on their own. Any others wait for Send now."	As each one arrives.
"New arrivals are held until you open judging. Any others wait for Send now."	As each one arrives, on a season you have not opened whose Judging opens date and time has passed — see When the invitations go out.
"Everyone has it."	Nobody is waiting, in a category or out of one.
"Every submission in a category has it."	Nobody in a category is waiting, but some submissions are waiting for a category.

"Any others" are the submissions the automatic send will not take: the ones already in the season when it was set to As each one arrives, and any whose automatic email the mail service refused. They stay in Not sent yet until Send to N now, or a send of your own, reaches them.
Send to N now is there whenever anyone in a category is still waiting, whatever the setting, beside "Sends to the 25 submissions in a category that haven't had it." Only when I click Send now means "not on its own", not "never", and a Not decided season can send this way too.
With nobody in a category waiting, Not sent yet reads 0 and the button is gone.
With no open pages at all — no submissions yet, the Notification date has arrived, or the season is Completed or Archived — the row reads "No submissions yet." and there is no button. The count of who was invited is not kept on the screen after the pages close.

Sending now

Press Send to 25 now.
The dialog reads:

Send to 25 submitters now?

Each gets an email with a link to their submission page. Submitters already sent their link are skipped.

Send to 25 now Cancel
Press Send to 25 now. The dialog closes, the button reads Queued and is greyed out, the Not sent yet line reads "Sending now. Queued the time.", and "This takes a few minutes. You can leave this page." sits beside the button.

Who is sent is worked out again at the moment you press it, not taken from the number in the dialog's title — so anyone invited in the meantime, by any route, is left out.

The count does not move straight away. A submitter is counted once their email has actually left, which takes a minute or two for a handful and several minutes for a few hundred. Reload later to see the count catch up — a reload before the emails have gone draws Send to 25 now again.

Pressing it again before those emails have gone sends nothing twice. The submitters already waiting to be sent are left out, and if nobody else is waiting, the dialog answers "Every submission in a category has already been sent it, or is being sent it now." and stays open — press Cancel.

It sends whatever the setting. On a season set to As each one arrives it reaches the submissions the automatic send leaves out; on one set to Only when I click Send now, or still Not decided, it is how the email goes at all. Either way, the submitters it reaches are invited, and the automatic send will not email them again. It also sends on a season whose automatic email is held — in the before-judging version, with no date in it. It sends to every submission in a category that has not had it, whatever is missing and whether or not a judge has started scoring; see What the filmmaker receives. It never sends to a submission in no category — the Email button on that submission does.

What the filmmaker receives

One email, from "your festival via FilmScorecard", and FilmScorecard decides what it says — and whether it goes at all — at the moment it leaves, not when it was queued. Two things decide it: where judging has got to, and whether anything that counts toward the film's score is missing.

When it leaves	Something missing	Nothing missing
Before judging has started — before the Judging opens date, on a season with none, or on any season you have not opened yet, whatever its dates	Amber. Subject "film: two things to add before judging starts 10 October". Asks them to add what is missing before the start, so every judge sees it — saying they can still add it after — and their two questions before the start.	Green. Subject "film is ready for judging on 10 October". Asks them to check their page before judges see it, and add their two questions.
Once judging has started — you have opened judging and the Judging opens date has passed — with no creative scorecard filed on the film yet	Amber. Subject "film: two things to add while judging is under way". Asks them to add what is missing before judging closes, and their questions before the first judge scores the film.	Not sent by Email submission links ("Not sent: nothing missing"). The automatic send, Send to N now and a one-submission Email send it: green, "film is ready for judging", asking them to check their page.
Once a creative scorecard has been filed on the film — whatever the dates say	Not sent by Email submission links ("Not sent: already being scored"). The automatic send, Send to N now and a one-submission Email send it, in the judging-has-started layout — with no questions panel, because the questions are locked.	The same.
After judging has closed — the Judging closes time has passed — until the Notification date	Email submission links follows the two rows above — it skips a film a creative scorecard is filed on; the automatic send, Send to N now and a one-submission Email always send it. The judging-has-started version, under the same subject — "film: two things to add while judging is under way" — but its top line reads "Judging has closed", it opens "Judging for your festival and season has closed, and selections are still to come.", and it asks them to add what is missing "before selections are announced on 20 November 2026" ("before selections are announced" with no date set). The questions panel shows while no creative scorecard is filed.	Not sent by Email submission links. The automatic send, Send to N now and a one-submission Email send it: green, "film is ready for judging", under the "Judging has closed" line.
Once the page has closed — the Notification date has arrived, the season is Completed or Archived, or the submission was withdrawn or disqualified	Never sent.	Never sent.

No email says judging is under way before it is. A season you have not opened gets the before-judging version from every route.

On a season set to Keep its score as judged — every season is, unless somebody changed it — the list in the judging-has-closed version is the press kit as it stood when judging closed: a field the filmmaker has filled in since still reads Missing, and filling one in now moves no points. See Freezing the press kit when judging closes.

What every version holds, top to bottom:

A line naming your festival and season, with "Judging starts 10 October", "Judging is under way" or "Judging has closed" after it; then "Thank you for submitting film."
What the page is: "We're using FilmScorecard for our judging, so we've set up a private page for your submission using the details from your entry. Judges read your tagline, synopsis and statement from it when they score. It's private, not a public page."
What counts — or a request to check. With something missing: "These count toward your score.", a sentence naming what their entry did not include — "Part of your score comes from what's on your page, and a blank field earns nothing toward it." — and when to add it, then the list (below). Before judging starts that is a nudge, not a deadline: "Add it before Saturday 10 October, so every judge sees it. You can still add it after that." Once judging has started it is the close, and once judging has closed it is your Selections announced date. With nothing missing: "Please confirm your info is correct." and "Everything judges score came through from your entry."
Open your submission page, a button that signs them straight in, with the link printed under it, then their Access code and "Code expires in 30 days." — for typing on another device. The link names this email, so the submission's Audit tab can say the filmmaker opened their page from it. It opens the overview of their submission page with the press kit put first, when the submission has one — "Finish your press kit" or "Your press kit is complete" — and the Questions for judges tile highlighted while the questions are still open. See The press kit is what this is for.
What happens next: judging starts (or started), judging closes, "We email you when your results are ready…" after the close, and your Selections announced date. A date you have not set is left out.
Ask the judges two questions of your own, with two sample questions and when to add them — left out once a creative scorecard has been filed.
At the foot: a reply line when replies can reach you, a word about FilmScorecard, why they are getting it, and your organization's mailing address when you have set one.

The list, when something is missing, holds only what is missing — every row wears an amber Missing pill, and nothing the filmmaker has filled in is listed. Tagline, Synopsis, the statement (Director's statement or Writer's statement) and Poster each get a row when blank; then one row for every other field that counts toward the film's score and is blank, by its plain name — a trailer, a production budget, genres. A missing tagline is starred, with a note under the list that FilmFreeway has no tagline field but the filmmaker can add one at any time. That can include a field only your team can fill in, such as the budget or the screener: it counts, and it is blank. The count in the subject — "two things" — counts every Missing row.

"Counts toward the score" is your press kit's own rule. A field is missing when a press-kit item scoring it is still unmet; a season whose press kit is weighted 0 counts nothing, so its submitters always get the nothing-missing version.

The dates are in the season's time zone. Before judging, the email counts toward the start date and names it while it is still ahead; once judging has started it counts toward the close, and after the close toward the Selections announced date. With no such date — or, on a season you have not opened, a start date that has already gone by — it says "before judging starts" instead of naming a day.

It carries the link and code the filmmaker already has. Sending it again — by any route — keeps their earlier button and code working, and extends them. Replies go to the season's Contact email — on the Season tab's About this season card — or your organization's support address when that is blank.

The filmmaker asking for a new link gets a different, short email — "Your new link for film" — not this one. See Getting into your scorecard.

You can read this email yourself on Settings → Emails, with Preview email at the top right of the Step 1 · First contact card — see Emails your festival sends. The whole message, as the filmmaker reads it, is in Your submission page.

Changing things after it has started

What you change	What happens
Change the judging dates	Nothing about when the email goes changes — it follows arrivals, not dates. The dates decide only which version each submission gets, at the moment it leaves.
Move the judging start later, after emails have gone	Nobody is emailed again. The start date in the emails already sent is now wrong. If that matters, resend with Email submission links — which mails everybody you select, invited or not, as long as judging has not started.
Switch to Only when I click Send now	Nothing more is sent on its own. Emails that were already on their way when you saved still leave.
Switch to As each one arrives	Only submissions that arrive from then on are sent it on their own. The amber line under the choice counts the ones already there, which Send to N now sends.
Switch away from As each one arrives and back	It starts over from the second save: submissions that arrived in between are left to Send to N now.
Give a submission its first category	On a season set to As each one arrives, it is emailed within minutes — if it arrived after the season was set to that.
Press Open judging on a season whose email is held	The held ones go out, usually within minutes, in the judging-has-started version.

Which seasons send on their own

None, until somebody decides:

Every new season starts Not decided — a new festival's first season, or one made with Add new season.
A season started from another one copies its choice — see Season and festival actions. A Not decided season hands on Not decided, and the new season's overview asks again. A season set to As each one arrives hands that on, counting from the moment the new season was made: only submissions that reach the new season afterwards are sent it on their own. The Start a new season dialog does not show the setting; change it on the new season's Emails tab afterwards.
A season that was set to Automatically now reads As each one arrives, and every submission in it counts, whenever it arrived. One that was set to Only when I click Send now now reads Not decided, and sends nothing on its own until somebody chooses.

What it does not do

No list of who was invited. The Sent so far count on the Emails tab is the only figure across the season, and nothing on the Submissions list says it. Each submission's Audit tab does: every time its page was emailed — Sent, Failed, or Not sent and why, then whether it was Delivered or Bounced — and each day the filmmaker opened the page, with the email they came from. See Emails on the Audit tab.
No reminders. A filmmaker is invited automatically once. Anything more is somebody pressing Email submission links.
No preview with your own submitters in it. Settings → Emails previews the email with sample names — see Emails your festival sends.
A refused send is not tried again on its own. If the mail service refuses one address, that filmmaker gets nothing and is not counted as invited, and the automatic send does not try them again: they stay in Not sent yet until Send to N now, or the Email button on their submission, reaches them. Each try is on the submission's Audit tab as Failed; nothing else tells you. A message the mail service accepted counts as sent, even if the filmmaker's mailbox bounces it afterwards: the filmmaker stays invited and is not tried again. The bounce shows only on the Audit tab, as Bounced with the reason.
No choice per category or per submission. How it sends covers the whole season.
Nothing is sent to judges or to your own staff.

Messages

The message	Where	What it means
28 submissions already here in a category haven't had it. Only new arrivals get it on their own, so use Send now below for these.	Under How it sends, in amber, after saving As each one arrives	Those submissions were already in the season, so the automatic send leaves them. Nothing was sent; Send to N now sends them.
Every submission in a category has already been sent it, or is being sent it now.	In the Send to N now dialog	Every submission in a category with an open page has been invited, or is already waiting to be sent. Nothing was queued.
The invitations could not be queued. Nothing has been sent. Try again.	In the Send to N now dialog	The send could not be set up. Nobody was emailed and nobody's code changed.
This choice was already made.	On the season overview's card	A colleague chose first. Nothing was changed; the choice is on Settings → Emails.
You do not have permission to change this festival's settings.	In the dialog, in amber at the top of the card, or on the season overview's card	Your account cannot change this season's settings.
The change could not be saved. Try again.	On the season overview's card	The choice did not save. The card stays, so you can press again.

Letting submitters fix their own details — the page the invitation links to, from your side: what a filmmaker can change, when their page is open, and Email submission links.
Your submission page — the filmmaker's side, including the email itself in full.
Opening judging — the button that releases held invitations, and the banner that tells you a season is still waiting for it.
Season overview — where a season that has not decided how it sends is asked.
Festival settings — the rest of the Emails tab, the About this season card whose contact email receives replies, and the Dates card whose dates decide which version of the email is sent.
Getting into your scorecard — the button and access code the invitation carries, which are the same ones the results email will carry.
Emails your festival sends — every email FilmScorecard sends for your festival, this one included, with a preview.