Releasing one submission's scorecard

A season's scorecards open on the schedule chosen on Settings → Results — all at once, or, on As each submission is approved, one submission at a time as each one's judging is approved; see Releasing scorecards. When you want one submission out sooner than its schedule would send it, you do not have to wait: Release scorecard, on the submission's own detail panel, opens that one submission's scorecard now. This guide covers where the button is, who has it, what the card says in each state, the dialog and its email choice, what the filmmaker then reads, and what happens when the season releases later.

The season's release is unchanged by any of this. It still opens every eligible scorecard on its own schedule, and a submission you released early is simply already open when it arrives. On a season set to As each submission is approved the button still works — it is how a submission goes out before its judging is complete — and the schedule never releases, or emails, a submission you have already released.

A rank is not released by this button either. The filmmaker's positions — in the season and in each category — appear on their page only once the category's rank is released from the Awards screen, and read "Calculating" until then, whether their scorecard opened early or with the season.

Where it is

Open the submission from the Submissions list and go to the Settings tab of its detail panel. The second of its two address cards, Scorecard link, carries the submission's scorecard address with its Copy link button, and above the address one line saying where the release stands — and, when there is something to release, a Release scorecard button beside it.

Who has the button

Two things, both needed:

• The "Approve scorecards and resolve flags" capability — the same one the Review Queue runs on. Festival admins and coordinators have it by default; organization owners and org admins always have it; programmers and viewers do not. It can be ticked for a programmer on the festival access panel.
• Being somebody who can change the season. A viewer given the capability by tick still cannot change anything, so a viewer never gets the button.

Without both, the button is not drawn — not greyed, absent — and the card shows its line and its address like anybody else's. The rule is checked again when the button is pressed, so a stale tab is refused rather than obeyed.

Reading the released page is a different question, and a wider one: anybody with access to the festival can open the filmmaker's scorecard on their own session, viewers included — see Seeing what a submitter sees.

What the card says

One line, always, under the card's heading:

Dates are in the season's own time zone. A release whose releaser's account has since been removed reads with the date and no name: "Released 2 Sep 2026 · link emailed" — or, on a season set to As each submission is approved, "Released automatically on 2 Sep 2026 · link emailed", because the panel can no longer tell the two apart. A submission released automatically on a season that has since moved to another schedule reads the no-name line too.

The line records the release, not the delivery. "Link emailed" means the email was asked for at the release. Whether it actually went is on the submission's Audit tab, as "FilmScorecard sent the Scorecard ready email" — or "could not send" — with the address, when it was queued and sent, and Delivered or Bounced once the filmmaker's mail service reports back; see The Audit tab. If it failed or bounced, send the link again with the card's Email button, or the filmmaker can ask for a new link from their own scorecard page — see Handing over the link.

On a season set to open on a date, the pages open the moment the date arrives, but the line keeps reading Not released — with the button — until FilmScorecard's background work records the season's release, which can be minutes or longer. Pressing the button in that window is harmless: it records your release, and if you tick the email the season's own sending skips that submitter rather than mailing them twice.

Before you can release

Something scored, in any of the submission's categories. That means one of:

• an approved creative scorecard in any of its categories, or
• an approved technical review or press-kit card that counts toward a category's score — a category scored on that review now has a score of its own, before any judge has filed.

That is the whole requirement — the same one the season's release applies. Approval happens in the Review Queue, or by filling a scorecard in yourself, which approves as it files. What the Scoring tab shows under each category is the work that counts.

A full panel is not required. You can release a film with one of three judges in — or with none, on the strength of its technical review; the dialog tells you how far each category has got before you confirm, and it is your call.

What that filmmaker sees is the score as it stands, not a finished one. Each judge on the panel earns a share of the creative part, so a film with one of three judges in shows a third of what a finished panel puts there — 13 out of 100 where a full panel at that standard would reach 40, on a 50/30/20 season. The figure is real, it is lower than the film will end on, and it rises by itself as the rest of the cards are approved. Nothing is re-sent and no second release is needed. If you would rather a filmmaker never saw the lower number, wait for the panel.

A category with no creative judge in yet shows only what is in. Released on its technical review alone, a category's page shows that review's points as its score, reads "Not judged yet" on its Creative row, has no questions to list, and has nothing to buy until a creative scorecard in it is approved — see If no judge has filed in a category yet.

Releasing

1. Press Release scorecard.

2. A dialog opens, headed with the film's title:

   Release the scorecard for The Lighthouse Keeper?

   The submitter can open it from an emailed scorecard link. This cannot be undone.

   Drama Film · 1 of 3 judges filed — the score can still change Documentary Short · no approved scorecards — this section will not appear

   ☑ Email the scorecard link and code to c••••@example.test

   ☐ Include a promo code

3. Decide about the email — see The email is a choice — and, if you are offered it, about a promo code — see Including a promo code.

4. Press Release and email, or Release, or Cancel.

The dialog closes, the panel re-reads, and the card's line becomes Released 2 Sep 2026 by your name · link emailed (or · no email sent). The button is gone for good.

The submission's Audit tab records the release too: "Your name released the results", with one line under it on what the filmmaker can now see — "The final score is free to view. The full scorecards unlock at today's list price of $29.99 for the first category." for anybody with the View revenue and payouts permission — the price is today's list price for the first category — and "The submitter can now see their final score and unlock the full scorecards." for everybody else. A release made by As each submission is approved reads "FilmScorecard released the results automatically"; a release whose releaser's account has since been removed reads "FilmScorecard released the results". See The Audit tab.

What the category lines tell you

One line per category the submission competes in, in the same A-to-Z order as the Scoring tab, measured off the submission at the moment the dialog opens. The judge counts are approved creative scorecards; whether the section appears follows the filmmaker's page — a category with a score, or with an approved creative scorecard, has a section:

The lines are information, not a gate. Nothing in the dialog is refused for being incomplete.

The email is a choice

The checkbox — Email the scorecard link and code to c••••@example.test — starts ticked, and the confirm button's label follows it, so it always says what it will do:

• Ticked → Release and email. The scorecard opens and one results email is queued to the address on the submission, with a button that signs the filmmaker straight in and their access code printed under it. It is the same message the season's release sends — see What the filmmaker receives.
• Unticked → Release. The scorecard opens and nothing is sent. The Copy link button on the card behind the dialog is how you hand it over — a message, a call, a printed sheet — and the card's Email button sends the link and code later, for an owner or org admin.

On a season brought in from Film Festival Circuit whose organization has no mailing address, the dialog adds an amber line while the box is ticked: "Your organization has no mailing address, so submitters who haven't unlocked their scorecard won't get this email. Add one in Organization settings → Organization profile first." A filmmaker who has not unlocked is sent an offer, which must carry a postal address, so that email is not sent; the release itself still goes ahead.

The address is masked the way the filmmaker's own code page masks it: the first letter, four dots, the domain. The full address is one tab over, on the Information tab.

Either way, a code only ever goes to the address on the submission. Nothing you do here sends a code anywhere else, and for a filmmaker the address on the card opens nothing by itself — see Handing over the link.

Including a promo code

Under the email checkbox, owners and org admins may find Include a promo code — when one of your organization's codes is Active and covers this season. Tick it, pick the code from the Promo code list that appears, and press Release and email: the results email then offers that code. Untick the email and the promo choice goes with it — there is nothing for a code to ride.

The code is worked out for this filmmaker as the email is sent, and goes in only if it still works then; a filmmaker who has unsubscribed from your offers gets the email without it. Everything about it is the same as on the season's release — see Including a promo code.

A release by hand never takes the season's automatic code. The code an owner or org admin sets as Promo code, on the Step 2 · Scorecards ready card of Settings → Emails, rides only the emails a release sends on its own — a submission released automatically on As each submission is approved among them. Here it is the code you pick, or none.

What the filmmaker receives

With the email, the scorecard-ready email, usually within a couple of minutes: "Your scorecard from your festival is ready" — from "your festival via FilmScorecard", with their free final score behind a button that signs them in, their access code, your Notification date while it is ahead, and the full scorecard offered at its price. It is word for word the email the season's release sends — see What a submitter gets.

It says "Final decisions haven't been made yet", which is true however much of the season is still being judged. Replies go to the season's Contact email — on the Season tab's About this season card — when you have set one, and to your organization's support address otherwise. Pressing the button starts the sending straight away; the message leaves from FilmScorecard's background work rather than from your click, and the submission's Audit tab records it once it has gone.

Then, behind that button or that code, they read their own scorecard — locked, with the score free and the working behind it held back — exactly as described in What a submitter gets and, from their side, Your scorecard.

Three things read differently while the season is still unreleased:

• The score is what has been earned so far. On a film short of a full panel, the big number on their page is the shares of the judges who have filed plus whichever reviews are in, and it climbs on its own as the rest are approved. Their own guide says so — see If your scorecard arrived early.
• The rank card says so — once there is a rank to show. On an unlocked scorecard whose ranks have been released, the Season rank card carries one extra sentence — "This can still change while the season is being judged." — because the pool it is ranked in is every submission with a score so far, and more arrive as judging runs. The sentence disappears on its own once the season's scorecards are released. Nothing is hidden: the number is real, and shown. While the ranks are still held on the Awards screen the card reads Calculating instead, early release or not — an early-released film in a category that is still being judged will normally be in that state, since a rank cannot be released until every film in the category is fully judged.
• The purchase card promises "your season rank so far" where it would otherwise say "your season rank" — or "your season rank once it is calculated" while no rank for any of the film's categories has been released.

Paid access works at once, in every category with an approved creative scorecard. The purchase card, the price and the trip to Stripe are exactly as on a season-released scorecard, and so is comping — the Comp scorecard access button on the panel's Settings tab appears for an early-released submission on the same terms as any other. See Selling scorecard access. The organization's payout account still has to be finished before anything can sell.

A scorecard approved later joins on its own. A category with nothing approved at release gets its section the next time the filmmaker opens the page after something is approved in it; a fourth judge's scorecard adds to the score the same way, and a category released on its technical review alone goes on sale the moment its first creative scorecard is approved. No second release, and no second email.

Handing over the link

The address on the card is the page the results email opens, and it is safe to pass around: for anybody but you and your colleagues the page asks for the access code before it shows anything, and the code only ever goes to the submission's address. (The button in the filmmaker's own email signs them straight in; this plain address does not.)

The card's Email button sends it for you — the link and the access code, to the address on the submission, in a short "Your link for the film" message. It is there for your organization's owners and org admins, greyed out until the scorecard is released, and it asks first: "Email the scorecard link?", with the address it Sends to. It reuses the link and code the filmmaker already holds, so nothing they have stops working. See The scorecard link.

You can open it yourself, though, and so can anybody else with access to this festival: signed in, you are let through on your session with no code asked for, and you read the filmmaker's page as they read it, read-only, under a Viewing as staff pill. It is the quickest way to check what you have just released before the filmmaker does — and the strip above the page switches it to Filmmaker view, which adds the price, the checkout and Share as they will meet them, with nothing you press there taking effect. See Seeing what a submitter sees.

A filmmaker who opens the link before any code has been sent — because you released without the email, or because the message has not landed yet — sees the code page with this line under the box:

No code has been sent yet. Ask for one below and it goes to c••••@example.test.

Email me a new link, on that page, sends a link and a code to that address. It works whether or not you ever ticked the box. See Getting into your scorecard for the page as they see it.

Before the release, the same link shows a "Not available yet" page naming the film, its category, its SUB- number and the season, with one sentence: "This scorecard is not available yet. It opens once the festival releases it." No code box, no button. It is what a filmmaker sees if you hand the link over early, and what a released submission goes back to if every one of its approved scorecards is later withdrawn. It is what you see too, signed in or not: being staff does not open a scorecard that has not been released.

When the season releases later

The season's own release — on its schedule, or by hand on Settings → Results — goes ahead exactly as it would have:

• The panel keeps naming your release. A submission you released on its own keeps its "Released … by …" line; only the others change to "Released with the season on …". Its Audit tab keeps your release as its one release entry, too.
• Nobody already sent their results is mailed again. The season's sending skips every submission whose own release asked for the email — yours with the box ticked, or an automatic one on As each submission is approved — however long ago that was, even if the link in that email has since expired.
• Everybody else is sent their results, whatever other emails they have had. A filmmaker you released without the email gets the season's results email then — even one who has since asked for a new link on their scorecard page, or holds a code from a submission-page link you sent during judging. The one exception is a season set to As each submission is approved that is marked released with nothing left waiting, on its own or by Mark released: that sends nothing to anybody. Then the link is yours to hand over, or the filmmaker asks for a new link on their scorecard page.
• The results email reuses the filmmaker's link and code, so any code they already hold keeps working — see One link and one code at a time.
• The rank sentence goes. On their next load the caveat is gone and the purchase card says "your season rank". A rank that is still held on the Awards screen goes on reading "Calculating" — the season's release does not release it.

The season dialog's count of submissions with nothing scored is what it always was; early releases do not change it.

Things to know before you press it

• It cannot be undone. There is no un-release for one submission, exactly as there is none for a season — no button, no dialog, no support path back. The dialog says so before you confirm.
• It closes that submitter's own edit page, and only theirs. A filmmaker who was correcting their tagline, synopsis, credits or poster on their submission page loses it the moment you release — their next load reads "Edits are closed", with this release's date on it. Every other submission in the season is untouched. If somebody is mid-edit on something you want, wait.
• It locks the season's section weights, for every submission. Releasing one scorecard fixes how the season divides a score between creative, technical and press kit — the three shares on Settings → Judging become fixed figures from that moment, for the whole season and not only for this film. That is deliberate: somebody is now reading a score, and possibly paying for it, that a change to the split would move. Settle the split before you release the first scorecard. See Section weights.
• It releases the submission, not a category. A film in two categories is released once, with whatever is approved in each. A category with nothing scored has no section on the page until it does.
• The button is not on the Submissions list. There is no column, filter or sort for release, and no way to release several submissions at once. It is one submission at a time, from the detail panel.
• Opened from an award pool, the card shows the line and never the button. That panel is read-only; release from Submissions.
• If every approved scorecard is later withdrawn, the filmmaker's page goes back to "Not available yet" until one is approved again. The card's line goes on reading Released, because the release stands; the page returns the moment something is approved. Their edit page does not come back — it is closed by the release itself, not by what is approved.
• Treat the import that created it as final. A filmmaker who unlocks an early-released scorecard blocks the rollback of the batch it came from, exactly as after a season release. See A batch holding an unlocked scorecard is refused.

Messages

The dialog stays open on every refusal, so you are never left believing something happened.

Related guides

• Releasing scorecards — the season's release: the five schedules, the season-wide buttons, what each submitter is emailed and which submissions get nothing.
• Awards — where a category's rank is released, which this button never does.
• Opening a submission — the detail panel the Scorecard link card lives on.
• Seeing what a submitter sees — opening the scorecard you have just released on your own session, with no code, and what that page will not let you do.
• Letting submitters fix their own details — the submitter's edit page this button closes, and the four things that keep one open.
• Selling scorecard access — paid access and the comp, both available the moment a scorecard is released.
• Your scorecard and Getting into your scorecard — the filmmaker's side: the page, the rank caveat, the code box and the "Not available yet" page.
• Festival access — the capability the button needs.
• Festival settings — the section weights this button freezes.