# Issues your judges raise

> From FilmScorecard Help: https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/screener-problems

A judge who runs into a problem with a film has two ways to tell you, and
**the Issue tab on the [Review Queue](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/review-queue.md) is where both
arrive**:

- **Skipped** — the judge could not play the screener and **handed the film
  back**. Nobody is judging it, and until you do something the film sits with
  one fewer judge on it than the season asked for. You fix the film and either
  **send it back** to the judge or **dismiss** the matter.
- **Reported** — the judge pressed **Report an issue** on their scoring screen
  and **kept the film**. They are still on it; they are telling you something
  is wrong — a broken screener or file, a category or scorecard that does not
  fit, or anything else. You **reply** to them, fix what needs fixing, and
  **mark it resolved**.

It is the fifth tab on that screen, and the only one whose rows are not
scorecards.

**This tab's Send back is about a film, not a scorecard.** Returning a
*scorecard* a judge filed, so they can change it, is **Send back to judge** in
a scorecard row's menu on the other tabs — see
[Sending a scorecard back to its judge](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/review-queue.md#sending-a-scorecard-back-to-its-judge).

## Finding it

**Review Queue → Issue.** Its address is the queue's own, with the tab named:

```
/org/<organization>/<festival>/<season>/review-queue?tab=issue
```

The amber card on your [Season overview](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/season-overview.md) —
"3 issues reported by judges", with the count in amber where other cards carry
a mark — lands you here directly, and so does the tab's own amber count in the
tab strip. **Both count every open row, skipped and reported alike**, and so do
the "2 issues" clause in the queue's header and **the amber count beside Review
Queue in the navigation**. That amber count is the row's second number: the
plain one before it counts scorecards waiting for review, and the two are never
added together. See [Finding the screen](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/review-queue.md#finding-the-screen).

**The tab switches the moment you press it.** The first time you switch to it
in a sitting, its rows arrive a moment later, with placeholder rows standing in
while they load. After that, switching to it and away from it shows its rows at
once, and while you are on it the tab re-reads itself in the
background on the queue's own rhythm — about once a minute, and whenever you
come back to the browser tab. A problem a judge raises while you are looking
appears within a minute, in place; the **Waiting** column ages by the minute
in between. See
[The list keeps itself up to date](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/review-queue.md#the-list-keeps-itself-up-to-date).

## What reaches this tab, and what never does

### Skipped films

**Two skip reasons only**, and the distinction is deliberate:

| The judge's reason | On this tab | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Screener will not play** | Yes | Something is broken, and broken things get fixed. |
| **Other** | Yes | A judge who picks Other and writes "region-locked in the UK" is naming a real defect in the only words the dialog gave them. |
| Conflict of interest | **Never** | The judge is correctly and permanently removing themselves. |
| Not in my area of expertise | **Never** | Same. |
| Unable to finish before the deadline | **Never** | Same. |

The three that never appear are not hidden from you by accident. **There is no
way to resolve one, and no way to send that film back to that judge** — not
from this screen, not by editing the address, not at all. Sending a judge back
a film they declared a conflict on is the one outcome this screen must never
produce.

A **Screener will not play** entry comes from either place a judge can leave a
film: **Skip this film** on their judging home with that reason picked, or
**Skip: technical issue** from inside the scoring screen. An **Other** entry
can come from the same skip dialog or from **Decline: conflict or other** on
the scoring screen with Other picked. Whichever route it took, it looks the
same here.

**Every route here withdraws any scorecard the judge had already filed on the
film** — it stops counting toward the film, whichever place they left from and
whichever of the two reasons they gave.

**Some skipped rows arrive with no note.** The note is required on the judging
home's skip dialog and optional on both scoring-screen dialogs, so a row whose
Reason cell has nothing under it is a judge who left the box empty. There is
nothing you can do about that except ask them.

**You are emailed when a judge skips a film for one of these two reasons** —
see [The emails staff are sent](#the-emails-staff-are-sent) — unless the same
judge already reported an issue on that film and it is still open, which
emailed you once already. The other three reasons send nothing.

### Reported issues

**Every report reaches this tab**, under one of the three reasons the judge's
dialog offers:

| The judge picked | What it usually means |
| --- | --- |
| **Screener or file problem** | The link, the password or the file is wrong, but the judge is staying on the film. |
| **Category or scorecard doesn't fit** | The film looks entered in the wrong category, or the questions do not suit it. |
| **Something else** | Anything else — the note says what. |

**A report always carries a note**: the judge cannot send one without writing
at least a few words. **A judge has one open report per film at a time** — their
scoring screen reads "Issue reported" until you mark it resolved, and then they
can report again. **A report changes nothing about the judging**: the judge
keeps the film, their scorecard stays theirs, and no other judge is affected.
See [Reporting an issue](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/scoring-a-film.md#reporting-an-issue) for the
judge's side.

**You are emailed when a judge reports one** — see
[The emails staff are sent](#the-emails-staff-are-sent).

## Who can work here

The same rule as the rest of the
[Review Queue](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/review-queue.md#who-can-work-here):

- **Everyone who can open the season reads the whole tab** — every row, every
  note, every judge's name, and the panel behind each row. Viewers and
  programmers included.
- **Every button on this tab needs the "Approve scorecards and resolve
  flags" capability** — **Send back** and **Dismiss** on a skipped film,
  **Mark resolved** and **Reply** on a report, and the bar for several at
  once. Festival admins and coordinators have it by default; organization
  owners and org admins always do. Without it, **the buttons are simply not
  there** and the panel's footer says why: "Your role cannot resolve issues.
  Ask a coordinator or festival admin."
- **The screener link in the panel is editable by anyone who can open the
  season**, capability or not. That is the same door the
  [submission's own Information tab](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-a-submission.md#the-information-tab)
  has, and it is not narrowed here.
- **Judges cannot open this screen at all**, so a judge never sees another
  judge's words — and nothing anywhere tells a judge that another judge
  reported anything, or how many reports a film has.

## Reading a row

Six columns. The list scrolls sideways on a narrow window rather than
restacking; the Submission column and the heading row stay put while the rest
slides under them.

- **Submission** — the title, which is a button that opens
  [the issue panel](#the-issue-panel), with the tracking number in monospace
  underneath.
- **Judge** — the judge who raised it, with their email in small text below. A
  judge who has not accepted their invitation yet has no name on record, so
  their email stands alone. **This is plain text, not a link** — the judge
  panel on the other tabs is about scorecards, and an issue has none.
- **Reason** — a small **Skipped** or **Reported** marker, then the reason —
  **Screener will not play** or **Other** on a skipped film, the judge's own
  pick on a report — over a one-line preview of what the judge wrote. Long
  notes are cut at about 120 characters with an ellipsis, and line breaks are
  flattened. **The full note is in the panel.**
- **Reported** — the day the judge raised it: `Aug 12`.
- **Waiting** — how long it has been waiting: `42m`, `14h`, `6d`. Days never
  roll into weeks. **A settled row's figure stops at the moment you settled
  it** — it is how long the judge waited, not how long ago it happened.
- **State** — one of four pills, and sometimes a second chip beside it:

| Pill | Means |
| --- | --- |
| **Open** (amber) | Nobody has dealt with it. This is the worklist. |
| **Sent back** (green) | A skipped film you gave back to that judge. |
| **Dismissed** (quiet) | A skipped film you read about and closed. The film stays out of that judge's queue. |
| **Resolved** (green) | A report you marked resolved. |

| The extra chip | Means |
| --- | --- |
| **Cannot return** (amber) | On a skipped film only: as things stand, this film cannot reach this judge. The panel names the obstacle. Most of them are permanent whatever you fix; one — the film being **On hold** — goes away when you set the film Ready. See [When a film cannot go back](#when-a-film-cannot-go-back). |

Settled rows are drawn quieter than open ones, so a worked-through list still
reads at a glance. If you hold the capability, hovering a row turns its row
number into a checkbox — see [Several at once](#several-at-once).

## The tab starts on Open

**The default view is open issues only.** A worklist that accumulates finished
items stops being one. The **Status** filter in the toolbar is how you reach
the rest:

| Status | Shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Open** | Nothing done yet, of either kind. The default. |
| **Sent back** | Skipped films you handed back to the judges who raised them. |
| **Dismissed** | Skipped films you closed without handing anything back. |
| **Resolved** | Reports you marked resolved. |
| **All** | Every row this season, whatever its state. |

Because Open is where the tab starts, the Status trigger only lights up once
you move away from it — and **Clear filters** puts you back on Open.

## Searching, filtering and sorting

Every control here applies the moment you set it, over rows already in your
browser — nothing reloads.

- **The search box** matches the **submission's title, the judge's name and
  the tracking number** — the same rule as the rest of the queue. **It does
  not search the notes**, deliberately: a search for "password" would return
  rows whose visible text does not contain the word, because the cell shows
  only a preview.
- **Judge** — tick as many as you like. The options are **the judges who have
  raised something this season**, not the whole roster, and each count is that
  judge's rows across every state rather than just the ones you are looking
  at.
- **Status** — the five above.
- **There is no Scorecard filter and no Category filter on this tab.** An
  issue has no scorecard, and narrowing by category would narrow by a fact
  about the film rather than about the problem.
- **Clear filters** clears the search, the judge list and the status at once —
  and the other tabs' filters too, so switching tabs never lands you on a view
  that is silently narrowed.

**Search and Judge are shared with the other four tabs**, so a search you set
in Pending is still set when you come here.

**Every column heading sorts.** Reported and Waiting open with the useful end
first (newest, longest); Submission, Judge, Reason and State open ascending.
State sorts in workflow order — Open, Sent back, Dismissed, Resolved — never
alphabetically. The list arrives sorted by **Reported, newest first**, and the
submission title then the judge's name breaks every tie, so the order never
shuffles between reloads or refreshes.

The footer names what you are looking at: "3 issues, open, sorted by reported,
descending." — or, narrowed, "Showing 1 of 3 issues in Open, filtered, sorted
by waiting, descending."

**There is no Rows picker and no Load more on this tab.** It loads the season's
whole set at once. A season with enough issues to need paging has a problem no
button solves.

## The issue panel

Clicking a title slides in the panel where the work happens. **It opens on the
click**: the frame, the film's title, its tracking number, the state pill and
the reason are drawn from the row in the same moment you press, and the rest —
the note, the screener link, the "can this film go back" sentence and the
buttons — arrives just behind them, with placeholder bars and a lone **Close**
button until it does. Reopening an issue you have already read is instant. Its
address is part of the page's, so a panel you have open is a link you can send
to a colleague.

**It keeps up while it stands open.** The record is re-read about once a
minute while the browser tab is in front of you, and whenever you come back to
it. If a colleague settles the issue while you are reading, the panel turns
into the settled view described below without your closing anything.

**If the panel cannot show the record**, it says so where you are looking,
keeping the title, the ✕ and **Close**:

- **"This issue is no longer in the queue."** — the row has left the season's
  list while you had it open. The tab re-reads itself as it happens and the row
  leaves with it. Close the panel; there is nothing to retry. **A settled issue
  is not a gone one** — settling it keeps the row and the panel.
- **"This issue could not be loaded."**, with a **Try again** button — the
  record could not be fetched; nothing is wrong with the issue itself. Press
  **Try again** and it loads.

Its header carries the film's title, its tracking number, the state pill and
the reason. Below that, in order:

**1. What the judge reported.** Their name, the date and the elapsed wait —
`Reported Aug 12 · 6d` — and then the note **in full**, line breaks and all. A
row with no note reads "—".

**2. The fix.** The **Screener link** for this submission, editable right
here, with a **Save link** button that turns into "Link saved". The field is
plain and unlabelled beyond its name — there is no example or hint text in it.
This is the same field as the one on the submission's
[Information tab](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-a-submission.md#the-information-tab) and it writes
to the same place — saving corrects the current cut rather than making a new
version of the submission. Fixing the link and closing the matter are separate
acts on purpose: a judge may have raised two things, and you very often want
the first without the second.

**On a screenplay whose script was uploaded as a PDF, there is no field at
all.** The card reads **PDF** and, under it, "On file" — judges open the PDF,
and nothing in this panel can change it. To replace the PDF with a
corrected one, or to swap it for a link, go to the submission's Information tab,
under **Screener access** — the upload button beside **PDF link**, or
**Use a link instead**. A screenplay holds one or the
other, never both, so judges are never left choosing between two versions.

Under it, **Open submission** takes you to the
[Submissions](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md) screen with that film's panel already open on
its Settings tab, for anything bigger than a link — including the **Judging**
card, where a film on hold is set Ready.

**FilmFreeway never provides screener passwords.** On a festival
[connected to FilmFreeway](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/connecting-filmfreeway.md), a film the sync brings
in with a link hosted somewhere else — a private Vimeo link, say — arrives with
no password, and a judge reporting **Screener will not play** on one is often
just missing it. This panel has no password field: press **Open submission**,
switch to the Information tab and fill in **Screener password** under
**Screener access**. The film's record flags these films with a quiet line —
see [The Display tab](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-a-submission.md#the-display-tab). The sync
never changes or clears a password once it is there, and importing the
festival's FilmFreeway export again cannot add one: the film is already in the
season, so its row is skipped as a duplicate.

**3. Can this film go back?** On an open **skipped** film only — a report never
handed the film back, so there is nothing to return. One sentence, and it is
the sentence the Send back button obeys — see
[When a film cannot go back](#when-a-film-cannot-go-back). It is re-checked
each time the panel re-reads itself, so it can change while you watch. When
everything is in order it reads:

> Yes. Sending it back puts this film next in this judge's queue.

**4. How this was resolved.** On a settled row instead of the sentence above:
"Sent back Aug 17 by *Camille Duarte*.", "Dismissed Aug 17." or "Resolved Aug
17.", with your note under it if there was one. **The name drops off if that
person's account is later removed** — the decision stays, the attribution does
not have to.

**In the footer, the buttons**, which depend on the kind of row:

| The row | Open | Settled |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Skipped** | **Send back to *Dana*** and **Dismiss** | "This issue is closed. Nothing left to decide here." |
| **Reported** | **Mark resolved** and **Reply** | **Reply**, and "This report is resolved. Nothing left to decide here." |

**Reply** is there only when the judge has an account to write to.

## Settling a reported issue

### Replying to a report

**Reply** opens the same **Send a message** dialog a judge's name opens
elsewhere on the queue, addressed to the judge who reported it — with the
message already started:

> About The Lighthouse Keeper (#PCFF24-142):

Write the rest and press **Send**. It is an ordinary message in your Inbox
conversation with that judge — they read it on their Messages screen and are
emailed it, and their answer comes back to your Inbox, not to this panel. See
[Writing to a judge from the queue](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/review-queue.md#writing-to-a-judge-from-the-queue).
**Replying does not settle the report.** Closing the dialog leaves the panel
where it was.

### Marking it resolved

**Mark resolved** asks first:

> **Mark this report resolved?**
>
> The report leaves the Open list. Nothing is sent to the judge.

with an optional **Note for the record**, up to 2000 characters, kept on the
row for whoever reads it next. Press **Mark resolved**, or **Cancel**.

- **The judge is told nothing.** No email, no notice. If you want them to know,
  **Reply** first.
- **Their scoring screen goes back to "Report an issue"** the next time it
  loads, so they can report the same film again if something else goes wrong.
  A second report is a new row; the old one stays as history.
- **The row moves to Resolved** and leaves the default Open view. The dialog
  waits for the server and for the tab to re-read itself, so by the time it
  closes the row has already moved.

## Sending a skipped film back

**Send back to *Dana*** — named for the judge who raised it — hands the film to
that same judge and **puts it at the front of their queue**.

1. Fix whatever was wrong first. Usually that is the screener link, in the
   panel; sometimes it is bigger and lives on the submission's own record.
2. Press **Send back to *Dana***. A confirmation opens headed **"Send this film
   back to *Dana*?"**
3. **Write what you fixed. This is required.** Three characters minimum once
   spaces are trimmed, 2000 maximum, with a live counter under the box. The box
   is empty and carries no example — what you write is read by one person, and
   a film that reappears in a judge's queue with no word about what changed is
   exactly the state that produces a second complaint.
4. Press **Send back**. **Cancel** backs out and changes nothing.

What happens the moment it lands:

- **The film returns to that judge's queue, at the front of it** — ahead even
  of a film you have marked
  [Priority](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#priority-judge-this-first). Not interrupting
  them: a judge who is currently holding a different film keeps that film, and
  meets the returned one next. **It does not wait for a technical review**
  either: on a season where
  [creative judging waits for technical approval](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/festival-settings.md#creative-judging-waits-for-technical-approval),
  the film you send back is offered to that judge whether or not its technical
  review has been approved.
- **Your note travels with it**, on the film's card on their judging home,
  under the heading "This film is back with you".
- **Your name does not.** The judge is told the film came back and what
  changed, never who sent it. See
  [A film came back to you](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/a-film-came-back-to-you.md).
- **They are emailed**, within the hour, by a background sender. The subject
  names the film and your festival; the body says the film is back and carries
  your note as "A note from the festival". **A judge who has turned message
  email off still gets this one** — it is operational mail about work they have
  been given.
- **A notice lands in their FilmScorecard inbox too** — one line saying the film
  was returned to their queue, with your note under it and the film one click
  away. This is the one part the judge can switch off: a judge who has turned
  the in-app returned notice off in their own settings simply does not get the
  notice. The email, the note on the card and the queue itself are unaffected.
- **The row moves to Sent back** and leaves the default Open view. The
  confirmation waits for the server and for the tab to re-read itself, so by
  the time it closes the row has already moved — and the scorecard tabs are
  re-read too, since the film is back in judging.
- **The judge's own words stay on file.** Nothing you do here edits or erases
  them.

**If the same judge raises the same film again**, that is a new row. The old
one stays as history, and the Status filter shows both — so "have we sent this
back before, and what did we say?" is a question with an answer.

## Dismissing a skipped film

**Dismiss** closes the matter without handing anything back. Use it when there
is nothing to fix, when you fixed it too late to matter, or when you would
rather another judge took the film.

The confirmation is headed **"Dismiss this issue?"** over the sentence that
matters:

> The film stays out of this judge's queue and the issue leaves the Open list.
> Other judges are unaffected.

**A note is optional here** — nothing is being handed back, so nobody is
waiting on an explanation. Anything you write is kept on the row for whoever
reads it next.

Three things dismissing does **not** do:

- **It does not give the film back to that judge.** They are done with it, for
  good. That is the whole difference between the two buttons.
- **It does not take the film away from anybody else.** Every other judge on
  the season still has it, exactly as before.
- **It does not email the judge.** There is nothing they are being asked to do.

## Several at once

**Tick rows and a bar appears at the bottom of the screen**, if you hold the
capability: the selection count, the line "Resolve every selected issue the
same way.", **Clear selection**, and the verbs that apply to what you ticked —
**each verb acts only on the rows of its own kind**:

| You ticked | The bar offers |
| --- | --- |
| Only reports | **Mark resolved** |
| Only skipped films | **Dismiss** and **Send back** |
| Both | **Mark resolved**, **Dismiss** and **Send back** — Mark resolved touches only the reports, the other two only the skipped films |

The heading row's checkbox ticks every row in view. The count on the bar reads
"1 issue selected" or "3 issues selected", whichever kind of row you ticked.

Every button opens a confirmation first, and **one note covers the whole
selection**:

| Button | The confirmation | The note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Mark resolved** | "Mark 3 reports resolved?" — "These reports leave the Open list. Nothing is sent to the judges." | Optional. |
| **Dismiss** | "Dismiss 3 issues?" — "These issues are closed without going back to anyone. The films stay where they are and the judges are not asked again." | Optional. |
| **Send back** | "Send 3 issues back to their judges?" | Required, as on one film. |

**At most 200 go through at once**; a bigger selection is refused with "Resolve
at most 200 issues at once. Narrow the selection and repeat." **A film that
cannot go back fails on its own and the rest still land**: the dialog says how
many were settled and how many were not — "5 issues resolved. 1 could not be,
and is still selected." — and the ones that failed stay ticked so you can read
why. A film on hold is one of those.

## When a film cannot go back

This is about skipped films only. Before you press anything, the panel has
already asked whether this film could reach this judge at all. **Six answers
block it**, and on those the **Send back** button is greyed out and the row
wears a **Cannot return** chip. Five of them mean **never**:

| The panel says | What to do instead |
| --- | --- |
| "No scorecard slot is free on this film. Every slot is taken, or the film sits in a category with no scorecard." | Nothing — every category of this film that this judge may score already has its full panel, or the film is not judgeable by anyone. Dismiss. Judges who may score the film's other categories can still be offered it. |
| "This judge is no longer active on the season roster." | The judge left, was paused by you, or was removed. Dismiss, and let another judge take the film. |
| "This submission has been withdrawn or disqualified." | Nothing to judge. Dismiss. |
| "This film is outside what this judge was scoped to — its format or its category." | Widen their scope on the [Judges](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judges.md) screen if that is right, then come back to the panel. |
| "This judge submitted this film. It can never go to them." | Dismiss. A judge is never sent their own work. This is what you see once the film is saved to the judge's own FilmScorecard account — see [The judge is the submitter](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/how-the-judging-queue-works.md#10-the-judge-is-the-submitter). |

**The sixth is yours to lift:**

| The panel says | What to do instead |
| --- | --- |
| "This submission is on hold for judging. Set it Ready, then send it back." | Somebody on your team put the film **On hold**, so no judge is offered it — a send-back would promise this judge a film the queue will not give them. Press **Open submission**, turn off **Hold from judges** on its Settings tab, and come back: once the panel re-reads itself the sentence turns green and the button goes live. See [Holding a submission out of judging](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#holding-a-submission-out-of-judging). |

**The Cannot return chip is drawn for the hold too**, although the hold is not
permanent. Read the panel's sentence rather than the chip: it is the one that
says what is in the way.

**Three answers mean "not yet", and they do not block anything** — the button
stays live and the film waits:

| The panel says | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| "This judge has paused their account. The film waits in their queue and appears when they return." | Send it back. It is waiting for them. |
| "Judging has not opened for this season yet. The film waits until it does." | Same — send it back, it arrives when the season opens. That means both: somebody has pressed [Open judging](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-judging.md), and the opening date has passed. A season still in draft reads this whatever its dates say. |
| "This film's only screener is on FilmFreeway and this judge has no FilmFreeway access on this season. The film waits in their queue and appears if you turn access on for them, or you can share the file another way." | Send it back if you like, and it waits — or turn their access on first, and it does not have to. See [The FilmFreeway sentence](#the-filmfreeway-sentence). |

**The check runs more than once**: when the panel is drawn, each time the
panel re-reads itself while it stands open, and again at the instant you press
the button. If another judge takes the last slot in between — or a colleague
puts the film on hold — the confirmation stays open and tells you which of the
sentences above is now true, rather than quietly promising the judge a film
that will never arrive.

### The FilmFreeway sentence

That third "not yet" is about a switch you hold, and it is worth a paragraph.

**What it means.** The film's current screener link is a `filmfreeway.com` one,
and this judge's **FilmFreeway access** on this season is off — the switch in
the FilmFreeway column of their row on the [Judges](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judges.md#filmfreeway-access)
screen, and on the FilmFreeway card of their panel. FilmScorecard does not offer a
judge with that switch off such a film in the ordinary run of the queue — it is
absent from it, not ranked last — so they will never simply come across it.
**A film the FilmFreeway sync brings in with no screener link of its own** gets
its FilmFreeway page as its link, so it is one of these films until somebody
saves a different link.

**Two things clear it, and both are yours to do:**

- **Turn FilmFreeway access on for them.** Flip the switch on their row of the
  Judges screen, or on the FilmFreeway card of their panel; it takes effect the
  moment it moves. The film is in their queue from their next visit — and so is
  every other FilmFreeway-only film in their scope, so read what the judge says
  about themselves first: their panel's FilmFreeway card carries "Judge says:
  has a FilmFreeway account" or "Judge says: no FilmFreeway account", and a
  judge with no account cannot open the screener however the switch is set.
- **Put the screener somewhere else.** The **Screener link** field in this panel
  is the whole of it: save a link the judge can open — a private upload, a
  review link, whatever you use — and the obstacle is gone for them and for
  every other judge in the same position. The panel re-reads itself as the
  save lands, and the sentence is replaced by the green one without your
  reopening anything.

**Sending it back is permitted meanwhile**, and it does what it says: the film
waits in their queue and turns up when one of the two above happens. It is not
a wasted press — but a judge whose access stays off and who never gets a new
link will never see it.

**This changed.** The sentence used to read that the judge "has no FilmFreeway
account" and that the film would appear "if they add one" — the judge's own
tick box was the gate, and nothing on your screens could open it. The gate is
now your switch; the judge's own answer is shown to you beside it and decides
nothing on its own.

## The emails staff are sent

**When a judge reports an issue, or skips a film for one of the two reasons
this tab takes, the season's staff are emailed**: your organization's owners
and org admins, and every active member who holds access to that festival or
season. A suspended member is not written to.

| What the judge did | The subject | The body |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Reported an issue** | "*Judge* reported an issue with *the film*" | Names the judge, the film and the season, says they keep the film while you look, gives the **Reason**, quotes their note, and ends with **Open the Issue tab**. |
| **Skipped the film** for **Screener will not play** or **Other** | "*Judge* skipped *the film*: *the reason*" | Names the judge, the film and the season, gives the **Reason**, quotes their note if they wrote one, says "The film goes back to the queue for another judge.", and ends with **Open the Issue tab**. |

- **Both follow one setting.** Each person can turn them off for themselves with
  the **Judge reports a problem with a submission** switch on their account's
  Notifications tab — see
  [Your account settings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-account-settings.md#notifications). With it
  off, both emails stop for that person, and the report or the skip still
  arrives on this tab and in every count.
- **A skip for any other reason sends nothing** — conflict of interest,
  outside their expertise, or unable to finish in time. Those never reach this
  tab either.
- **A report and then a skip on the same film is one email, not two.** If a
  judge reports an issue and then skips that film, the skip is not emailed
  while their report is still open — the report's email already told you. The
  skip still arrives on this tab and in every count. Once you have marked the
  report resolved, a later skip is emailed as usual.
- **An issue you settle before the email goes out is not announced** — a report
  you resolve, or a skipped film you send back or dismiss.

## What this tab does not have

- **No row menu.** Everything a row can do is in the panel its title opens, or
  on the bar for several at once.
- **No reassignment.** "Send back" means back to the judge who raised it. There
  is no way to give the film to somebody else instead — nothing in FilmScorecard
  assigns films to judges, so there is nothing to hand over. Dismiss, and the
  film stays available to every other judge on the season.
- **No reply from the judge, here.** Your note on a sent-back film is one-way,
  and **Reply** on a report goes to your Inbox conversation with them — their
  answer arrives there, not on this tab.
- **No notice to a judge when you resolve their report.** Reply if you want
  them to know.
- **No way back.** Once a row is sent back, dismissed or resolved it stays that
  way. What you *can* do is act on the film again — dismiss, then fix the link
  anyway; or wait for the judge's second word if they send one.
- **No moving a film to another category from here.** A report that a
  category does not fit is fixed on the submission — **Open submission**, then
  **Edit categories** on its Information tab.
- **No Ready switch.** A film on hold is set Ready on the submission's own
  Settings tab — **Open submission** takes you there.
- **Nothing tells the filmmaker their screener was broken.** No email, no note
  on their record. If the link needs replacing, ask them yourself.
- **No FilmFreeway switch.** The sentence names the obstacle; turning access on
  happens on the [Judges](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judges.md#filmfreeway-access) screen, where every
  judge's switch is a column — and what each judge says about having an account
  is on their panel.
- **No bell and no feed.** The amber counts and the emails are the whole of how
  an issue announces itself.
- **No export.**

## If something is refused

Refusals inside the panel and its confirmations stay inside them, so nothing
you typed is lost.

| The message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| "Write one line for the judge before sending the film back." | The note is empty or under three characters once spaces are trimmed. |
| "Keep the note under 2000 characters." | Exactly that. |
| "Your role cannot resolve issues. Ask a coordinator or festival admin." | You can read the tab; your role lacks the capability. |
| "You do not have permission to review this season." | Your account cannot reach this season at all. |
| "This issue was already resolved by someone else. Refresh the page." | A colleague settled it between your click and the commit — or the judge left the film again. Nothing was overwritten; the panel and the row catch up on their own within a minute, or close and reopen the panel to see it now. |
| "This report is not one the Issue tab can resolve." | The row is one of the three declines, or it moved out of reach. Nothing was written. |
| "A reported issue is marked resolved, not sent back or dismissed." | Send back or Dismiss reached a report — from a stale page, or a selection whose rows changed kind. Nothing was written to it. |
| "A skipped film is sent back or dismissed, not marked resolved." | The same, the other way round. |
| "Resolve at most 200 issues at once. Narrow the selection and repeat." | The bar's selection is over the limit. Nothing was written. |
| Any of the six blocking sentences under [When a film cannot go back](#when-a-film-cannot-go-back) | The film stopped being deliverable between the panel being drawn and the button being pressed. Nothing was written. |
| "The change could not be saved. Try again." | Something went wrong in transit. Retry. |

**Saving the screener link answers with the Submissions screen's messages**:

| The message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| "You do not have permission to change this submission." | Your account cannot reach this season — or the submission was withdrawn or moved while the panel was open. |
| "The change could not be saved. Try again." | Something went wrong in transit, or the submission has no file version on record for a link to attach to. |

**A filmmaker saving their submission to their own FilmScorecard account never
stops you fixing the link.** The record stays yours to edit — see
[When a filmmaker saves a submission to their account](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-a-submission.md#when-a-filmmaker-saves-a-submission-to-their-account).

## Related guides

- [Review Queue](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/review-queue.md) — the screen this tab lives on, and the
  four scorecard tabs beside it.
- [Scoring a film](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/scoring-a-film.md#reporting-an-issue) — **Report an
  issue** from the judge's side.
- [A film came back to you](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/a-film-came-back-to-you.md) — what the judge sees
  after you press Send back. Worth reading once before you press it.
- [Skipping a film](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/skipping-a-film.md) and
  [Leaving a film you started](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/leaving-a-film-you-started.md) — the two
  screens skipped rows are written on.
- [Opening a submission](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/opening-a-submission.md#the-information-tab) — the
  screener link's own home, and everything else about a submission's record.
- [How the judging queue works](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/how-the-judging-queue-works.md) — why a film
  reaches a judge at all, which is what the "can this go back" check is asking.
- [Judges](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/judges.md#filmfreeway-access) — the FilmFreeway access switch the
  third "not yet" sentence is about.
- [Submissions](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/submissions.md#holding-a-submission-out-of-judging) — putting
  a film On hold and setting it Ready again.
- [Your account settings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-account-settings.md#notifications) — the
  **Judge reports a problem with a submission** switch.