# Sending an invoice

> From FilmScorecard Help: https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/sending-an-invoice

When a festival owes you money for a season, you can send it an **invoice**
straight from your [pay statement](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-pay.md). The invoice is your
statement **frozen at the moment you send it**: it gets a number, a date and —
when the festival has set payment terms — a due date, and it never changes
afterwards. The festival accepts it, returns it, or marks it paid, and you can
follow each one on the **Invoices** tab of [Earnings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/earnings.md).

**FilmScorecard still does not pay you.** Sending an invoice asks the festival
for the money; the festival pays you the way it always has, outside
FilmScorecard, and records the payment against your invoice afterwards.

## Before you send: the festival's payment terms

A festival's organization can set **judge payment terms** — when it pays an
invoice. Where it has, you see one line beside every rate the festival shows
you: on your invitation, on its open calls, on its public page, beside each
paid place on your Earnings screen's Statements tab, and on your pay statement
itself. It reads one of two ways:

- **"Paid 30 days after invoice"** — the due date is that many days after the
  invoice date.
- **"Paid on the 15th of the month"** — the due date is the next 15th after the
  invoice date. A month shorter than the day named uses its last day, so "the
  31st" in February means the 28th or 29th.

**No line means the festival has not set any terms.** Your invoice then reads
"No payment terms set" and has no due date. Nothing about sending changes.

## Sending one

1. Open your statement for the season — **View statement** on the Statements
   tab of [Earnings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/earnings.md).
2. Press **Send invoice**, in the bar above the statement beside **Download
   PDF**.
3. Check the dialog, headed **Send this invoice?**:

   | Line | What it is |
   | --- | --- |
   | **Amount due** | Your approved total less everything the festival has recorded paying you this season — the statement's Balance due. |
   | **Payment terms** | The festival's terms line, or "No payment terms set". |
   | **Due** | The date the terms give, counted from today in the season's own time zone. Absent when there are no terms. |

4. Optionally fill in **Payment details** — how you would like to be paid, up
   to 500 characters. It is filled in for you from the last invoice you sent,
   to any festival, so you only type it once.
5. Press **Send invoice**.

You are taken straight to the invoice you just sent.

**Payment details are seen by you and by the festival's staff who can see its
judge pay — nobody else.** They are never put in any email. Even so, think
about what you write there: it is a note on a document, not a secure payment
form.

### When Send invoice is greyed

The button is greyed, with the reason beside it, when:

| The reason | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| "Nothing is owed on this statement." | Your Balance due is $0.00 — nothing is approved yet, or the festival has already paid all of it. |
| "An invoice is already open" | You sent one for this season and the festival has not paid or returned it yet. One invoice is open at a time per season. |
| "This festival is not taking invoices right now." | The festival's account is on hold. |

**A volunteer place has no statement, so it has no Send invoice either** —
there is nothing to owe.

## What an invoice holds

The invoice opens as a document, at `/judge/earnings/invoices/` followed by an
identifier:

- **Its number**, `INV-0007`. Numbers belong to the festival's organization and
  count up across all of its festivals and judges, so yours may not start at
  0001 and will have gaps. A number is never reused.
- **From** you, **To** the festival, with the festival and season under the
  number.
- **Invoice date**, **Payment terms** and **Due**.
- **Your payment details**, when you wrote any.
- **Approved**, **Paid** and **Amount due**, as they stood when you sent it.
- **A Scorecards page** listing every approved scorecard the invoice covers —
  the film's title, Film or Screenplay, the category, the scorecard type, the
  rate and the date it was approved — with a total equal to the Approved line.
  An unpriced scorecard reads **Unpriced** and adds nothing.
- **A status**: Sent, Accepted, Paid, Returned or Withdrawn.

**Download PDF** prints it, the same way it prints your statement — the
Scorecards list starts on a page of its own.

**It is cumulative for the season.** Like your statement, an invoice covers
everything approved on the season so far, minus everything already paid. If
more of your work is approved after you send, it goes on your next invoice.

**And it is frozen.** Once sent, nothing moves it: not the festival changing
its terms, not a scorecard being voided, not more of your work being approved,
not a payment for something else. Your statement keeps moving; the invoice
records the moment you sent it.

## What happens next

| Status | What it means | What you can do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Sent** | It is with the festival. | **Withdraw** it. |
| **Accepted** | The festival has accepted it and is going to pay it. | Nothing — wait for payment, or write to the festival. |
| **Paid** | The festival has recorded a payment against it. Under Amount due it reads "Paid $120.00 on Oct 20, 2026." | Nothing. If more becomes owed, send a new invoice. |
| **Returned** | The festival sent it back with a note, shown on the invoice under "Returned with this note". | Send a new invoice when the problem is sorted out. |
| **Withdrawn** | You took it back before the festival accepted it. | Send a new invoice. |

**Withdraw** is on the invoice, beside Download PDF, only while it is Sent.
Press it and confirm with **Withdraw**. Once the festival has accepted an
invoice you cannot withdraw it — write to the festival instead.

**A returned or withdrawn invoice keeps its number**, and the next one you send
gets a new number.

**A payment the festival later corrects can put a Paid invoice back to
Accepted** — if they void the payment, the invoice is waiting to be paid again.

### What you are emailed

- **When the festival returns your invoice** — the email names the invoice and
  the amount, carries the festival's note, and links to the returned invoice.
  Send a new one from your pay statement.
- **When the festival records a payment against it** — the email gives the
  amount and the date paid, with a link to the invoice.

**Nothing is sent when the festival accepts an invoice.** Its status on your
Earnings screen is how you find out. Neither email ever contains your payment
details.

## Following your invoices

Every invoice you have sent, to every festival, is on the **Invoices** tab of
[Earnings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/earnings.md): the number, the festival and season, the amount,
when it was sent, when it is due, and its status. Each number opens the
invoice.

## If something is refused

| The message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| "Nothing is owed on this statement." | Your Balance due is $0.00. |
| "An invoice is already open" | Another tab, or a second press, sent one first. Only one invoice is sent; the page refreshes to show it. |
| "This festival is not taking invoices right now." | The festival's account is on hold. |
| "Keep the payment details under 500 characters." | The Payment details box is too long. |
| "This invoice has moved on since you opened it. Refresh to see where it stands." | You pressed Withdraw after the festival had already accepted, returned or paid it. |
| "Not available in a support session." | FilmScorecard support is signed in as you; they cannot send an invoice for you. |
| "This could not be saved. Refresh and try again." | Anything else. Nothing was sent. |

## What this does not do

- **Move money.** The festival pays you outside FilmScorecard.
- **Remind the festival.** No reminder is sent before or after the due date,
  and the festival is not emailed when you send — it sees a count on its own
  screens.
- **Let you edit a sent invoice.** Withdraw it while it is Sent, or ask the
  festival to return it, and send a new one.
- **Cover more than one season.** One invoice is one season at one festival.

## Related guides

- [Your pay statement](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-pay.md) — the document an invoice is frozen
  from, and where Send invoice lives.
- [Earnings](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/earnings.md) — every festival in one place, and the Invoices
  tab where you follow what you have sent.
- [Messaging festival staff](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/messaging-festival-staff.md) — how to reach the
  festival about an invoice.
- [Your invitations](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-invitations.md) — the rates you agreed, and the
  festival's payment terms beside them.