Skipping a film

Skipping is how you say "not me" about the film in front of you. It is a real decision, so this page covers exactly what it does, what the festival sees, and what it does not do.

This is the Skip this film button on your judging home, and it works whether or not you have opened the film. The scoring screen carries its own buttons with their own rules — see Leaving a film you started, and If you have already started the film below.

Skipping takes the film out of your queue at once, and you cannot undo it yourself. There is no "unskip" button anywhere, for you or for anybody at the festival. One thing can bring a film back, and only one: if you left it because of a problem with the film — Screener will not play or Other — a coordinator can fix the problem and hand it back to you. See A film came back to you. A film you left because of a conflict, your expertise or the deadline is gone for good.

Whether you can skip at all

The festival decides, per season, and there are three settings:

If there is no Skip button and you need one, ask the festival — it is a setting on their season, and they can change it. The two buttons on the scoring screen are not governed by this setting and work in every season.

The two settings say different things throughout, and the difference is real rather than editorial: a season that collects a reason gives a coordinator something to read and act on, and a season that collects none does not. Under the two buttons on the film card:

With a reason:

Skipping needs a reason. The film leaves your queue and other judges can still score it. The coordinator sees your reason, and may send the film back if they fix what you report.

Without a reason:

The film leaves your queue for good and other judges can still score it.

If you have already started the film

Skip this film still works. After you press Start scoring, your judging home keeps showing you that same film with an In progress pill and a Continue scoring button — and the Skip button beside it does what it always did. Skipping releases the cards you were holding, records the skip, and offers you a new film.

Anything you had already typed on those cards is kept, out of your reach and readable by the coordinator.

One film you cannot skip: one you have already finished. Once every card on a film is filed, it is scored rather than held, and Skip has nothing to release.

If you have filed ONE of two cards, skipping withdraws it. A film where you have finished the technical card but not the creative one is still a film you are holding, so Skip still works. It releases the card still in your hand and takes back the card you already filed, whatever reason you pick and on a season that collects none: the festival keeps what you wrote, marked as withdrawn, and it stops counting towards the film's scores. The dialog says so before you confirm — see Skipping, step by step.

You can also hand the film back from inside it — press Continue scoring and use Skip: technical issue, Decline: conflict or other or Declare a conflict. Those do the same release — withdrawing a card you have already filed, whatever the reason, just as Skip this film does — and also work in a season where the festival switched discretionary skipping off. See Leaving a film you started.

Skipping, step by step

1. Choose Skip this film, the amber button beside Start scoring.

2. A dialog opens headed "Skip the film's title?", with the film's tracking number underneath, and an amber block. What the block says depends on the season's setting.

   On a season that asks for a reason:

   This cannot be undone

   Title leaves your queue and other judges can still score it. The coordinator sees your reason, and may send it back to you if they fix what you report.

   On a season that asks for none:

   This cannot be undone

   Title leaves your queue for good. You will not see it again and you cannot score it later. Other judges can still score it.

   "This cannot be undone" is about you. There is no button anywhere that puts the film back in your hands; on the first setting a coordinator can choose to hand it back, and that is their decision rather than an undo.

   Under either setting, a bold amber line closes the block:

   Anything you have already filed on this film will be withdrawn.

   It appears on every skip — the dialog does not check whether you have filed anything — and it does not change with the reason you pick. On any card you have filed on this film it means exactly what it says. That includes a film that comes back into your queue with a card of yours already filed on it: if you judge both technical and creative, the creative scorecard of a film whose technical review you filed and the festival approved arrives as a fresh film, and skipping it takes that approved review back with it.

3. If the season asks for a reason, pick one of five under Reason for skipping:

   • Conflict of interest — never comes back
   • Not in my area of expertise — never comes back
   • Screener will not play — the coordinator may fix it and hand it back
   • Unable to finish before the deadline — never comes back
   • Other — the coordinator may fix it and hand it back

   The dialog's warning is written before you pick, so "may send it back to you" is true of the setting rather than of every reason on the list. Three of the five are you stepping aside, and nothing returns those.

4. And write the note under Tell the coordinator why — "What should the coordinator know?". A few words is enough; three characters is the minimum, and spaces alone do not count. Under the box: "Your reason and note go to the coordinator only, never to other judges." On the two reasons that can come back, this note is the whole of what a coordinator has to work from — "will not load" gives them nothing; "plays 4 seconds then black, tried Chrome and Safari" gives them something to fix.

5. Choose Skip and continue. Keep this film backs out and changes nothing.

Nothing is saved until you press Skip and continue. Backing out, pressing Escape, or clicking outside the dialog discards what you typed — reopening it gives you empty fields. While the skip is being recorded both buttons lock and the dialog will not close, so nothing can be half-done.

What happens next

You are put back on your judging home, where three things have changed:

• An amber strip at the top of the page:

  Title skipped

  It has left your queue and other judges at the festival can still score it. The coordinator sees your reason.

  PCFF24-133 · Screener will not play

  with a Dismiss button. The last sentence appears only when the season collected a reason. On a season that collects none the strip stops after "can still score it", and the monospace line carries the tracking number alone — there is no reason to have been passed on.

  The strip says nothing about whether the film can come back, on either setting, and that is deliberate rather than an omission: it knows which reason you picked but not whether that reason is one a coordinator can act on, and a confirmation is the wrong place to guess. If a film does come back you will know — by email, by a notice in your inbox, and by the film reappearing at the front of your queue with a Returned pill and the coordinator's note on it. See A film came back to you.

• A different film is in front of you. The one you skipped is gone.

• Your counts have moved — the skipped film is added to your "skipped" total and to the "of N" denominator, but never to "scored".

The strip appears once. Dismiss it or not; reload the page, switch festivals and come back, and it is gone. That is intended — it is a confirmation, not a record.