Your judging home

Once a festival has you on a season, /judge is the screen you work from. It shows one film at a time — the next thing for you to score, or the film you already have in hand — with your festivals down the side and your totals across the top.

This page covers what you land on, what every number means, and the two states that appear when there is nothing in front of you. Scoring itself starts on Scoring a film. The rule that you hold one film until you finish it is on One film at a time. Skipping has its own page: Skipping a film, and what happens when a festival fixes what you reported is on A film came back to you. A scorecard a festival sends back to you for changes is listed at the top of this screen — see Scorecards sent back to you. Announcements, notices, the invitations festivals have sent you and your conversations with festival staff live one row down, on Your inbox. Work you do not have yet — every festival on FilmScorecard that is hiring judges — is on Open calls. What every festival owes you for the work you have already filed — and your record of the work that carries no pay — is on Earnings. Everything about you rather than about the work — your profile, your capacity, pausing, the festivals you judge for — is on Your account. If you want to know why a particular film is or is not in front of you, see How the judging queue works. A festival card that has gone grey is explained on When a festival is unavailable.

Where you land

Opening /judge sends you straight to one festival — you never see a list to pick from. The address it lands on is /judge/ and a long identifier, which is worth bookmarking if you judge for more than one festival.

Which one it picks:

1. The festival you last did something in. Scoring or skipping a film counts; opening the screen does not.
2. Otherwise, the season you accepted most recently.

Three things happen before that:

• If you are not signed in, you go to the log-in screen. See Logging in.
• If your judge profile is unfinished, you are sent to finish it and come back afterwards. See Setting up your judge profile.
• If you have not agreed to the current Judge Code of Conduct, you are asked to first. See The Judge Code of Conduct.

If no festival has you on a season as an active judge, you stay on /judge and get the card described in No festival has assigned you films yet.

The Judge Code of Conduct

Every judge agrees to the Judge Code of Conduct, once per version, across every festival. You tick "I agree to the Judge Code of Conduct" when you accept an invitation, apply to an open call or accept a festival's counter offer. If you were already judging before it existed — or FilmScorecard has since published a new version — your next visit to any judging screen shows it first, in place of the screen you asked for:

1. The heading Judge Code of Conduct, and a box: "I agree to the Judge Code of Conduct". The name is a link that opens the document in a new tab, at /code-of-conduct.
2. Tick the box and press Confirm. Pressing Confirm without the box ticked reads "You need to agree to the Judge Code of Conduct to continue."
3. The screen you were going to appears, at the same address.

Until you confirm, you cannot start or finish a film. Anything you had already typed on a film you hold is kept, and is there when you come back. Your account screen and applying to an open call are not held up — the application form carries its own box.

You are asked once per version. A small correction to the wording does not ask you again; a new version does, and agreeing to an older version does not count for a newer one.

The frame around the screen

The same frame is on every judging screen. This one, Open calls, Inbox, Earnings, Your account and your pay statement all sit inside it, with the same rows, the same Your festivals list, the same switcher and the same counts — and it stays in place while a screen inside it loads.

Down the left (a Menu button on a narrow window or a phone):

Along the top: the festival switcher (your festival's name with a caret — it opens the same list), the words Judge portal, and your name with Judge underneath it. The switcher is on every judging screen. Here and on a pay statement it names the festival you are looking at and highlights it in the menu; on Open calls, Inbox, Earnings and Your account — screens that belong to no festival — it reads Your festivals instead, with nothing in the menu highlighted. Picking a festival from it opens this screen for that festival, wherever you were. It is absent, along with the sidebar list, only when no season has you on its roster.

Three things about that name block:

• The word under your name is always "Judge", whatever roles the festival gave you. It is a label for the area, not your role on the panel.
• The circle beside it is your initials, never your photo, even if you uploaded one.
• It is a menu, and it holds Your profile, Your account, Help and docs and Sign out. Help and docs opens these guides in a new tab, so the film you are scoring stays where it was. Signing out confirms first, naming the address you are signing out of. Two more rows appear only for some people, both under Your account: Your projects, once you own a film or screenplay of your own on FilmScorecard — see Your projects — and Platform console, for FilmScorecard's own platform administrator and nobody else.

When the counts move

The numbers in the frame — the Inbox and Open calls counts, the Earnings balance and each festival's amber count — are read when the frame is drawn, and then:

• They move the moment you do something. Opening an unread item, archiving, applying to a call, filing a scorecard, skipping a film — each of those redraws the frame, so a count you have just changed is right straight away.
• The Inbox count also moves on its own. It is re-read about every 30 seconds on every judging screen — this one, the Inbox and the rest alike — so a message a festival sends you shows up in it without a reload. Nothing is re-read while the browser tab is behind something else.
• The others stay as they were while you move between screens. Go from Open calls to Earnings and back without acting on anything and they show what they showed last.
• Reloading the page re-reads all of them.

The heading and the three numbers

The heading is Your judging. Under it, in order:

• The season year — "2024 Season" — only when every season you judge is from the same year. Judge a 2024 season and a 2025 season and the year is left off rather than picking one.
• A monospace line: "4 scored, 22 left, 1 upcoming". These span every season you judge, not the festival you are looking at — except a festival that is unavailable, which counts for nothing here. The cards underneath are the per-festival breakdown.
• A pace pill, sometimes.

"Upcoming" means films that exist but have not been released to you yet. Before a season's judging opens — the festival has not opened it yet, or its opening date is still ahead — that is every film waiting for you there. Once judging opens, it is the films waiting for their technical review: films whose creative scorecard is yours to take, held back until the festival approves the film's technical review. With neither, every mention of upcoming disappears from the screen rather than showing a zero. Upcoming films join the "of N" total on the festival card below only when they arrive.

A film you are holding is in none of these three numbers. It is not "scored" yet and it is not "left in your queue", because you already have it. It is counted in the "of N" total on the festival card below.

Nothing in these numbers is about money. Work on a place that pays and work on one that does not are counted the same way here — the difference shows up only on Earnings.

Scorecards sent back to you

A festival can send a scorecard you filed back to you, with a note, when it wants something changed before it approves it. When it does, an amber card headed Returned appears under the three numbers, above your festival cards, listing each one:

Solstice

Returned — Drama Film · the festival's note, as they wrote it

Make changes

The oldest one sent back comes first.

1. Press Make changes. The film's scoring screen opens with your scorecard as you filed it, and the festival's note above it under Returned.
2. Change what the note asks for. Everything saves as you go, the same as any card — see Autosave, and the dot.
3. File it again with the same button you used the first time. It goes back to the festival for approval, and leaves this list.

What to know about it:

• It never stands in the way of new work. It is not a film you are holding: the Next submission card below is unchanged, and you can take and score new films before or after you deal with it. There is no 48-hour clock on it.
• Your pay for it does not change. It stays at the rate it recorded when you first filed it. While it is back with you it is not approved, so it is not on your statement yet — it joins it once the festival approves it.
• You are emailed when it happens, with the same note — "A scorecard for the festival was sent back to you". The festival can remind you with a second email. Nothing names who on their staff sent it.
• An award recommendation the festival added to your scorecard stays theirs. You can change your own picks, but not one marked Added by coordinator or Changed by coordinator.

This is not a film coming back. A film you skipped because it would not play, handed back after the festival fixed it, is a different thing — see A film came back to you.

Your festivals

One card per festival you judge, in alphabetical order. Clicking a card switches the screen to that festival; the current one carries a faint indigo fill.

Each card carries the festival's name, its season year, and:

A date line, which only appears when the season has a closing date set:

A pill beside it:

• "12 days left" while judging is running.
• "3 past due" in amber once the closing date has passed, counting the films still in your queue. It disappears when you have none left.
• Nothing before judging opens — including while you wait for a festival to open judging after its date — or when no closing date is set.

Then the progress bar and two lines:

• "4 of 28 scored" — the bar and the line say the same thing. The bar turns green at 100%.
• "22 left in your queue, 0 upcoming".

Three things about those numbers that surprise people:

• The total shrinks as other people work. "of 28" is your own workload — what you have dealt with plus what is still open to you — and films leave your queue once enough scorecards are in, or under way, on them. Watching 28 become 26 is the system working, not a fault. How the judging queue works explains the rule.
• A film you skipped is counted in the total but never in "scored", so once you have skipped something the bar stops just short of full. That is correct: you dealt with the film, you did not score it. A film a coordinator hands back to you stops counting as skipped and returns to "left in your queue", because it turned out to be work after all.
• The film you are holding is not in "left in your queue" either. So a screen showing you a film with "22 left" is showing you a 23rd. It moves into "scored" when you file it.

A festival that is unavailable is a grey card with its name, its season year and the line "This festival is unavailable." — no date, no pill, no progress, and it cannot be clicked. See A festival that is unavailable.

The film in front of you

The card headed Next submission is the whole of your work. There is one film on it — either the next one chosen for you, or the one you already have in hand — and no way to browse past it or pick a different one. How the next one is chosen is on Which film comes next.

The monospace line in its top corner — "6 of 28, 22 left in your queue" — is your position. The first number counts everything you have dealt with, skips included, plus this one; a film that has come back to you steps out of it again.

Under the card: "The next film appears here once you submit this score." — followed by "3 more to come." while films are waiting for their technical review.

There is no way to watch or read the film from this card. The screener link, the password and the film's full record are on the scoring screen, one press away.

Start scoring

The blue Start scoring button takes the film and opens the scoring screen. It is not a link. Pressing it claims every card that is open to you on that film — holding them against every other judge for 48 hours — and only then moves you on. While it works it reads "Opening…" and cannot be pressed twice.

Two consequences worth knowing before you press it:

• This screen then shows that same film, with an In progress pill and a Continue scoring button, and offers you nothing else until you finish it or hand it back. See One film at a time.
• Pressing it can land you right back here, with a different film in front of you. That means the film filled up — or was withdrawn, or left your scope — between this screen loading and your press. Nothing was taken, and an amber line above the card says so: "That film is no longer available. Here's your next one.", or just the first sentence, above the empty state, when there is no other film for you. It shows once, and Dismiss clears it. See If the film is gone when you press Start scoring.

The film you already have

Once you are holding a film, the card changes in three ways and nothing else does:

• The film shown is the one you started, not a new one.
• An indigo In progress pill sits under the tracking line.
• The blue button reads Continue scoring instead of Start scoring.

Continue scoring puts you back in the same sitting, with everything you had already typed, and gives you a fresh 48 hours. Nothing new is offered beside it — that is the point, and it holds even when a coordinator has just sent a film back to you: that film is next, not now.

Skip this film works on the film you are holding, and it is the other way out. It releases the cards you were holding, records the skip, and offers you a new film. A card you have already filed on it is withdrawn too, whatever your reason, and the dialog says so: "Anything you have already filed on this film will be withdrawn." See Skipping a film.

You can also hand the film back from inside it, which additionally works in a season where the festival switched discretionary skipping off — and likewise withdraws a card you have already filed. See Leaving a film you started.

The address of a scoring screen only works while you hold a card on that film — or have one filed there, including one sent back to you. A film you skipped or declined, a hold that lapsed, a film from another festival — all of them send you back to your judging home rather than showing an error. A mistyped address gives a "page not found".

A film sent back to you

If you left a film because the film was broken — Screener will not play, Other, or Skip: technical issue on the scoring screen — a coordinator can fix what you described and hand it back. When they do, that film is the next one this card shows you, ahead of everything else in the season, and it carries:

• an amber Returned pill under the tracking line, and
• an amber block: "This film is back with you", dated Sent back Aug 15, the line "A coordinator looked at what you reported and sent it back.", and then their own note about what changed.

Read the note before you press Start scoring — it usually names the exact fix. No staff name appears on it, and none can. You are also emailed when it happens, and a notice lands in your inbox. The whole of it is on A film came back to you.

After the deadline

The closing date does not eject anything. Once it passes:

• The films left in your queue stay there and stay scorable.
• The film card carries an amber Past due pill and the words "Still open to you."
• The festival card's pill turns amber and counts them: "3 past due".

Nobody has to extend anything for that to be true, and there is no "the coordinator has extended your deadline" note anywhere — there is no extension mechanism. If you are past a festival's date, tell them; the platform will not stop you finishing.

Nothing to score right now

When the festival is real but your queue is empty, the card reads one of five ways, each with a monospace count underneath — "4 of 27 scored, 1 skipped", the skipped half only when you skipped something, or "12 upcoming" while nothing has been released to you yet.

Three honest footnotes:

• "The coordinator will message you" means email, or the Messages tab of your inbox. Two things also arrive by themselves: a film sent back to you after you reported a problem with it, which comes with an email and an inbox notice, and a change to the categories you judge, which comes with an email and an inbox line naming them — see Your inbox.
• What releases upcoming films before judging opens is two things together: the festival opening judging on the season, and the season's opening date arriving. Whichever comes second is the moment your films appear — nothing more is asked of you, and nothing is sent to tell you; open this screen and they are here.
• If you paused new assignments, this is also the card you get, at every festival, and it does not mention the pause. The amber banner on your account is where a pause is named; Resume now on that banner puts your queue back — including any film that was sent back to you while you were away.

A film you are holding is never this card. If you left a scorecard half-finished, that film is what the Next submission card is showing you, with Continue scoring on it — this empty state only appears when your hands are genuinely empty.

Films waiting for their technical review

Unless the festival has switched it off, a film's creative scorecard waits for its technical review. In a category that has a technical checklist, nobody is offered the film's creative card until its technical review has been filed and the festival has approved it. A category with no technical checklist is never held back.

While films are waiting for you:

• They count as upcoming — in the line under Your judging, on the festival card ("0 left in your queue, 3 upcoming") and under the Next submission card ("3 more to come.").
• With nothing else left, the card says how many: "3 films are waiting for their technical review and will appear here once approved." — or "1 film is waiting for its technical review…" when there is one. It never says which films, or anything about who is reviewing them.
• They arrive by themselves. Once a film's technical review is approved, it is in your queue. While this card is showing, the screen checks again each time you come back to its browser tab, so a film approved while you were elsewhere is in front of you when you return. Nothing is emailed.
• The pace pill never says your queues are clear while any are waiting.

The wait only decides which films you are newly offered. A film you are already holding stays yours to file, a scorecard sent back to you for changes can be filed again, and a film a coordinator hands back to you after you reported a problem is offered to you straight away.

If you also do technical reviews, you may be handed a film's technical card first and its creative card later — see When the creative card waits for the technical review.

A festival that is unavailable

When a festival you judge for is unavailable on FilmScorecard, opening it shows a grey card in place of the Next submission card:

This festival is unavailable.

There is nothing on it to press — no Start scoring, Continue scoring or Skip this film — and nothing in your queue there until the festival is available again, when everything comes back by itself. A link to one of its scoring screens brings you here too. If it is the festival /judge opens for you, pick another from the switcher.

This screen does not say why, and neither does anything else in FilmScorecard. What happens to that festival's open calls, invitations and conversations in the meantime is on When a festival is unavailable.

No festival has assigned you films yet

If no festival has you on a season as an active judge, /judge shows one card instead of a queue:

No festival has assigned you films yet

Festivals invite judges to a season and release a queue when their entry window closes. Once that happens, the film in front of you appears here and you score one at a time.

0 festivals, 0 films assigned

Invitations arrive by email. Check the inbox for the address you signed up with.

That last line is out of date and the card still prints it. Invitations do still arrive by email, but they are also listed inside FilmScorecard, on the Invitations tab of your inbox — which is where to look first if you are expecting one, and where you accept it. Nothing on this card points there yet.

The festival switcher and the sidebar's festival list are absent on this screen — and on every other judging screen — not empty: there is nothing to name. The Open calls row is still there, and it works: the board is the whole platform's, not your festivals'. So is Earnings, as long as you hold a place on any season — paid or volunteer. A festival that has only paused you leaves it in place, because money you are owed outlives a pause, and your record stays readable. See Earnings.

This is also the card you get when a festival has paused you, removed you, or you have not accepted the invitation yet. The screen does not distinguish those cases, and it does not say "you are paused". The Festivals tab of your account is where your standing at each festival is spelled out — Active, Paused, Leave requested or Season closed, and your Invitations tab is where an offer you have not answered is waiting. If you were expecting to be judging, ask the festival: only they can change it. See Your judging invitation.

On a phone

The screen is built to be worked on a phone.

• The sidebar becomes a bar across the top with a Menu button; the menu fills the screen and closes when you pick a festival.
• The festival cards and the film's two columns each stack into one.
• Start scoring goes full width, and every button is a comfortable size.
• The skip dialog scrolls with the page rather than trapping its own scrollbar, so its buttons are always reachable.

What this screen does not have

Named plainly so you do not go looking:

• No scoring. Everything you record happens on the scoring screen; this card only hands you the film.
• No list of your films. One at a time is the design. You cannot see the queue behind the current film, search it, or reorder it.
• No second film while you are holding one. No "up next" block and no way to start something else first.
• No reason a film is next. Nothing on the card says why this film was chosen for you, and nothing ever marks a film as one the festival wants finished first.
• No record of what you have reported. There is no list of the films you skipped, no status on any of them, and no way to ask a festival what they did about one. A film reappearing — with its notice in your inbox — is the only answer you get.
• No invitations. An offer you have not answered does not appear on this screen at all — it is on the Invitations tab of your inbox. See Your invitations.
• No money. Nothing on this card says what a film is worth to you or what you are owed — or whether the place you are working is a paid one at all. That is one row down, on Earnings, and the terms themselves are on your invitation.
• No Completed and no Scoring guidelines. Those sidebar rows arrive with the features behind them; they are absent rather than greyed out. Inbox and all three of its tabs, Open calls and Earnings, once on this list, are live now — see Your inbox, Your invitations, Messaging festival staff, Open calls and Earnings.
• No other judge, anywhere. You never see who else is judging, how many judges a film has, what anyone scored, or an average — or what anybody else on your panel is being paid, or whether they are. That is not a setting a festival can switch on. No festival staff member is named either — not even on a note that came with a film they sent back.
• Nothing about your own settings. Your profile, your availability, your festivals and your notifications are all one screen away, on Your account.
• Nothing that saves by itself. While the screen loads, the Your judging heading, the festival cards and the Next submission card stand there as grey placeholder shapes, and the counts, dates and film fill in together. Two buttons write anything: Start scoring / Continue scoring, which takes or re-takes the film, and skipping a film, behind its own dialog.

Questions this screen cannot answer

Why a particular film reached you and when your deadline really is belong to the festival that invited you. Write to them from your inbox's Messages tab, or reply to whoever sent the invitation.

What you are being paid you can now look up yourself, in two places: the invitation you accepted is still on your Invitations tab, with every category and both figures — or the line saying it carries none — and what your filed work has actually come to is on Earnings — every festival in one place, with a printable statement for each place you hold on paid terms. On a place you hold as a volunteer nothing anywhere puts a figure on a scorecard, because there is none — that work is counted, without money, on the Earnings screen's Volunteer tab. Whether a place is a volunteer one is decided by your own invitation, not by the festival's season, so a festival that pays other judges can still have taken you on as a volunteer, and nothing here or anywhere else tells you what anybody else agreed.

FilmScorecard support, through the Contact link at the foot of the left navigation or of any log-in screen (see Contacting us), can help with getting into your account and nothing else.