# The bell

> From FilmScorecard Help: https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-notifications

The bell in the top bar of [Your projects](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-projects.md) is where
FilmScorecard tells a filmmaker what needs doing and what has happened. It has
two lists: **To do**, the things festivals are asking you for and the
scorecards waiting to be read, and **Updates**, the news about your festival
entries and the messages visitors send through your page. This guide covers
both, sending something a festival has asked for, and reading a message.

**The bell covers all your projects at once.** With more than one project,
every item names the project it is about, and the bell's heading reads **All
projects**. With one project, the heading carries that project's title. A
project's **Overview** in [Your projects](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-projects.md) shows the same
To do items and updates, for that project alone.

## The badge

The bell shows one of three things in its corner:

| The bell shows | It means |
| --- | --- |
| **An amber number** | That many To do items, across all your projects. |
| **A small indigo dot** | Nothing to do, but at least one update you have not seen yet. |
| **Nothing** | Nothing to do and nothing new. |

**Opening the bell marks every update in it as seen**, so the dot goes. The
amber number only goes when the things it counts are done.

## To do

**Two kinds of amber item**, project by project, A to Z:

- **Missing items**, one for each festival entry that is missing something it
  scores. A festival can score a **press kit**, which checks that certain
  details of your submission are filled in. See
  [The press-kit checklist](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-submission-page.md#the-press-kit-checklist).
- **Scorecards to read**, one for each festival entry whose released scorecard
  has not been opened yet. See [Scorecards to read](#scorecards-to-read).

Within a project, the missing items come first, then the scorecards, newest
release first.

### Missing items

Every detail a festival's press kit checks, and that is still empty on the
festival's copy of your submission, is a missing item.

**Only while that festival's submission page still takes edits** — until the
festival's selection date, a finished season, or a withdrawal. After that the
festival's item goes, because nothing can change its copy any more. See
[When the page says "Edits are closed"](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-submission-page.md#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed).

**Only for entries saved to your account.** A festival entry reaches the bell
once it is in one of your projects. See
[Saving a submission to your account](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/saving-a-submission-to-your-account.md).

Each item reads "You're missing 4 items for *Festival* that affect your score",
with the items under it by the festival's own names for them, separated by
dots: "Tagline · Synopsis · Statement · Poster". Under them, up to three
buttons:

- **Send *N* from your project** appears when the project's **Details**
  already hold some of the items, and copies all of them onto the festival's
  copy at once. See
  [Sending something to a festival](#sending-something-to-a-festival).
- **Add *field***, such as **Add Poster** or **Add Synopsis**, appears when one
  of the items could be sent from your project but its Details do not have it
  yet. It opens the project's **Details** at that field. Fill it in, press
  **Save changes**, and the Send button counts it from then on. See
  [Links that open one field](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/project-details.md#links-that-open-one-field).
- **Open submission page** opens the **Submission details** page of that
  festival's submission page, where you fill the items in on the festival's
  copy itself. It is always there.

**To do items cannot be dismissed.** This kind leaves by itself once nothing
is missing, or once the festival's submission page closes.

### The eight fields

**Eight fields can be sent from your project**, each from a field on its
[Details](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/project-details.md):

| The festival is missing your | Sent from your project's |
| --- | --- |
| Tagline | **Logline** |
| Synopsis | **Synopsis** |
| Trailer URL | **Trailer link** |
| Poster | **Poster** |
| Directors | **Credits** whose role is Director or Co-director |
| Writers | **Credits** whose role is Writer, Screenwriter or Co-writer |
| Producers | **Credits** whose role is Producer, Co-producer or Executive producer |
| Cast | **Credits** whose role is Cast, Actor, Actress or Performer |

Points to know about the table:

- **The item uses the festival's word, not your project's.** A missing Tagline
  is sent from your **Logline**, and a missing Trailer URL from your **Trailer
  link**.
- **Nothing is sent from your page.** The blocks you build on the project's
  Page, including its Cast and crew and Video blocks, are never sent to a
  festival.
- **A credit counts only when its role is one of those words exactly.**
  Capitals and spaces at either end are ignored, but "Second unit director" or
  "Director of photography" do not count as Director. Every matching name is
  sent, joined with commas, in the order your Credits list them.
- **Everything else is filled in on the submission page.** That includes the
  statement, your contact details, the website and Instagram links, and the
  screener, which is never sent from a project. **Some fields cannot be filled
  there either.** A press kit can check a field only the festival can change,
  such as the genre, the completion year or the runtime. It still appears in
  the item, and the submission page lists it but will not let you type in it.
  Ask the festival.

### Sending something to a festival

1. In the bell, press **Send *N* from your project** on the festival's item. It
   reads **Sending…** while it works.
2. A short message names what was sent: "Sent your tagline and synopsis to
   Riverbend Film Festival". Those items leave the list, and the item goes when
   nothing else is missing.

What a send does, and what it does not do:

- **It writes your project's saved Details onto that one festival's copy.**
  Another festival missing the same things has its own item and needs its own
  press. Edits you have not saved yet are not sent.
- **It counts as you editing your own submission page.** The festival sees
  "Edited by the submitter" on its record, and its history lists the change
  under **Submitter**, just as if you had typed it on the submission page.
  Judges read the new value the next time they open your film.
- **A poster send copies your project's poster image** onto the festival's
  copy.
- **It never changes your project.** And later changes to your Details do not
  follow: a festival keeps what you sent until you send again, which you can do
  only while it is asking for that field.

#### If a send is refused

Nothing is written, and one of these appears:

| The message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| "*Festival* has closed changes to this submission." | The festival's submission page closed after the bell was drawn. The item is gone the next time the page loads. |
| "There is nothing in your project's details to send yet." | The fields became empty in the meantime, perhaps in another tab. Fill them in on the project's Details and press **Save changes**. |
| "That did not send. Try again." | Something went wrong on the way. Press the button again. |
| "This project is no longer available." | The project or that festival entry is no longer yours to send from. Reload the page. |

### Scorecards to read

When a festival releases your scorecard, an amber item reads "Read your
Harborlight Film Festival scorecard", with the season and the day it was filed
under it, "Fall 2026. Filed 3 Oct 2026.", and one button, **Open scorecard**,
which opens it. See [Your scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-scorecard.md).

**It stays until the scorecard has been opened**, and then leaves by itself.
Opening it from anywhere counts: this button, your project's Festivals or
Scorecards tab, or the access code in the festival's email. See
[Your festival entries](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-festival-entries.md#the-scorecards-tab).

## Updates

**News about your festival entries, and messages from your page's visitors.**
Newest first, up to 30 at a time. Each row has a small square, indigo while you
have not seen it, then the update, a link, and **✕**.

| The update | When it appears | Its link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| "*Festival* selected *Project*", with "Announced 3 Oct 2026." | From the festival's **Notification date**, for an entry it selected. | **Open Festivals** |
| "*Festival* did not select *Project*", with "Announced 3 Oct 2026." | From the same date, for an entry it did not select or disqualified. | **Open Festivals** |
| "*Project*: Winner at *Festival*", with "Announced 3 Oct 2026." | From the festival's **Award winners announced** date, for an entry the festival named in one of its awards. The word is the highest the entry reached: **Winner**, **Honorable Mention**, **Nominee**, **Finalist**, **Semi-finalist** or **Quarter-finalist**. | **Open Festivals** |
| "*Festival* released your scorecard", with its date | Once your scorecard for that entry can be read. | **Read it**, which opens your scorecard |
| "Your *Festival* *season* entry joined *Project*.", with its date | When a festival entry under your account's address joins one of your projects by itself. See [Saving a submission to your account](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/saving-a-submission-to-your-account.md). | **Move**, which opens [Move to another project](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-festival-entries.md#moving-an-entry-to-another-project) for that entry, in case it joined the wrong project |
| "*Name* sent you a message", with the message's first line | When a visitor writes to you through your page. | **Read it**, which opens the message |
| "We couldn't email you a message from *Name*", with the message's first line | When a visitor's message could not be emailed to you. The message's own update stays in the list beside it. | **Read it** |

**Open Festivals** opens that project's Festivals tab. See
[Your festival entries](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-festival-entries.md).

**Festival updates come only from entries saved to your account.** Selections
and awards arrive only once the festival has announced them. They wait for the
same dates as your
[Festivals tab](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-festival-entries.md#the-status-pill): nothing reaches the
bell before the festival's own announcement date, whatever the festival has
decided. A withdrawn entry gets no selection update.

**An update follows the festival's records.** If a festival moves its
announcement date back into the future, its update leaves the bell. If it
changes a result after announcing, the new result arrives as a new update.

### Seen and dismissed

- **Opening the bell marks every update in it as seen.** Their squares turn
  grey and the indigo dot on the bell goes.
- **✕ dismisses an update for good.** It does not come back, on this device or
  any other.

### Reading a message

**Read it** on a message opens it in full: **Message from *Name***, then their
**Email** as a link that starts an email to them, their **Organisation** if
they gave one, the day it was **Sent**, and the message. **Close** closes it.

**When the email to you failed**, an amber line at the top reads "We couldn't
email you this message." Everything else is there, so nothing is lost: write
back to the address in the dialog.

How visitors write to you, and where the email goes, is in
[Messages from visitors](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/public-page.md#messages-from-visitors).

## What the bell does not do

- **No emails for festival news.** Selections, awards and scorecards reach the
  bell, not your inbox. The one email it stands beside is a visitor's message.
  A festival releasing your scorecard can still email you the link itself; see
  [Your scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-scorecard.md).
- **No history beyond 30.** Older updates drop off the end of the list.
- **No undo for ✕.** A dismissed update cannot be brought back.

## Related guides

- [Your projects](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-projects.md): the top bar the bell sits in.
- [Your project's details](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/project-details.md): filling in what a festival
  asks for, so it can be sent from your project.
- [Your festival entries](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-festival-entries.md): the Festivals tab the
  selection and award updates link to, moving an entry, and the Scorecards
  tab.
- [Your submission page](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-submission-page.md): the festival's own copy,
  where anything your page cannot send is filled in.
