# Your submission page

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

You entered a film or a screenplay in a festival that runs on FilmScorecard, and
the festival has sent you a private page for that submission — usually soon
after the festival brought your entry in, or whenever it chose to send it.
It opens on an **overview** of your submission, and from there on four pages of
its own: **Submission details**, where you correct its details yourself;
**Questions for judges**, where you ask the judges up to two questions of your
own; **How it's judged**, the scorecard every judge fills in; and, at a
festival that offers it, **Award consideration**. You can also write to the
festival from it. This guide covers the email, getting in, the overview, your
two questions, how it's judged, what you may change and what only the festival
may change, the press-kit checklist, the poster, saving, and what the page
shows once edits are closed.

**You do not need an account.** The button in the email opens the page and
signs you in, and the nine-character code printed under it gets you in on any
other device. There is no password anywhere in this, and nothing to sign up for.
**If you already keep your festival entries in an account of your own**, see
[Saving it to your account](#saving-it-to-your-account). It is optional, and
nothing on this page depends on it.

**Everything you save is live the moment you save it.** Nothing is reviewed,
nothing is approved, and there is no draft: press **Save changes** and the
judges reading your film — and the festival's own screens — read what you just
wrote.

## The email

**It reaches you in one of three ways**, and it is the same message each time:

- **on its own, within minutes of the festival bringing your entry in**, when
  the festival has chosen to send it to each submission as it comes in — once
  your entry is in one of the festival's categories;
- **when somebody at the festival sends it by hand** — to you alone, to a batch
  of submitters, or to everybody not yet invited with **Send to N now**;
- **because you asked for it**, by pressing **Email me a new link** on the page
  itself — see [Getting in](#getting-in).

It comes from "*the festival* via FilmScorecard".

### Which version you get

What it says depends on where judging has got to at the moment it is sent, and
on whether anything that counts toward your score is missing from your page.
**Judging has started only once the festival has opened it** — a start date
going by is not enough on its own.

| When it is sent | Something counted is missing | Nothing counted is missing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Before judging starts** | Subject: "*Your title*: two things to add before judging starts 10 October". Amber, with the list of what is missing. | Subject: "*Your title* is ready for judging on 10 October". Green, asking you to check your page. |
| **Judging is under way**, and no creative scorecard is filed on your submission yet | Subject: "*Your title*: two things to add while judging is under way". Amber, with the list. | Subject: "*Your title* is ready for judging". **Not sent in a batch resend** — see below. |
| **A creative scorecard is filed on your submission** | **Not sent in a batch resend**, as above. Otherwise the under-way version — without the questions panel, because your questions have locked. | The same. |
| **Judging has closed**, and selections are still to come | Sent by the rules of the two rows above — on its own too, if your entry arrives this late. It is the under-way version, under the same subject, but saying judging has closed and asking for what is missing before selections are announced — see [What it says](#what-it-says). | **Not sent in a batch resend**, as above: green, under the same subject. |
| **Your page has closed** — see [When the page says "Edits are closed"](#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed) | Never sent. | Never sent. |

**"Not sent in a batch resend" is a real rule.** When somebody at the festival
picks a group of submissions on its list and emails them all their links at
once, a submission that is already being scored, or that is under way with
nothing missing, is skipped and no email goes. The festival can see that it was
skipped, and why, on its own record of your submission. **Every other way the
email goes out sends it whatever judging has reached** — on its own as your
entry arrives, to you alone, or to everybody not yet sent it.

The count in the subject is a word — "one thing", "two things" — and the date
is dropped from the subject when the festival has not set one.

### What it says

Under the festival's name, a message sent before judging starts reads like this
— the festival, the title, the dates, the list, the link and the code are your
own:

> **RIVERSIDE SHORTS FESTIVAL FALL 2026 · JUDGING STARTS 10 OCTOBER**
>
> **Thank you for submitting The Lighthouse Keeper.**
>
> Judging for Riverside Shorts Festival Fall 2026 starts on Saturday 10 October.
> We're using FilmScorecard for our judging, so we've set up a private page for
> your submission using the details from your entry. Judges read your tagline,
> synopsis and statement from it when they score. It's private, not a public
> page.
>
> **These count toward your score.**
>
> Your entry didn't include a poster. Part of your score comes from what's on
> your page, and a blank field earns nothing toward it. Add it before Saturday
> 10 October, so every judge sees it. You can still add it after that.
>
> - Poster — **Missing**
>
> **Open your submission page**
>
> **ACCESS CODE** 4F2AKM7QR — Code expires in 30 days.
>
> **WHAT HAPPENS NEXT**
>
> - 10 Oct · Judging starts.
> - 6 Nov · Judging closes.
> - After 6 Nov · We email you when your results are ready. Your final score is
>   free, and you can buy the full scorecard to see every judge's scores and
>   feedback.
> - 20 Nov · Selections are announced, and every submitter hears whether their
>   submission was selected.
>
> **WHILE YOU'RE THERE**
>
> **Ask the judges two questions of your own.**
>
> Find out if the ending landed, which scene stuck, or anything else you've
> wondered. Every judge who reviews the creative side of your submission answers
> in their own words.
>
> “Which scene stayed with you after it ended?”
>
> “Did the ending feel earned?”
>
> The answers are part of your full scorecard, a paid unlock once results are
> released. Judges answer separately from scoring, so your questions never
> change your score. Add them before Saturday 10 October.

Then, at the foot: "**Questions about your entry?** Reply to this email and it
goes straight to the *festival* team." when the festival has an address for
replies; a short **About FilmScorecard** note; and "You're receiving this
because *your title* was entered in *the festival and season*. If you didn't
enter it, you can ignore this message." over the festival's postal address.

**With nothing counted missing**, the amber block is replaced by a green one:
"Please confirm your info is correct. Everything judges score came through from
your entry. Open your page to check it the way judges will see it on Saturday
10 October, and fix anything that's wrong or out of date."

**Once judging is under way** the message counts toward **judging closing**
instead: the line over the heading ends "Judging is under way", the body opens
"Judging for *the festival* is under way.", the deadline is "before judging
closes on 6 November 2026", the first date row reads "Judging started.", and
while nothing has been scored the list adds "Your submission hasn't been scored
yet, so there's still time." The questions panel ends "Add them before the
first judge scores your submission." — and is left out entirely once a creative
scorecard is filed.

**Once judging has closed**, and until selections are announced, the message
is the under-way one with three changes: the line over the heading ends
"Judging has closed", the body opens "Judging for *the festival* has closed, and
selections are still to come.", and the deadline is "before selections are
announced on 20 November 2026" — or "before selections are announced" when the
festival has not set the date. The subject, the date rows and the questions
panel are the under-way version's. **At a festival that keeps its press kit
score as judged — and every festival does unless it has chosen otherwise — the
list in this version is your press kit as it stood when judging closed**: a
field you have filled in since still reads **Missing**, and filling one in now
moves no points. See
[When the page says "Edits are closed"](#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed).

- **The dates are the festival's own, as dates only**, in its own time zone. A
  date the festival has not set drops its row, and with no start date the
  message says "before judging starts" instead of naming a day.
- **A start date that has already gone by is left out too.** If the festival's
  start date has passed but it has not opened judging yet, the message is still
  the before-judging one — and rather than name a day that is behind you, it
  says "before judging starts" and "when judging starts". Judging has not
  begun, and your questions are still open.
- **The list is only what is missing**, each row with an amber **Missing**
  pill: Tagline, Synopsis, your statement and Poster when they are blank, and
  **any other field that counts toward your score and is blank** — credits, a
  link, a contact detail, or something only the festival can fill in. Nothing
  is listed as filled in. Checks a person makes by reading your material are
  never listed. Fill the missing ones in, and they drop off the list in the next
  email you get — unless you filled them in after judging closed, at a festival
  keeping its press kit score as judged (above), where they still read
  **Missing**.
- **"Nothing counted is missing" is decided by what counts toward your score.**
  A season whose press kit carries no weight sends the green version whatever
  is blank.
- **The statement is named for what you entered** — a director's statement on a
  film, a writer's statement on a screenplay.
- **The button signs you in.** **Open your submission page** opens your page's
  overview and lets you straight in, in that browser, with no code to type —
  with your press kit across the top when the festival scores one; see
  [The featured tile](#the-featured-tile). The same link is printed under the
  button for a mail program that hides buttons.
- **The access code is printed too**, for opening the page on another device:
  type it into the page's code box — see [Getting in](#getting-in). "Code
  expires in 30 days" counts from this email.
- **A festival's email reuses your link and code.** If you already hold a live
  link from an earlier email, the festival's next one carries the same link and
  the same code, and gives them 30 more days from that send — so every email
  you have from the festival keeps working. Two things replace them: **your own
  Email me a new link** (see [Getting in](#getting-in)), and **age** — a link is
  never extended past 90 days from when it was made, so the festival's first
  email after that carries a new link and code, and the old ones stop working.
- **The festival's automatic email reaches you once.** Any copy after that is
  somebody at the festival sending it again, or you asking for a new link.
- **This is not your results email.** It can reach you at any point until
  selections are announced, and it carries no score, no rank and nothing a
  judge wrote. Results are a
  separate message later — see [Your scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-scorecard.md).
- **Your `SUB-` number is not in the email.** It identifies one submission
  across the whole of FilmScorecard and is printed on the page's code box, and
  under **Sent with your message** when you write to the festival from the
  page. Quote it if you write to the festival any other way.
- **The link never changes.** The same address shows the code box or your
  overview, before edits close and after — and a short "Edits are closed" card
  instead only if your submission is withdrawn or disqualified. See
  [When the page says "Edits are closed"](#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed).
- **The code goes only to the address the festival holds for your
  submission**, and that address is not something you can change from this
  page — see [What only the festival can change](#what-only-the-festival-can-change).
- **Replying reaches the festival** when it has given FilmScorecard an address
  for questions. If a reply bounces or goes unanswered, use **Contact the
  festival** on the page instead — see
  [Contacting the festival](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/contacting-the-festival.md).

## Getting in

**From the email, press Open your submission page.** The page opens with you
already in — no code to type — in that browser. The button works as often as you
press it while the link lasts, and an email program that checks links for you
cannot use it up or count it as a wrong try.

**On another device, or from a bare link**, use the code:

1. Open the link.
2. Type or paste the nine characters printed under the button in the email.
3. Press **Continue to your submission**, or the Enter key.

**One code box guards every page.** Open the address of any of them — the
overview, or a page under it such as `/submission/questions` — without having
proved who you are, and the code box is what you see; enter the code and that
page opens. **The code box, the code and Email me a new link go on working
after edits close**, because the overview stays open behind them — see
[When the page says "Edits are closed"](#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed).

The card is headed:

> **PRIVATE SUBMISSION PAGE**
>
> **Confirm it is you**
>
> Submission details can only be changed by the person who entered it. Anyone
> else with this link sees this page.

Under it a quiet block headed **Submission** names your film, its category or
categories, its `SUB-` number and the season — then the **Access code** box and
**Continue to your submission**. There is no **Save to your account** under it
for now — see [Saving it to your account](#saving-it-to-your-account).

Under the box sits a line saying where the code was sent: "In the email sent to
**c••••@example.test** on **10 Sep 2026**."

Under the card, a second, quieter box: "Codes expire 30 days after the latest email, at most 90 days after they were first sent. Asking for a new link replaces your code." and an **Email me a new link**
button.

**A link that no longer works lands you here, not on an error.** If the button
in an email has expired, or been replaced by a newer link, the card says so
above the code box — "That link has expired. We can email you a new one." —
and **Email me a new link** is the way back in.

**The code works exactly as your scorecard's code does, because it is the same
code.** One code per submission, whichever page you type it at: uppercase as
you type, nine characters, never the letters I, L, O or U or the digits 0 or 1,
five wrong tries in an hour then a fifteen-minute lockout, **Email me a new
link** with its 60-second wait, and 30 days per browser once a code has been
accepted. All of that, with every message the box can show, is
[Getting into your scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/getting-into-your-scorecard.md) — read it once
and it covers both pages.

Two things read differently here. The wording says "your email" rather than
"your results email", because the message you are looking for went out before
there were any results. And the button says **Continue to your submission**.

**If nobody emailed you a code but you have the link**, the line under the box
says so instead — "No code has been sent yet. Ask for one below and it goes to
**c••••@example.test**." Press **Email me a new link** and one is sent to the
address on your submission and nowhere else. A festival can hand the address
over by other means — a message, a call — without emailing anything, so this is
a normal state and not a fault.

**Asking for a new link replaces your link and your code.** The page answers
"New link queued. It can take a few minutes to arrive." with the time. Once it
is sent, **the button and the code in every earlier email stop working** —
the festival's emails included — and every device that got in before will ask
again, including the browser you are standing in. Use the newest email. **It
arrives as a short email of its own** — "Your new link for *the film*", with
the button and the access code under it — and because you asked, it is sent
whatever stage judging is at, and after edits close too (not for a withdrawn
or disqualified film).

**What a link holder sees and nothing more.** Without the code, this page shows
the film's title, its categories, its `SUB-` number and the season. No detail,
no synopsis, no poster, nothing about judging. Forwarding your link to somebody
gives them that page and nothing behind it. The exceptions are the festival's
own staff, who already hold your record — see
[What the festival sees](#what-the-festival-sees) — and you, signed in, once the
submission is saved to your account. **Forwarding the email is different**: its
button lets whoever presses it in, until the link expires or you ask for a new
one.

## The top of the page

**Once the festival has released your scorecard**, the bar at the very top of
the screen carries a **← Your scorecard** button at its right, which takes you
to it — on the overview and on every page under it. That is also the way back
after your scorecard's **Finish your press kit** sends you here. Before release
there is no such button.

Once you are in, the page opens on its **overview**, and the overview opens on
a dark header — the same look as the scorecard the festival sends you after
judging. From the top, it carries:

- **The festival and the season**, a small line in capitals — "RIVERSIDE
  SHORTS FESTIVAL · 2026 SEASON" — with the festival's logo beside it when it
  has one.
- **Your film's title**, large.
- **One line saying where things stand** — see the table below.
- **A row of chips**: each category your submission is entered in, and the
  runtime — `12:47`, or "94 pages" on a screenplay. A runtime the festival does
  not have is left out.
- **Your poster, on the right**, or a striped frame reading **No poster yet**.
  On a phone the poster is left out.

| Where things stand | The line reads |
| --- | --- |
| **The festival has not opened judging**, or its judging start date is not set or still ahead | "You're in for the 2026 season. Judging has not started yet. Here is everything you can do now." |
| **Judging is open**, and no judge has filed a creative scorecard on your submission | "You're in for the 2026 season. Judging runs all season, so a judge could open this any day. Here is everything you can do now." |
| **A creative scorecard has been filed** on your submission, and you can still edit | "Judges are scoring it now. Your details are still yours to update while they work." |
| **The same, after edits have closed** | "Judges are scoring it now. Your scorecard comes here when it is released." |
| **Your scorecard is released** | "Your scorecard is ready. Judging carries on for the rest of the season." |
| **The festival has finished the season** | "Your scorecard comes here when it is released." — "Your scorecard is ready." once it is — or, when no creative scorecard was ever filed on your submission, "If a scorecard is released for it, it comes here." |

**The line never names a date and never says judging has closed**, because a
festival goes on judging other films after yours has been scored.

**There is no link to the festival's public page here**, and no contact
details: to write to the festival, use the **Contact the festival** tile below.

## The overview

Under the dark header the overview is a set of **tiles**, one for each thing
you can do. Most tiles are one large button: press anywhere on it to open what
it names. The two exceptions are the Scorecard tile before your scorecard is
released, which has a button of its own inside it, and the Submission details
tile once edits have closed, which opens nothing. On a wide window the tiles
sit in two columns, with **Contact the
festival** sometimes running the full width under them; on a narrower window
they are one column.

| The tile | What it opens |
| --- | --- |
| **Submission details** | Your details, to correct — see [What you can change](#what-you-can-change). |
| **Questions for judges** | Your two questions — see [Your two questions for the judges](#your-two-questions-for-the-judges). |
| **Award consideration** | Only at a festival that offers it — see [Award consideration](#award-consideration). |
| **Scorecard** | Your scorecard once it is released; until then, **See how it's judged** — see [How it's judged](#how-its-judged). |
| **Contact the festival** | A message form — see [Contacting the festival](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/contacting-the-festival.md). |

**Moving between the overview and its pages is instant**, with nothing
reloaded. Each page opens at its top and has its own address, so **Back** and
**Forward** in your browser walk you through the pages you opened, and a page
can be opened in a new tab or bookmarked. Every page under the overview starts
with a small trail — **‹ *your film's title* / *the page's name*** — and the
title takes you back to the overview. The trail stays pinned to the top of the
window as you scroll, so the way back is always in reach.

**Nothing you have typed is lost when you move.** Changes you have not saved
yet stay with you on every page, and the save bar follows you — see
[Saving](#saving).

### The featured tile

**When you arrive from one of the festival's emails, one tile can be drawn
large, in indigo, across the full width under the header** — picked by the
email you came from:

| You came from | The featured tile |
| --- | --- |
| **The festival's email with your submission page** — its **Open your submission page** button | **Your press kit**: "Finish your press kit" with "2 of 4 items are still empty. A complete press kit gives judges the full picture and your submission its best shot at being selected.", or "Your press kit is complete" with "Every item is in, so judges get the full picture of your submission. You can still make changes until edits close." — a **Review your press kit** button, and beside it a white panel with your press kit points — when your press kit counts toward your score — and under them each item still empty, marked **Empty**. With nothing empty the panel shows only the points; with no points to show and nothing empty, there is no panel. Not drawn when your festival scores no press kit you can fill in. |
| **Your results email**, or an email from the festival with a promo code for your scorecard | **Your scorecard**: "Your scorecard is in", with what it holds and **View scorecard**. Only once your scorecard is released. |
| **Anything else** — a bookmark, the email you asked for with **Email me a new link**, typing the address | No featured tile. |

**The featured tile is never also one of the tiles below**, and pressing it
opens the same page its tile would. Once edits have closed, the press kit tile
reads "Edits are closed, so your press kit is final." — headed "Your press
kit", or "Your press kit is complete" — and has no button.

**One of the tiles below can also be tinted indigo**, to point you at it: the
Questions for judges tile while you can still ask, or otherwise the Scorecard
tile.

### Submission details

Headed **Keep your entry up to date**: "Change your tagline, synopsis, credits,
links and poster any time. Judges always see the latest version you save."

- **Your press kit points**, when your festival scores a press kit that counts
  toward your score: the points filled against the points available, with a
  coloured bar — **Press kit points · *its name*** for each one when you have
  two. See [The press-kit checklist](#the-press-kit-checklist).
- **Saved *date***, at its foot: the day you last saved, or the day the festival
  received your submission if you never have. After a save on this visit it
  reads "Saved today at 10:46", on your own clock.
- **Edit details ›**, which opens the Submission details page.
- **An amber *N* unsaved pill** while you have changes to your details or your
  poster that are not saved.

**Once edits have closed** the tile is no longer a button: it is headed "Edits
closed on 6 Jun 2026" — or "Edits are closed" — with "Your details are final.
Judges see the version you last saved." See
[When the page says "Edits are closed"](#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed).

### Questions for judges

Headed **Ask the judges anything**: "Answered on every creative scorecard and
sent back to you. They never count toward your score." Under it, two slots —
**QUESTION 1** and **QUESTION 2** — each showing what you have written, in
quotes, with how judges answer it ("Free text", or "Single choice: Yes / No /
Maybe"), or "Ask what only a judge can tell you" and "Room for a second
question" while they are empty. Its foot reads "Open until the first creative
scorecard", and its button **Write questions** — **Edit questions** once you
have written one. What you have typed but not saved shows here too, with an
amber ***N* unsaved** pill.

| When | The tile |
| --- | --- |
| **Your questions have locked** | "Your questions are with the judges", an amber **Locked** pill, "Locked *6 Jun 2026*" at its foot and **View questions**. An empty slot reads "Not added before the first scorecard". **With no question written, the tile is not drawn at all.** |
| **Edits have closed and your questions never locked** | "Questions are closed" — "Edits have closed, so your questions stay as they are. They never count toward your score." — "Edits closed on 6 Jun 2026" at its foot, and **View questions**. An empty slot reads "Not added before edits closed". |

### Award consideration

**This tile is there only at a festival that has switched award consideration
on for its season, and it opens a page of its own.** It lists the festival's
awards your submission could be considered for. It closes when the festival
announces its awards.

### Scorecard

**Before your scorecard is released**, the tile is headed **In the judges'
hands** under an indigo **Judging in progress** pill — or **Waiting for judging
to start** under **Judging not started** — and says "Judges score all season,
each in their own time. When your scorecard is released, we email
*your address* straight away." Under that:

- **YOUR SCORE** **??/100**. The question marks are all it ever shows: your
  score is never on this page.
- **COMING WITH IT**, listing only what your scorecard will really hold:
  "Scores from every judge"; "Written notes from every judge" where the
  festival asks its judges to write; and "Answers to your questions" when you
  asked some.
- **See how it's judged ›** — see [How it's judged](#how-its-judged).

At a festival that has finished its season, there is no pill: the tile is
headed **Waiting for release**, or **No scorecard yet** — with nothing listed
under **COMING WITH IT** — when no creative scorecard was ever filed on your
submission.

**Once your scorecard is released**, the tile reads **Your scorecard is in**:
"Find out what the judges really thought: every score, their written feedback
and their answers to your questions." The line names only what your scorecard
really holds — "…every score, plus their written feedback." when you asked no
questions, "…every score, plus their answers to your questions." where the
festival asks its judges for no written notes, and "Find out what the judges
really thought, score by score." with neither. Under it, **??/100** in large
figures with "Your score" beside it over an empty grey bar — drawn like your
press kit points — and **View scorecard**. **With a scorecard in two or more
categories**, there is one **??/100** row for each, labelled with the
category's name. The whole tile opens your scorecard.

### Contact the festival

Headed **Talk to *the festival***: "Questions about this submission go straight
to the festival." Its foot reads "Replies to *your address*", and **Send a
message** opens the form. **It is not there when the festival has given
FilmScorecard no address for questions.** See
[Contacting the festival](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/contacting-the-festival.md).

## Your two questions for the judges

The **Questions for judges** page is the one part of your submission page that
is not a correction to your record: **you may ask the judges up to two
questions of your own**. Open it from its tile on the overview.

Under its title — "Set them before the first creative scorecard is filed. The
answers come back to you on your scorecard." — a card sums it up:

> **Your questions never affect your score**
>
> Ask up to two questions only a judge can answer. Their answers come back to
> you as feedback, and never count toward scoring, selection or awards.
>
> **WHO ANSWERS** Creative judges reviewing your submission
> **WHEN THEY LOCK** Once judging starts on your submission
> **WHERE YOU SEE THE ANSWERS** On your scorecard
>
> Asking is free.

- **"Creative judges" is exact.** Creative judges answer your questions;
  technical reviewers never see them.
- **"Once judging starts on your submission" means the first creative
  scorecard filed on it** — see
  [When your questions lock](#when-your-questions-lock). Until the festival has
  opened judging and its start date has arrived, the line reads "Judging has
  not started yet. They lock once it starts on your submission."
- **The answers come back on your scorecard and nowhere else** — see
  [The questions you asked](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-scorecard.md#the-questions-you-asked).

### Already on the scorecard

Beside your questions — under them, on a narrower window — a panel headed
**Already on the scorecard** reads "Judges already answer these. Ask about
something they do not cover." Under it is **what the festival's own scorecards
already ask the judges** — the questions on the creative and technical
scorecards of every category your submission is entered in, as their answers
will be shown on your scorecard — and a **See how it's judged ›** link. Read it
before you write, so you do not spend one of your two questions on something
the judges already answer.

- **Each question is listed once.**
- **With one category — or several that ask the same questions — it is one
  list.** When your categories ask different questions, the list is grouped
  under each category's name.
- **It is the questions and nothing else.** No scores, no judges, no weights
  and no answers.
- **No such questions, no panel.** A festival whose scorecards carry none shows
  the page without it.

### Writing a question

With no question written, the page offers one card: "Your questions go to
every creative judge on this submission." and an **Add a question** button,
which opens a card headed **Question 1**. Once you have written something in
it, the same card comes back under it — "Both questions go to every creative
judge on this submission." and **Add a second question**; with two questions
there is no third.

1. **Type the question** in the box. A live `47/160` counter sits beside the
   heading. You can type or paste past 160 — the counter turns red, and the save
   is blocked until the question is back under it.
2. **Choose how judges answer**, under **JUDGES ANSWER WITH**:

   | The choice | The line under it | What the judge gets |
   | --- | --- | --- |
   | **Free text** | "Judges answer in a few sentences." | A box to write in. Where every new question starts. |
   | **1 to 10 scale** | "Judges pick a number from 1 to 10." | A row of ten cells. It is not added to your score. |
   | **Single choice** | "Judges pick one of your options." | Your own options, pick one. |

   **Yes / No is no longer offered** for a new question. A question you saved as
   Yes / No before keeps it, and it stays on the list for that question.
   **There is no tick-several kind.** A judge picks one of your options or none.

3. **For Single choice, write the options.** Two boxes appear under an
   **Options** label; **Add option** gives you a third and a fourth, and that
   is the ceiling. Once there are more than two boxes, each carries a small
   **×** that removes it; the last two never do. Each label stops at 60
   characters. The line under them is
   the rule: "Two to four options. Judges pick one. Empty options are dropped."
4. **Press Save changes** on the save bar. Nothing about a question is saved as
   you type, the same as everything else on your submission page, and the one
   save bar saves your questions and your details together — see
   [Saving](#saving).

**Remove this question** sits on every question card, the first one included:
remove them all and the page goes back to its single **Add a question** card.

Once a question is being written, one line closes the page: "Answering them is
optional, and a judge may skip any question they find inappropriate or that is
against our Terms of Service."

**Read "Your questions never affect your score" literally.** Nothing you ask
here touches your score, your rank, your awards or whether you are selected —
and that includes the 1-to-10 answer type, which is a number a judge gives
*you* and is never added to anything.

### When a question repeats the scorecard

**If your question names something on the
[Already on the scorecard](#already-on-the-scorecard) list**, an amber line
appears under the box as you type, saying how judges already answer it — for
example:

> Judges already score Pacing from 1 to 10. Ask about something a score will
> not tell you.

It matches whole words, in any capitals: "pacing" in "Was the pacing right?"
counts, "spacing" does not. When the scorecard asks for a yes or no, a pick from
options or a written answer, the line says so instead; when it cannot tell, it
reads "Judges already answer Pacing on the scorecard. Ask about something the
scorecard will not tell you."

**It is advice and nothing more.** It never stops a save, and the question is
saved exactly as you wrote it.

### The rules the save applies

Your questions are tidied on the way in, and only two things can actually stop
a save:

| What you did | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| Left a question's box empty | **It is dropped, silently and on purpose.** An empty second card is how you say you are only asking one thing. It is not an error and nothing complains. |
| Left blank option boxes on a Single choice | They are dropped. Two filled out of four means two options. The **×** beside a box removes it outright. |
| Filled in exactly **one** option on a Single choice | **The question is saved as a free-text question instead**, because a list of one asks nothing. It comes back on the page as **Free text**. |
| Wrote a question over 160 characters | **The save is blocked** with "Write the question in 160 characters or fewer." under the box. |
| Filled in **no** options on a Single choice | **The save is blocked** with "Give judges at least two options, or switch to free text." under the options. |
| Removed the first of two questions | The second is promoted to **Question 1**. |
| Wrote spaces at either end | Trimmed off. |

**When a save is blocked, it takes you to the problem**: wherever you pressed
**Save changes**, the Questions for judges page opens at its top, with "Fix the
fields marked below, then save." above the cards and the message under the
question itself. Nothing is saved — your details included — until it is fixed.

**A half-finished question still counts as an unsaved change**, so the save bar
appears and the count includes it. That is deliberate: pressing **Save changes**
is what puts the message under the card that tells you what is wrong. Without
it, a question you never finished would quietly vanish on the next reload.

### Changing your mind before judging starts

Until your questions lock — and while edits are open — you can edit a question,
change its answer type, rewrite its options or remove it entirely. Two consequences, and both
only ever touch work nobody has filed:

- **Changing a question throws away the half-written answers to it.** A judge
  who has your film open and has already answered that question loses that one
  answer, and answers it again against your new wording the next time they
  open the film. Nothing else on their card is touched.
- **Removing a question deletes them.** Same rule, same scope.
- **Leaving a question exactly as it was costs nothing**, even when you save
  the page ten times for other reasons. A question that has not changed is not
  touched, and nobody's part-written answer to it is disturbed.

**None of this can reach a scorecard that has been filed.** The moment one is,
you cannot change a question at all.

### When your questions lock

**The first filed creative scorecard for your submission locks your questions,
for good.** No editing, no adding, no removing — by you or by anybody.

What locks it:

- **any creative scorecard being filed**, by a judge or by a member of the
  festival's staff;
- **and it stays locked** even if the festival later withdraws that scorecard.
  A question that has been answered cannot be un-asked.

What does **not** lock it:

- **A judge holding your film but not yet filing.** They are still typing; you
  can still change the question, which is exactly the window the rule above
  is about.
- **A filed technical review or press-kit card.** Neither of those ever shows
  your questions, so neither one has seen them.

**If the lock lands while you have the page open**, your save still goes
through for everything else. The Questions for judges page redraws itself
locked, and a red line appears at the foot of the page you are on:

> Questions locked while this page was open. Everything else was saved.

Your tagline, your synopsis and anything else you were editing are saved. Only
the questions were skipped.

### The locked page

Once locked, the page becomes a plain record of what you asked. At the right of
its title it reads **LOCKED** — "Since 6 Jun 2026, when the first creative
scorecard was filed." — and the summary card's **WHEN THEY LOCK** reads
"Locked since 6 Jun 2026, when judging started on your submission".

**With questions on it**, each is a card of its own, **Question 1** and
**Question 2**: the question as you wrote it, a pill naming its answer type —
**Free text**, **Yes / No**, **1 to 10 scale** or **Single choice** — and, for a
single choice, your options joined by slashes.

**With no questions on it**, one quiet block reads **No questions were added**:
"The first creative scorecard for this submission was filed on 6 Jun 2026, so
questions can no longer be added. Creative judges answer the festival's
questions only, and your scorecard still carries every one of their scores."
The overview leaves its Questions for judges tile out altogether.

**The Already on the scorecard panel stays**, reading "Judges already answer
these on the scorecard."

### What this page never tells you

While judging is running, the page is a record of what *you* wrote and nothing
else. It does not carry, and never has carried:

- **any answer**, or a hint of one;
- **how many judges have answered**, or how many are still to come;
- **who they are.**

**The one thing it gives away is the date the lock landed**, because a lock
nobody can date reads as arbitrary. That date tells you somebody filed a
creative scorecard on your film that day, and nothing else. Everything the
judges actually wrote is on [your scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-scorecard.md), later.

## How it's judged

**See how it's judged**, on the overview's Scorecard tile and under the
Already on the scorecard panel, opens **the scorecard every judge fills in for
your category — empty**. Your own scorecard comes back in the same layout,
scored. "This is the scorecard every judge fills in for Narrative Short at
Riverside Shorts Festival. Yours comes back in the same layout, scored." The
category's name and "Scored out of 100" sit at the right of the title.

**Entered in more than one category?** A tab for each sits under the title, and
each tab is that category's own scorecard.

The scorecard has up to three sections, each with **its points** — its share of
the 100 — in large figures at its right:

| Section | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Creative** | "Each creative judge answers these on their own scorecard." Every question with an empty version of its answer on its own line under it: ten cells for a 1-to-10 scale, **Yes** and **No**, the options for a choice, or a box reading "Written answer". **Strengths** and **Opportunities** boxes — "Written by judges" — where the festival asks its judges to write. And, when you have saved questions of your own, a tinted block headed **YOUR QUESTIONS, ASKED OF EVERY CREATIVE JUDGE** with each of them and "Not scored. The answers come back to you." |
| **Technical** | Each check with the points it is worth. |
| **Press kit** | "Scored from your submission details. Each item counts in full or not at all." Each item with its points and a **Filled** or **Empty** pill, which change when you save your details. While you can still edit, **Edit submission details ›** opens the form. |

**A section the festival gives no weight in your category is left out.** At
the foot, **Overall score** reads **??/100** — your score is never on this
page — and under the card: "Every judge scores on their own and never sees
another judge's scorecard."

- **Nothing here is about your film's judging so far.** No judges, no count of
  them and no scores: only the questions, the points each section is worth, and
  whether your own press kit items are filled.
- **"This festival hasn't set up a scorecard for your category yet."** means
  just that; ask the festival. "The festival has not set up a scorecard for
  *category*." is the same, for one of your tabs.
- **"We couldn't load this right now. Reload the page."** is a passing fault.

## What you can change

**Edit details** on the overview opens the **Submission details** page. Under
its title — "Change your tagline, synopsis, credits, links, contact details and
poster. Judges always see the latest version you save, and the fields marked
Press kit add to your press kit score." — and the save status at its right (see
[Saving](#saving)), it holds fifteen fields — fourteen on a screenplay with no
**Trailer** box — and the poster. The fields are in five cards down the left of
the screen, with the press-kit checklist, the poster and the **Set by the
festival** card on the right. On a narrower window the page is one column — the
press-kit checklist, then these five cards, then the poster and the **Set by
the festival** card — and on a phone every card runs edge to edge, the full
width of the screen.

**The page is there only while edits are open.** Afterwards its address shows
the overview instead — see
[When the page says "Edits are closed"](#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed).

| The card | What is in it |
| --- | --- |
| **Tagline** | **Tagline** — one line, with a live `47/120` counter beside the label. |
| **Synopsis and statement** | **Synopsis**, with a live word count, and the statement box below it — headed **Director's statement** on a film and **Writer's statement** on a screenplay. |
| **Credits** | **Directors**, **Writers**, **Producers**, **Key cast**. Separate names with commas. |
| **Links** | **Trailer**, **Website**, **Instagram**. Public links only — the private screener link is the festival's. **On a screenplay, Trailer is there only when the festival's press kit scores a trailer**, or one is already saved. |
| **Contact** | **First name**, **Last name**, **City**, **State or region**, **Phone**. Your **Email** is shown here but cannot be typed in. |

Rules worth knowing before you type:

- **Clearing a box and saving removes that value.** A box of spaces counts as
  empty.
- **The tagline can be at most 120 characters on this page.** Over that, the
  message "A tagline can be at most 120 characters here. Shorten it to save."
  appears under the field and **Save changes** refuses until you shorten it.
  **If the festival already has a longer tagline on file**, the counter is red
  when you arrive and the message joins it the first time you press **Save
  changes** — it is not something you did, and shortening the line is the only
  way to save anything else, your questions included.
- **The trailer must be a full link starting with `https://`.** Any host is
  accepted. A link that is not one is refused with "Enter a full link starting
  with https://." — **and that message is there as soon as you open the page
  when the festival's own copy of the link is not one**, so a link the festival
  imported badly is pointed out the moment you can fix it.
- **Website, Instagram and Phone are not checked at all.** Whatever you type is
  what is stored.
- **First name and Last name together become the name the festival's list
  shows.** Clearing both leaves the existing name alone — a blank pair is not
  an instruction to forget who submitted this.
- **"Up to 150 words" under the synopsis is guidance and never blocks
  anything.** The word count beside the label is there to help you judge it.
- **Very long text is refused.** The synopsis, the statement and each credits
  box hold up to 20,000 characters; Website, Instagram, Phone, the two names,
  City and State or region hold up to 4,000. Past those limits **Save changes**
  takes you to the top of this page with "Fix the fields marked below, then
  save." and a message under the box that is too long, and nothing is saved
  until you shorten it.

## What only the festival can change

The **Set by the festival** card, in the right-hand column under the poster,
carries a **LOCKED** pill and lists what is not yours to edit:

| The row | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Title** | Your film's title as the festival holds it. |
| **Category** | Every category your submission competes in, comma-separated. |
| **Runtime** — or **Length** on a screenplay | `12:47`, or `94 pages`. **Not on file** when nobody has measured it. |
| **Screener link** — or **PDF link** on a screenplay | The host only — `vimeo.com/••••••••`. **Not on file** when there is none. |
| **Screener password** — or **PDF password** on a screenplay | `••••••••`, or **Not on file**. The dots are always eight, whatever the password is. |
| **Submitted** | The date the festival received your submission. |

Under the rows: "A new title, contact email, screener, password or category is a
festival decision. Ask and they will update it on their side." A quiet **Write
to the festival** button opens the **Contact the festival** form with **My
entry** chosen — see [Contacting the festival](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/contacting-the-festival.md).
**When the festival has given FilmScorecard no address for questions, that
button is not there** — reply to whoever wrote to you instead.

**Your contact email is on the same list**, even though it sits in the Contact
card with the fields you can type in. Access codes and results go to it, so
changing it is the festival's decision, not yours.

## The press-kit checklist

Some festivals score a **press kit** — a check that the submission's own record
is complete — and when yours does, you see it in these places.

**On the overview**, the Submission details tile carries your press kit points
— a large **`12`/`20`**, the points filled against the points available, with a
coloured bar — when the press kit counts toward your score in at least one of
your categories. Arrive from the festival's email and the featured tile across
the top lists every item still **Empty** — see
[The featured tile](#the-featured-tile).

**The checklist**, at the top of the right-hand column of the Submission
details page — on a narrower window, above the form. It does not follow you as
you scroll. It reads, in order:

- **Press kit** as its heading, or **Press kit · *its name*** when your
  submission is in two categories with two different press kits — one card for
  each.
- "Fill in every field marked Press kit to earn the full press kit points and
  give your submission its best chance in the rankings." — "the field" when
  there is only one.
- **The score**: **PRESS KIT POINTS** over a large **`12`/`20`** figure, with a
  coloured bar under it and "3 of 4 items filled." The bar takes the same
  colours your scorecard uses for a score of that size.
- One row per item: the festival's own name for the item, a smaller line saying
  which field it watches — "From Synopsis" — and a green tick when it is filled
  or a red cross when it is empty. **A row for a field on this page ends in a
  ›**.

**Press a row with a › to go to its field.** The page scrolls that field to the
middle of the screen and puts your cursor in it, ready to type. The **Poster**
row takes you to the [Poster](#the-poster) card, and a row for your contact
email to the email shown in the Contact card. A row for something this page
does not edit — a genre, a completion year — has no › and does nothing when
pressed.

**A mark beside every field on the form that one of those items watches**: a
small green tick once it is filled, or an amber **Missing** while it is empty.

**On a phone, the count follows you down the Submission details page.** Once
the page's title has scrolled out of sight, a slim dark strip slides in across
the top of the screen:

> **PRESS KIT** 3/5 filled ›

Tap it and the page jumps back to the checklist. Scroll back up to the title
and the strip slides away again. With two press kits it shows both counts side
by side.

Six things about it:

- **Nothing here is a fixed number.** How many items a press kit holds, and
  what each one is worth, is the festival's own setting. Two festivals will not
  show the same figures, and neither will two categories at one festival.
- **The figures move when you save, not while you type.** Fill in a synopsis
  and nothing changes until you press **Save changes**; then its row and its
  field turn to a tick, and the score on the checklist, the overview's
  Submission details tile, How it's judged and the phone's strip rise
  together. A change you never save never counts, so the figures only
  ever show what the festival actually holds. **After judging closes, at a
  festival that keeps its press kit score as judged, a save moves nothing
  here**: the figures stay as your press kit stood when judging closed — see
  [When the page says "Edits are closed"](#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed).
- **An item counts in full or not at all.** Anything in the field satisfies it;
  length and quality are not measured here.
- **The checklist names fields the way the festival's screens do**, which is
  not always the label on the form beside it — "From Cast" is the **Key cast**
  box, "From Trailer URL" is **Trailer**, "From Project website" is
  **Website**, "From Submitter phone" is **Phone**.
- **Some items are not yours to fill.** A press kit can watch a field this page
  does not edit — a genre, a completion year — and those rows are listed with
  their real state and never move while you work. Ask the festival.
- **Some items are not on the list at all.** A press kit can also carry checks
  a person makes by reading your material. Those are neither listed nor counted
  here, so the score on this page is not the whole of what your press kit is
  worth.

**No press kit, no card.** A submission whose categories carry no press kit —
or whose press kit is all human judgement — shows no press kit points on the
overview, no checklist, no strip on a phone and no marks beside the fields.

**Your own questions are not part of your press kit**, and asking none costs
you nothing on it.

## The poster

The **Poster** card sits at the top of the right-hand column when there is no
press kit, and under it when there is.

**What the file may be:** "Portrait, 2:3. JPG, PNG or WebP, at least 1200 by
1800, under 10 MB." — the card says so itself.

| The button | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Replace poster** | Choose an image from your computer. It is checked, prepared, and shown straight away as a preview. |
| **Keep the old one** | Appears once you have chosen a file. Throws the choice away. |

Under the frame, a caption:

- **Current poster · 1067 × 1600** for the poster already on file. The
  dimensions are measured by your own browser as the image loads, which is why
  they appear a moment after the picture does.
- **No poster yet** with a striped frame when there is none.
- **poster.jpg · 1067 × 1600, 0.4 MB** for a file you have just chosen, with
  "Replaces the current poster when you save." under it. **That line describes
  the prepared copy, not the file you picked** — see the next section — so it
  always says `poster.jpg`, and its size and dimensions are smaller than your
  original's.

Six things to know:

- **Choosing a file does not upload it.** It is uploaded when you press **Save
  changes**, along with everything else.
- **Your image is prepared in your browser before it goes anywhere.** Once it
  passes the checks it is fitted to 1,600 pixels on its longer side — a 2:3
  poster comes out at 1067 × 1600 — any transparent areas are flattened onto
  white, and it is saved as a JPEG. The preview, the caption and what the
  festival keeps are all that prepared copy; the file on your computer is not
  touched. If your browser cannot prepare it, the file goes up exactly as you
  chose it.
- **The minimum size is checked on the file you pick, not on the prepared
  copy.** A 1200 × 1800 image is accepted and then kept at 1067 × 1600 — that
  is not a fault.
- **A file that is refused changes nothing.** Wrong type, too large or too
  small is a red line inside this card — "Posters must be a PNG, JPEG or WebP
  image.", "That poster is over 10 MB. Upload a smaller file.", "This image is
  800 × 1200. It needs to be at least 1200 by 1800." — and the poster on file
  stays exactly as it was. Nothing becomes unsaved.
- **The pixel check happens in your browser.** An image the festival's own
  screens accept could still be refused here by a browser that cannot read the
  file, which is reported as "Use a JPG, PNG or WebP file." Re-save it as an
  ordinary JPG or PNG and try again.
- **2:3 is what the frame shows, not a rule.** Only the minimum size is
  checked; a square image is accepted and will be cropped by the frame.

**There is no way to remove a poster from this page.** Uploading another
replaces it; if you need it gone, ask the festival.

## Saving

**Nothing is saved as you type.** The moment anything has changed, a bar
appears at the bottom of the screen:

> **3 changes not saved yet.**  **Discard changes**  **Save changes**

**It is one bar for the whole of your submission page.** Change your tagline,
go to Questions for judges and write a question, go back to the overview: the
bar is there on every page, counts both changes, and **Save changes** saves all
of it at once, wherever you press it. On the overview, the Submission details
and Questions for judges tiles each carry an amber ***N* unsaved** pill for the
changes that are theirs.

On a wider screen it floats just above the bottom of the window. **On a phone
it is a full-width bar along the bottom edge**, with **Discard changes** and
**Save changes** side by side under the count.

- **The count is fields, and a chosen poster counts as one.** **So does each
  question you have changed** — edit both and the count goes up by two.
- **Discard changes** puts every field, the poster and both questions back to
  the last saved state, on every page, and the bar disappears.
- **Moving between the overview and its pages keeps everything**, but
  **closing the tab or reloading throws away anything unsaved**, without
  asking.

The save status, at the right of the Submission details page's title, says
where you stand. **When you arrive it is empty**; it speaks only once something
is happening:

| It reads | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Unsaved changes** / "3 fields have changed since the last save." | You have changes that are not saved. |
| **Saving** / "Writing your changes." | The save is running. |
| **Last saved** / "Saved today at 10:46." | The save you just made on this visit, on your own clock. |

**Only the fields you changed are sent.** So if the festival corrects something
you did not touch while you have this page open, their correction survives your
save — and yours survives theirs. If you both change the same field, whichever
saves last wins, with no warning and no merge.

**Your questions are the exception to that rule, and only among themselves.**
When any question has changed, both of them are sent together and rewritten as
a pair — which is why removing one promotes the other rather than leaving a
gap. Nothing else on the page is affected.

## When a save fails

Every one of these but the first appears as a red line just above the save bar.
**A failed save never clears what you typed**: your changes stay on the screen,
and on every page, until you save them or discard them.

| The message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Fix the fields marked below, then save. | A field rule is broken — the tagline is over 120 characters, the trailer is not an `https://` link, a box is over its length limit, or a question is over 160 characters or is a **Single choice** with no options filled in. Nothing was sent anywhere. **The page holding the field opens at its top**, whichever page you pressed Save on — Submission details for your details, Questions for judges for a question — with this line above it, and the fields themselves are now marked. |
| Questions locked while this page was open. Everything else was saved. | Somebody filed the first creative scorecard on your film between your opening this page and your pressing Save. **This is a success, not a failure** — everything except the questions was saved, and the Questions for judges page has already redrawn itself locked. See [When your questions lock](#when-your-questions-lock). |
| The poster did not finish uploading. Nothing was saved. Try again. | The image never reached FilmScorecard. **Nothing at all was saved**, your typing is still there and the chosen poster is still previewed — press **Save changes** again. |
| Your poster uploaded, but the rest did not save. Try again. | The two halves came apart. **The new poster is live** and your text is not. Press **Save changes** again; you do not need to choose the file a second time. |
| Edits closed while you were working. Nothing was saved. | The festival's window shut between your opening the page and your pressing Save. What you typed stays on the screen, so you can copy anything you need, but it cannot be saved; the next time you open the page, it shows that edits are closed. See [When the page says "Edits are closed"](#when-the-page-says-edits-are-closed). |
| Your changes could not be saved just now. Nothing has changed. Try again in a moment. | Something went wrong between your browser and FilmScorecard. Your changes are still on the screen; try once more. |

**The poster and the text can come apart, and only in that one direction.** A
poster that fails to upload stops the save before anything is written; a poster
that uploads and then meets a failed save is already live. The message says
which happened, so read it rather than guessing.

## When the page says "Edits are closed"

Three things close your page to edits, and any one of them is enough:

1. **The festival's selection date arrives**, in the festival's own time zone.
   A season with no selection date set stays open.
2. **The festival finishes or archives the season.**
3. **The submission was withdrawn or disqualified.**

**After either of the first two, your page still opens**, behind the same code
— the overview, and every page you can still use:

- **The Submission details tile says edits are closed**: "Edits closed on 6 Jun
  2026" — the festival's selection date — or, in a season the festival has
  finished, "Edits are closed", with "Your details are final. Judges see the
  version you last saved." It no longer opens anything, and the Submission
  details page's own address shows the overview instead.
- **Your questions are read-only.** Questions for judges shows what you saved,
  with "Edits have closed, so your questions stay as they are." under its title
  and "Closed with your other edits" under **WHEN THEY LOCK**; with none saved
  it reads **No questions were added** — "No questions were added before edits
  closed." Questions that had already locked stay as described in
  [The locked page](#the-locked-page).
- **How it's judged, the Scorecard tile and Contact the festival work as
  before**, and so do the **← Your scorecard** button, the code and **Email me
  a new link**.
- **Arriving from the festival's email**, the featured press kit tile reads
  "Edits are closed, so your press kit is final." and has no button.

**A withdrawn or disqualified submission gets a short card instead**, at every
address of the page:

> **PRIVATE SUBMISSION PAGE**
>
> **Edits are closed**
>
> *the Submission block, naming your film*
>
> Edits are closed. The record is final.

- **No code is asked for**, and none would help. This is what a link holder
  sees whether or not they ever had one.
- **A quiet View scorecard link appears once your scorecard exists.** Nothing
  is drawn where it would be until then.
- **There is no Save to your account here.** See
  [Saving it to your account](#saving-it-to-your-account).

**Judging closing does not close the page to edits, and neither does your
scorecard being released.** Until selections are announced you can go on
editing your page, and it opens with a **← Your scorecard** button once your
scorecard is out — see [The top of the page](#the-top-of-the-page).

**After judging closes, an edit may no longer change your score.** A festival
can keep your press kit's score as it stood when judging closed, and every
festival does unless it has chosen otherwise. There, anything you save after
judging closes is kept, and shown in its box and on the festival's own screens,
but it moves no points: the checklist's ticks and crosses, its press kit
points and the overview's, the Filled and Empty pills on How it's judged, the
strip on a phone and the marks beside the fields all stay as they were when
judging closed — so a field you have just filled in can still
read **Missing**. It works both ways: emptying a field that was filled costs
you nothing either. Your scorecard counts the same press kit. The page does not
say which way your festival works; ask the festival.

**A festival that moves its selection date later re-opens the page to
edits.** If you were told edits had closed and the page now lets you edit again,
that is the festival
changing its mind about when selections are announced, not a fault.

**Nothing is lost when edits close.** The record is exactly as you left it;
what has gone is your ability to change it. Your questions, and the answers to
them, are unaffected — they are part of your scorecard now. And unless your
submission was withdrawn or disqualified, you can still write to the festival —
see [Contacting the festival](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/contacting-the-festival.md).

## Saving it to your account

**Save to your account is switched off for now**, on this page as on your
scorecard: the code card shows only **Continue to your submission**, and the
bar across the top never offers it. The rest of this section is how it works
once it is turned back on.

**The code card is the one place this page offers Save to your account**, under
**Continue to your submission** — to anybody but the account the submission is
already saved to, signed in or signed out. Once you are in, the bar across the
top does not offer it.

Press it on the code card, after typing the code, which is checked exactly as
**Continue** checks it. It reads **Saving…** while it works. **Signed out, it
takes you to the log-in screen first**, and the save finishes when you come
back. Then:

- **Your account already has a project:** the submission joins one of your
  projects in [Your projects](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-projects.md), and **the page you were on**
  — the overview, or whichever page under it you opened the code card on —
  opens again as yours.
- **Your account has no project yet:** you go to the welcome screen, which
  starts with this submission. See
  [Your first project](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-first-project.md).

**A refusal still lets you in**, because your code was right: the page opens
as usual, and **Save to your account** appears at the right of the bar across
the top — the only time it does — with the reason beside it in amber. Nothing
is saved. "This entry is already saved to another account." means somebody
else has saved it. The other refusals are in
[When Save to your account is refused](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/saving-a-submission-to-your-account.md#when-save-to-your-account-is-refused).

**Keep it, on your scorecard, is switched off too.** In the meantime, **a
submission entered under the address you log in with is saved to your account
by itself** once your account has a project, and one under another address can
be added to a project with its access code — see
[Your festival entries](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-festival-entries.md#adding-an-entry-with-its-access-code). Everything about that — which
project it joins and when it can be refused — is
[Saving a submission to your account](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/saving-a-submission-to-your-account.md).

**Once it is saved, this page opens without a code** whenever you are signed in
to that account. Everything on it works as it does with the code: saving your
changes, your questions and the poster, and Contact the festival. The code and
the email's button still work too, in any browser.

**Saving it to your account changes nothing for the festival.** They keep
their copy of your submission and go on editing it as before; what you keep in
your own projects never reaches it unless you send it. See
[Sending something to a festival](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-notifications.md#sending-something-to-a-festival).

## What the festival sees

- **Your edits land immediately** on the festival's own screens, and judges
  read them the next time they open your film.
- **The festival can see what you changed.** One line on its copy of the record
  says "Edited by the submitter on 10 Sep 2026.", and its staff can open a
  history of your saves that lists each field you changed, with what it said
  before and what it says now. Those entries carry the submitter's name as the
  festival's record has it — or "The submitter" when it has none — marked
  **Submitter**. **Your questions are not listed in that history**, because
  they are not fields on the record; saving one does still move the "Edited by
  the submitter" date.
- **Their staff can open this page itself, without your code.** Anyone signed
  in who works on this festival can read the overview and every page under it
  exactly as you see them — same fields, same questions in whichever state they
  are really in, same press-kit card, same poster — with a **Viewing as staff**
  note at the top of their screen on a wider window, in place of the **← Your
  scorecard** button, and no press-kit strip on a phone. **They cannot type in
  it, save anything, write or remove a question, replace your poster or send a
  message as you from there**: their Contact the festival form reads "Preview
  only. Staff cannot send a message as the filmmaker." When
  the festival changes your record it is done on their own screens and recorded
  under their name, in the same history as your saves. Their visits are not
  recorded, nothing they do there is recorded as yours, and their reading never
  uses up one of your code tries or replaces your code.
- **The festival can see when you open this page.** Its record of your
  submission shows when you opened it, which of its emails you came from when
  you followed a link in one, and when you entered your code here. A visit
  counts once the page has been on your screen for 2 seconds, so a mail program
  checking the link is not counted. **Anyone using your link or your code is
  counted as you.** Nothing on the page tells you this; the whole list, for
  both your pages, is in
  [What the festival sees of your visits](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-scorecard.md#what-the-festival-sees-of-your-visits).
- **FilmScorecard keeps a record of how this page is used**, to run the
  platform and improve it: how long it is on screen, which of its pages you
  open, which fields the form refused (never what you typed), whether a poster
  upload worked, whether you
  left with changes unsaved, when something fails, and whether you are on a
  phone, a tablet or a desktop. Only FilmScorecard reads it — never the
  festival, never anyone else, never sold — and it is deleted after 25 months.
- **Coordinators answer your questions too.** A festival that fills in a
  creative scorecard itself — instead of waiting for a judge — answers your
  questions on the same form, and their answers reach you as one more numbered
  judge, with nothing saying they were staff.
- **The festival can see every email it sent you about this submission** — or
  tried to — on its own record: which email, the address, when, and whether it
  was sent, failed or was not sent and why. Once one is sent, it can also see
  whether it was delivered, delayed, bounced or marked as spam, with the reason
  given for a bounce. It never keeps a copy of what the email said.
- **Messages you send with Contact the festival are emailed to it**, and its
  record of your submission notes each one with its topic. See
  [Contacting the festival](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/contacting-the-festival.md).
- **Nobody is notified and nothing is approved.** There is no review step for
  what you write here, questions included.
- **You are never shown anything a judge scored or wrote.** No scores — your
  score is **??/100** everywhere on this page — no ranks, no judge names or
  counts, nothing about whether your film was selected, and nothing about any
  other submission. The most it says is whether a creative scorecard has been
  filed on your film yet. That is true before you enter your code and after.

## Related guides

- [Your scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/your-scorecard.md) — the separate page your results email
  leads to, by way of this page's overview, and where the answers to your two
  questions arrive.
- [Getting into your scorecard](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/getting-into-your-scorecard.md) — the
  nine-character code in full: the lockout, asking for a new one, and every
  message the code box can show. **The same code opens both pages.**
- [Saving a submission to your account](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/saving-a-submission-to-your-account.md)
  — keeping your festival entries together in an account of your own.
- [Contacting the festival](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/contacting-the-festival.md) — the message form on
  this page and on your scorecard: what it sends, who reads it, and how the
  reply comes back.
- [Page not found](https://www.filmscorecard.com/help/page-not-found.md) — what a link that is wrong, cut in
  half by a mail program, or not for a submission that exists actually shows
  you.