The DC Shorts Film Festival will take place September 2019 at locations throughout Washington, DC.
The DC Shorts Screenwriting Competition will take place September 19 – 28, 2019 at a Washington, DC location.
Learning how to be a reviewer is super simple with our “Online Film Reviewer Training”. Through our “Online Reviewer Training you will learn about how DC Shorts scores films with our online scoring software. (COMMITMENT: 2 to 3 hours)
FOR FILM SCREENERS
From March through May, you will be asked to watch between 40 to 50 films. Each film must be reviewed online — so that adds another 2 hours of processing time. (COMMITMENT: 12 to 15 hours over 3 to 5 days)
FOR SCRIPT READERS
In May, you will be asked to read between 10 and 20 scripts (each no more than 15 pages). Each script must be scored and critiqued online — so that adds another 3-5 hours of processing time. (COMMITMENT: 12 to 15 hours over 3 to 5 days)
FOR EVERYONE (in the DC area)
During the festival weekend, you are required to volunteer at the festival, and will be assigned two shifts. This may include ushering, box office, party assistance, or collecting donations from our partners. After the festival, there will be a BIG party to thank you for all of your hard work. And we will need it! (COMMITMENT: 6 to 8 hours over 11 days.)
Once you sign up you will be notified as to when “Online Reviewer Training” is accessible.
If you believe you can do both with verve and vigor, then sure. But remember, that is a total time commitment of more than 30 hours — that’s like a part-time job.
We hope that by planning now, you can prepare for planned travel and other commitments through the spring and fall. While we understand that things come up, if you need to resign, we will miss you.
It is also critical that films are screened by people with a passion for film, so, you will not be turned away from becoming a screener. However, we will require you to volunteer at some time before the festival at either another event or in our offices during the weekend.
The training is critical to the process — even for those who have reviewed films for us in the past. The training requires a great deal of resources from our office. Therefore, if you cannot go through the online training, you cannot serve. There are no exceptions to this policy.
No. This year everyone is reviewing films independently and online. So you can do this on your own schedule.
Thank you for your commitment in the past. Last year we have changed the system substantially, and creating “Online Reviewer Training” and it is required by all screeners to review the online training – no exceptions.
All reviewers need access to a laptop or desktop computer that has the capability to watch online films from services such as youtube.com, vimeo.com, vhx.tv and others. While optional, we also recommend using a Chromecast or AppleTV unit to “stream” the films to a larger screen. iPads and most tablets are not sufficient.
Please email the office at review@dcshorts.com. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
This year, the DC Shorts Film Festival and Screenplay Competitions expect a record number of films and scripts to be entered! In order to process these entries, we require the integrity and dedication of our volunteer screeners and readers.