DC Shorts Film Festival

DC Shorts Film Festival

The Rules & Screening License Agreement

Please read this License Agreement (hereafter, “Agreement”) carefully before you submit your film. By submitting your film, you expressly acknowledge and agree that you shall be bound by the terms of this agreement.

DC SHORTS FILM COMPETITIONS

  1. GUIDELINES FOR ALL FILMS. (a) Films must have been completed after January 1, 2005. (b) Films must not exceed 20 minutes in length, including credits. (c) All non-English language films must have English subtitles. (d) A separate entry form and additional entry fee must be submitted for each film.
  2. ENTRY FORM AND PREVIEW MATERIALS FOR ALL FILMS. All films must be submitted and paid for through withoutabox.com. Illegible or incomplete entry forms will not be accepted. Entry forms that do not include full payment of entry fees by May 1, 2008 will not be accepted. Preview copies must arrive to the Festival offices by May 1, 2008. We can only preview films DVD (NTSC or PAL) — all other formats will be discarded and the entry not accepted. Preview media will NOT be returned. Preview media must be labeled with the title, running time and contact information. Do not send film prints, master media or other originals. DC Shorts, its members, directors, employees, and volunteers are not responsible for lost, misplaced, and undelivered film and media. Films must be sent to DC Shorts, 1317 F Street, NW, Suite 920, Washington, DC 20004 USA. Label the outside of your package FOR FESTIVAL PREVIEW ONLY Ð NO COMMERCIAL VALUE. (a) Do not value the package any higher than $10 USD. (b) Do not send media in fiber-filled envelopes as the dust can damage media and viewing equipment. (c) Submissions may not be withdrawn from the Festival once they have been entered, except at the sole discretion of the Festival directors. (d) There are no refunds for entries with incomplete entry forms, or incorrectly formatted preview materials.
  3. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS. To be considered for the DC Shorts Competition, you must register for the specific category in your entry form. Entry into the DC Shorts Competition will preclude your film for being considered in any other category. DC Shorts will review films in their entirety. Films will be watched and judged by members of the Selection Committee, a volunteer group of DC-area filmmakers, film enthusiasts and critics. Films are scored, and filmmakers will receive a short critique and feedback. After the final submission deadline, the Selection Committee will review the total scores of all the films in competition, and select final films from a group of the top scorers. In addition to the top scoring films, final screening decisions will be influenced by the time constraints of showcases (each showcase runs for approximately two hours, with an average of eight short films featured in each showcase). We will also select no less than 10% of films from filmmakers from the greater DC region. Award information is explained in paragraph 4, below. All prizes are subject to change, and updates to the prize package will be posted online at www.dcshorts.com.
  4. AWARD INFORMATION. Cash Awards will be presented in four categories: Female Director which consists of a custom-made trophy and $250 cash award; Filmmakers’ Choice (chosen by filmmakers in attendance) which consists of a custom-made trophy and $250 cash award; Festival Director’s Choice (chosen by the Festival Director) which consists of a custom-made trophy and $250 cash award; and Best Local Film (chosen by the Selection Committee) which consists of a custom-made trophy and $250 cash award. In addition, audience members in each screening will vote on Audience Favorite (one for each screening) which consists of a framed certificate and no cash award. All awards will be announced at the final Filmmaker Brunch on Sunday, September 1, 2007. All prizes are subject to change, and updates to the prize package will be posted online at www.dcshorts.com.
  5. NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE. Letters of inclusion or non-inclusion, with a link to a breakdown of their scores and judges’ comments, will be sent to the email address provided on the entry form. DC Shorts does not send physical mail — please make sure your email address is accurate in your application.
  6. SCREENING FORMATS. Films, acceptance contracts and other materials instructed about with the letter of inclusion must arrive at the Festival office no later than 11:59pm, July 1, 2008 on DVD (NTSC or PAL, no region coding); MiniDV (NTSC or PAL, DV or DVCAM); or a data disc containing a .DV file. Films with incomplete materials by the deadline will forfeit their ability to screen in the festival. DC Shorts, its members, directors, employees, and volunteers are not responsible for lost, misplaced, and undelivered film and media.

DC SHORTS SCREENWRITING COMPETITION:

  1. GUIDELINES FOR ALL SCRIPTS. (a) Screenplays must have been completed after January 1, 2004. (b) Scripts must not exceed 15 pages in length, excluding cover page. (c) All non-English language screenplays must be translated and submitted in English. (d) A separate entry form and additional entry fee must be submitted for each script.
  2. ENTRY FORM AND PREVIEW MATERIALS FOR ALL SCRIPTS. All screenplays must be submitted and paid for through withoutabox.com. Illegible or incomplete entry forms will not be accepted. Entry forms that do not include full payment of entry fees by the May 1, 2007 will not be accepted. Screenplays must be formatted in standard screenwriting style (Here is a good online resource. DC Shorts' official screenwriting software is Final Draft), and exported as am Adobe Acrobat .PDF file or a Final Draft (.FDR) file. Files must be named in the following format: “WAB entry number”_“Last name of writer”.PDF (Sample: 4020_SMITH.pdf).
    Files must be emailed to scripts@dcshorts.com and must be received by 11:59pm, May 1, 2007. Submissions may not be withdrawn from the Festival once they have been entered, except at the sole discretion of the Festival directors. There are no refunds for entries with incomplete entry forms, or incorrectly formatted scripts.
  3. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS. DC Shorts will review scripts in their entirety. Scripts will be read and judged by members of the Selection Committee, a volunteer group of DC-area filmmakers, film enthusiasts and critics. Scripts are numerically scored, and in addition, each script will receive a short critique and feedback. After the final submission deadline, the Selection Committee will review the total scores of all the scripts in competition, and select final scripts from a group of the top scorers.
  4. AWARD INFORMATION. Five screenplays will be selected to be featured during the festival weekend in which the screenwriters are invited to attend, and cast a live reading of the script from a bank of actors and directors. The live readings will be performed in front of an audience who will vote on their favorite, and, along with the scores of the judges, will determine a competition winner. DC Shorts will present $1,000 to the winning screenwriter (awarded immediately after the festival weekend), plus $1,000 if the film is completed and delivered to the DC Shorts offices by May 1, 2009. The film will also be guaranteed to screen at the DC Shorts Film Festival 2009. The winning film must contain the final on-screen credit “Produced in association with the DC Shorts Film Festival, dcshorts.com” DC Shorts retains the rights as a producer to act as a legal representative of the film to develop distribution and marketing deals, and has the ability to screen the film at DC Shorts or DC Film Alliance sponsored events. All prizes are subject to change, and updates to the prize package will be posted online at www.dcshorts.com.
  5. NOTIFICATION OF ADMISSION. Letters of inclusion or non-inclusion, with a link to a breakdown of their scores and judges’ comments, will be sent to the email address provided on the entry form. DC Shorts does not send physical mail — please make sure your email address is accurate in your application.

THE FOLLOWING PERTAINS TO ALL ENTRIES

  1. FILMMAKER AND WRITER ATTENDANCE. DC Shorts encourages filmmakers to attend the festival. To this end, we will assist every filmmaker (and one guest) who wishes to attend by providing a meal pass to be used at local restaurants, housing in a volunteer’s private home, passes for public transportation, invitations to all parties, tours and events, and passes for all film screenings. DC Shorts is proud to provide a filmmaker lounge in the theater which shows every film simultaneously with the public screenings, so filmmakers in attendance may watch films with other filmmakers in a relaxed atmosphere. DC Shorts is unable to provide financial compensation for travel expenses or additional expenses incurred during the Festival week.
  2. COMMUNICATIONS. DC Shorts does not send physical mail — please make sure the email address in your entry form is accurate. Changes of email address can be sent to info@dcshorts.com. DC Shorts staff can be reached by email at info@dcshorts.com, or by mailing DC Shorts, 1317 F Street, NW, Suite 920, Washington, DC 20004 USA. The office phone number is 202-393-4266.
  3. PUBLICITY AND MARKETING. All selected films and scripts may be excerpted for publicity purposes. DC Shorts reserves the right to promote any film or script to print, broadcast or internet media as required to market the Festival or our parent organization, the DC Film Alliance.
  4. THEATRICAL SCREENINGS. By accepting inclusion in DC Shorts, the filmmaker grants non-exclusive rights to showcase their film during the festival week (September 11-18, 2008) in as many screenings as required. This includes the competition screenings and possibly the “Best Of” showcase which will play after competition ends. In addition, DC Shorts has non-exclusive rights to repeat the showcases throughout the year for fundraising purposes. All ticket sales are property of DC Shorts.
  5. INTERNET BROADCAST. DC Shorts may make films screened at DC Shorts available for commercial internet broadcast and download. Filmmakers participating in this venture will receive 50% of the profits (total revenues collected minus total expenses to produce and distribute the content) from the licensing for internet broadcast and download. Filmmakers will have the ability to opt out of this program upon acceptance into the festival.
  6. TELEVISION BROADCASTS. DC Shorts reserves the non-exclusive right to repeat the various showcases on local (DC metropolitan area) cable access channels without any further compensation to the filmmaker. Filmmakers will have the ability to opt out of this program upon acceptance into the festival.
  7. CONTROLLING LAW, VENUE AND SEVERABILITY. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the United States and the District of Columbia without consideration of conflicts of laws provisions and principles. All civil claims between the parties, regardless of legal theory and whenever brought, shall be resolved via alternative dispute resolution and rest with the determination made by a mutually agreeable third party (timely selection from a list of at least three well-reputed experts, reasonable approval not to be withheld) hereby referred to as “industry expert”; and should the matter be of a criminal nature, you stipulate that you expressly submit to the personal jurisdiction of the District of Columbia or federal courts, as applicable, and you further agree that any judgment may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision, or portion thereof, of this Agreement to be unenforceable, the remainder of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect.
  8. COMPLETE AGREEMENT. This License Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the use of films and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous understandings regarding such subject matter. No amendment to or modification of this Agreement will be binding unless in writing and signed by an authorized representative of DC Shorts Film Festival. Nothing in this Agreement constitutes a waiver of DC Shorts’ rights under the United States of America patent, copyright and other intellectual property laws or any other applicable Federal or State law, nor of any of DC Shorts’ rights under the rules or laws of any country, territory, republic, and/or province.
  9. NOTICE OF RATIFICATION BY SUBMISSION TO DC SHORTS. You are hereby OFFICIALLY notified that any filmmaker submission to the DC Shorts (ALONG WITH A COMPLETED, SIGNED ACCEPTANCE AGREEMENT) constitutes confirmation that this LICENSE Agreement has been thoroughly reviewed and acknowledgement that said filmmaker/signator is (i) competent to contract; and (ii) fully accepts and agrees to uphold ALL RULES AND terms as stated hereinabove.