OFFICIAL RULES
BY REGISTERING TO PARTICIPATE IN Fall48, YOU AGREE TO THESE RULES.
Teams may be any size between 1-5 members. All cast and crew must be volunteers.
Teams cannot pre-plan or pre-produce any element of their Fall48 short film except the following:
Organizing the team and securing equipment, crew, and potential cast members
Scouting and securing locations
Securing rights to pre-recorded, royalty-free, original music for use as soundtrack music
Teams may use any and all equipment available to them to produce their film.
Each team will get an electronic packet sent via email assigning A) the genre of their film, B) a line of dialogue, C) a specific character, and D) a prop, which will be something easily found in every household or grocery store.
To qualify for consideration for awards, each team’s film must comply with their assigned genre and include the line of dialogue, the character and the prop.
All films must be electronically delivered in approved format, by 4:00 PM PST on the day of the deadline, via submission to this FilmFreeway festival link in order to be eligible for the competition judging.
Films turned in after 4:00 PM will still be considered for screening during the Livestream, and may be posted to Fall48’s website but will be disqualified from consideration for awards (this is all at the complete discretion of the jury members).
Teams that complete their films must also complete the Google form that will be sent on Sunday evening - this form will collect all other required documents and information about their project. Failure to complete this form will result in disqualification for awards and prize money. The additional items include:
a copy of the finished film in the approved format
a copy of the screenplay for the film
a “Credits” list of cast and crew
talent/location releases for all cast and privately owned locations depicted in the film.
Information on how to submit your film and documents will be provided to each team.
All filmmaker teams must write a screenplay for their film, a copy of which shall be included with the finished film.
Screenplays do not need to adhere to any industry-accepted standard and can be in any format (typed, handwritten, etc.)
Substantially improvised movies are prohibited (creativity on the spot is inevitable and encouraged so the finished film and the screenplay may differ, but filmmaker teams must be working from a screenplay).
Templates are available on this website under the resources tab.
All footage must be shot within the 48 hour time period of the competition.
No stock footage or footage shot or created at another time may be used.
Animation and special effects are permitted but must be created during the 48 hour time period.
Music: Filmmaker teams are encouraged to work with local composers and/or musicians to write and record music for the films. Understanding that this may be difficult to achieve during the 48 hours of the competition, it is permissible for filmmaker teams to secure rights to use pre-recorded music prior to the competition. Filmmaker teams must have the rights to any music used in their films and must provide written “music rights” release forms with their final submission packet. Templates are available on this website under the resources tab.
Films must be at least one minute long and no longer than three minutes long, EXCLUDING ending credits, unless otherwise specified in a special rule.
The clock starts ticking with the first image of your film and ends with the final image of your film - ending credits do not count against your allotted time but may be no longer than 30 seconds.
Opening credits are highly discouraged to help with the flow of playback and for audience cohesion.
CREDITS: Films must include ending credits, limited to a MAXIMUM of 30 seconds. Films must include the following credit: “This film made as a part of Fall48 2025.”
Each team must secure talent releases and location releases, which must be turned in with the finished film/video via email. Copies of suitable talent releases and location releases are available on this website under the resources tab.
IMPORTANT LEGAL STUFF
Filmmaker teams agree that Fall48 will become a co-owner of the completed films and Fall48 has the right to screen, show, exhibit, broadcast or disseminate in any way possible, including and not limited to theatrical release, DVD compilation for sale to the public, broadcast television, cable television and/or the internet; and the right to publicize Fall48 using the name or images of the films. Filmmaker teams retain all other rights to their film.
Filmmaker teams will not exhibit, broadcast or disseminate their films (including posting their films on-line on personal or commercial websites such as You-Tube or Vimeo) until AFTER the livestream screening. Once the festival screenings are complete, Fall48 encourages filmmaker teams to distribute and show their movies however and whenever they want.
When registering online the team representative is agreeing to adhere to all rules and guidelines by checking the agreement box.
Failure to abide by any of these rules will result in disqualification of the film for consideration for awards and/or screening at the Festival.
Every prize winner will need to submit a W-9 in order for the prize to be awarded.
If you are a current board-appointed employee at the University of Idaho and win a prize, your winnings may be subject to taxes. Check with your HR representative if you have further questions.
Inclusion of a film in the Festival and/or on any Fall48 properties (this website, YouTube, Vimeo pages, Social media channels, etc) is entirely within the discretion of the Directors and Jury members of Fall48.
The Directors of Fall48 may add to or amend these rules at any time prior to the beginning of the competition.
