Screeners
How to show documentary participants the film before release.
A gated link, downloads off, access withdrawn afterwards.
Put the cut behind a password, or behind a single email address when it is for one person, leave the original download switched off, and give anyone whose comments you want their own review-room link so every note lands on a moment in the film. When they have watched, change the code or remove their link. Before any of that, decide what the viewing is, because a courtesy screening is not an approval right unless the participant's release grants one.
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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026
Before the link
Decide what the viewing is
before you decide how to share it.
Showing a participant the film is an editorial decision first and a sharing problem second. Some broadcasters discourage it: PBS’s published standards say work in progress generally should not be pre-screened for funders, interviewees or outside parties that may exert undue influence, with limited exceptions such as checking the accuracy of sensitive information. Read your commissioning agreement, the broadcaster’s own standards and each participant’s release before you promise anyone a screening.
A courtesy viewing
The participant sees how they appear before the public does. They can react, but nothing they say binds the edit. Say so in the message that carries the link, so a comment is not later read as a promise.
An accuracy check
You show one passage to confirm a name, a date or a claim. Consider showing only that passage as its own short export rather than the whole film. The less that travels, the less there is to leak or argue about.
A contractual approval
The release or a side letter gives the participant a right to approve. Then the version they approve, and the date, matter. Keep that record, and keep the legal terms where they belong: in the contract, not in a video tool.
The setup
One gated film,
no file handed over.
Upload a browser-playable export
Export a cut that plays in a web browser and upload it. Keep the master off the link. A participant needs to watch, not to receive a file.
Set the gate
Choose Password and set a code, or, when the film is for one person, enter that person's email address as the access code. A code containing @ turns the gate into an email prompt. It holds one address per film, not a list.
Leave the download off
Each film has an Allow original-file download switch, and it is off unless you turn it on. With it off, the watch page shows no download button.
Add a room link if you want notes
Share the film to the review room under the participant's email or name. Their notes pin to a time in the film, can carry a drawing on the frame, and are signed with the name from the share, not one they type.
Password, email gate, Unlisted, Public, Private and Embed only are per-film settings available on every plan. A password-protected film does not play in an embed. Wrong-code attempts are rate limited per film.
The practical pattern for a film with several participants: one password on the watch page for the people who only watch, and a separate room link for each person whose notes you actually want, so every note can be traced to the share it came through and each person can be cut off without touching the others. The documentary remote review workflow covers how the same room serves your producers and funders over a long edit.
The honest limit
Download off means no button,
not a copy-proof film.
Turning the download switch off removes the download button. It does not stop a browser from keeping what it plays. The player streams the uploaded file through a time-limited link, and a determined viewer can save it or record the screen. There is no watermark on a browser link and no screen-recording block.
For most participants that is an acceptable risk: they are people who trusted you with their story, not an audience hunting for a leak. Where it is not acceptable, for example a participant whose safety depends on the cut not circulating early, do not send a link at all. Show them the film in person, on your own screen.
After they have watched
Withdraw the access,
do not leave it open.
Change the password
Every earlier unlock stops working on the next load, because the saved unlock is tied to the code that was current. Hand the new code only to anyone who still needs it.
Set the film to Private
The watch page stops rendering for everyone but you. Nothing is deleted and the address does not change, so you can reopen it later.
Remove the room share
That participant's review-room link stops working. Everyone else you shared the room with keeps their own link.
Delete the film
The file, poster and record are removed. Use it when the screening copy should not exist at all once the viewing is over.
What revoking cannot undo
Did they watch it?
Ask for a note,
not a view count.
The analytics count opens, plays and pseudonymous daily visitors. They never show a viewer’s name or email, so a play does not tell you that a particular participant saw the film. If you need to know, ask for something they have to do: a note in the room, even a single line at the end, arrives under the name you shared it with and pinned to a time. What the analytics can and cannot tell you explains the counts.
When not to use this
Sometimes the right screening
is a conversation, not a link.
A link suits participants who are comfortable watching alone on their own device. It is the wrong choice for someone who may be distressed by what they see, for a participant who needs the film explained as they watch, or when your broadcaster’s standards rule a pre-screening out. It is also a poor fit on a weak connection: there is one file and no lower-quality version, so a slow line buffers rather than dropping resolution. Send a lighter export, or sit down together.
None of this is legal advice. What a participant is entitled to see, and what they can change, is set by their release and your production contracts. Check those first, and ask the production’s lawyer when they are unclear.
Questions
Frequently asked
Does letting a participant comment give them a veto?
Not by itself. What a participant can require is set by the release they signed and by your agreements with the commissioning broadcaster or funder, not by the tool you screen with. Tell the participant in writing what the viewing is for before you send the link. If the room records an approval from them, that is a record of what they said about one exact version; it neither creates an approval right nor replaces one.
Do participants need an account or an app?
No. The watch page asks only for the password or the email address you set, and a review-room link opens in a browser with no account. Reviewers and viewers never take a seat on your plan.
Can a participant pass the link on?
Yes. A password works for anyone who has it, the email gate admits anyone who types that address (no confirmation email is sent), and a review-room link is itself the access. Treat every one of them as forwardable, and cut access off when the viewing is over.
Can I do this on the free plan?
The visibility modes, including password and the email gate, are on every plan, the free one included. The free Starter plan holds one film at a time and is cleared after 90 days without activity, so for a months-long edit with several cuts in circulation a paid plan is the realistic choice.
Put the cut in a room, not in an inbox
Upload a browser-playable export, gate it, and send the participant a link that needs no account and no app. Their notes arrive pinned to the moment they are about, under the name you shared the room with.
Sources
- 1.PBS Standards: Independence, section on pre-screening content for interested parties (work in progress generally not pre-screened for funders, interviewees or outside parties that may exert undue influence; limited exceptions, for example the accuracy of sensitive information; fetched 17 September 2026)