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Home/How it works

Guide

The Tournament

Every tournament puts one film up for a full bracket. The community submits slates, seeds a Round of 8, and votes down to a champion. Here's how it works from end to end.

How a tournament runs

A tournament opens whenever a film is ready for one — there's no fixed calendar. Submission stays open until the film has enough slates to seed both tracks; after that, each voting round runs for one day:

  1. Open

    Submission Window

    Anyone can submit a new slate for the tournament film in either Current or Timeless mode. Existing slates for the film count too — every published slate competes for seeding.

  2. 1 day

    Round of 8

    The top 8 slates in each track are seeded into a bracket. Voting begins — each matchup pits two slates head-to-head.

  3. 1 day

    Semifinal

    4 slates per track. Round of 8 winners advance.

  4. 1 day

    Final

    2 slates per track. Championship match.

  5. Wrap

    Results

    Champions crowned. Badges distributed. The tournament page archives until the next tournament is announced.

Track 1

Timeless Track

8 slates in Timeless mode. Any actor, any era. This track tends to reward bold historical picks and dead-legend casts.

Track 2

Current Track

8 slates in Current mode. Living actors, age-appropriate today. This track rewards practical picks that could actually go into production.

The tracks are scored separately and each crowns its own champion. You can enter both, or just the one that matches your casting style.

How slates get seeded

When the submission window closes, the 8 bracket spots per track are filled straight from the community's votes:

8 slates

Top of the track

Every published slate for the tournament film in that mode is ranked by net slate votes (Bravos minus Boos) at submission close. The top eight make the bracket, seeded #1–#8 in that order.

Tiebreak

Earlier slate wins

If two slates are tied on net votes, the one submitted first takes the higher seed.

⚔️

Face Off

Click any matchup card to open the full comparison

Clicking the negative space on any bracket matchup card opens the Face Off page — a side-by-side comparison of the two competing slates with a VS divider, every pick clickable, and a dedicated Cast Tournament Vote button on each side. The losing column dims, the winning column glows with an accent ring.

It's built for making informed tournament votes — you can compare cast choices row-by-row instead of cramming everything into the bracket card.

Tournament votes ≠ slate votes

This is the most important rule to understand:

Tournament vote

Single choice per matchup

Pick one of the two slates in each matchup. Your vote only counts toward the bracket result. Persists across reloads so you can come back and finish voting later.

Slate vote

Bravo or Boo (the ensemble)

Separate judgment about whether the whole ensemble works. This is the same Bravo/Boo you see on every slate card outside the tournament — tournament participation does not affect it.

After casting a tournament vote for a slate, Cast Away shows an inline "Also Bravo this slate?" chip under the entry row. One click lets you do both — but they're recorded separately. No modal, no forced prompt, totally skippable.

Tournament badges

A handful of badges are earned exclusively through tournament play:

🏆

Tournament Winner

Epic

Win the championship match in either track.

⚔️

Tournament Qualifier

Uncommon

Get your slate seeded into any Round of 8.

🌟

Cinderella Story

Legendary

Win the championship while seeded #6 or worse.

🎲

Bracketologist

Rare

Cast correct tournament votes for all 4 Round of 8 winners in the same tournament.

🪜

Perfect Bracket

Legendary

Call every single matchup correctly across an entire tournament.

⚔️

Underdog Slayer

Uncommon

Cast a tournament vote for the eventual champion when they were seeded #6 or worse.

👑

Dynasty

Legendary

Win 5 tournaments all-time in either track.

Previous tournaments

Every past tournament is archived at /tournament/{id}. Voting is closed, but the champions, bracket, and your previous selections (if you participated) are all preserved. The main Tournament page lists the last 5 tournaments with one-click access to each archive.

Go to the current tournament →

More topics

🎭

Current, Timeless & Limitless

How the three casting modes work, and what happens when Current becomes Legacy.

🎬

Crew & Following

Build your circle of fellow casters. Affinity, activity, Like Minds.

🎟

Your Profile

Stage name, avatar, bio, links, theaters, subscriptions, and badges.

📺

Watch Widget

Where to stream, rent, buy, or catch a film in theaters.

🏆

The Tournament

The bracket format, seeding, tracks, and how to win.

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