01The weekend
- Call Time
- Friday · 6:30 PMDoors open at the bar (we'll tell you which one when you register). The Draw starts at 7:00 sharp.
- Picture Lock
- Sunday · 7:30 PMYour film is finished uploading. Our upload timestamp is the official clock.
- Someone from your team (ideally your Producer) has to be there in person. It's at a bar, so whoever comes needs to be 21+.
- 7:00 PM sharp: we reveal the character, prop and line to the whole room at once. Then we call teams up in random order to draw their genre. Everyone hears the Must-Haves at the same moment, so nobody gets a head start.
- Running late? If you're not there when your team's name is called, we draw your genre for you and text your Call Sheet to your Producer. The clock doesn't wait.
- Picture Lock happens online, so there's nowhere to be on Sunday night except your editing chair. Start your upload early. Big files take a while, and "it was at 97%" doesn't count.
02The Call Sheet
At Call Time, every team gets a Call Sheet. Everything on it has to be in your film, before the end credits roll. Every team in a city gets the same character, prop and line. Your genre is the one thing that's yours alone.
- Genre
- At The Draw, your team gets one genre, chosen at random. No trades, no redraws. Write it on your Call Sheet and a staffer will initial it. Mix in other flavors if you want, but your audience should be able to tell what you drew.
- Character
- A name and an occupation. They have to appear on screen, and it should be clear who they are. Nobody has to say their name out loud.
- Prop
- It has to be seen on screen. A photo or drawing of it counts.
- Line
- Word for word. Say it, sing it or write it on a wall. Any language is fine as long as we can tell it's the line, so subtitle it if needed.
All three, or no trophy. Missing a Must-Have? Your film still screens, but it can't win juried awards.
03What you can do before Friday
Allowed
Putting together your crew and cast. Lining up and testing gear. Finding and booking locations.
Not allowed
Anything creative. No writing, rehearsing, costumes, set building, shooting or editing until Call Time. The whole point is that it gets made in the window.
04Footage
- Everything in your film should be made during the weekend.
- Exceptions: still photos, archival or stock footage, and pre-made sound effects are OK if you have the rights to them and they support your film rather than make up most of it. Pre-existing footage can't feature actors or performers.
- Animation, titles and effects are all fair game if you make them during the weekend.
05AI
- No generative AI. No AI-written scripts, AI music, AI images, AI voices or AI footage. If you typed a prompt and it made something, it's out.
- Cleanup tools are fine. Noise reduction, color correction, stabilization, upscaling and auto-transcription for subtitles are allowed. They polish what you made. They don't make anything new.
- Every performer is a real human. Every face and every voice in your film comes from a real person who performed it during the weekend. No AI actors, deepfakes, or digital face or voice swaps. Animated characters are fine, as long as a human voices them.
- List every AI tool you used on your Picture Lock form. When in doubt, leave it out.
06Music
Original music is the way to go, so make friends with a musician. You can use pre-recorded music only if you have written permission from whoever owns it, and that includes covers and parodies. Hoping something counts as "fair use" doesn't cut it.
07Length
3 to 6 minutesNot counting your opening card and end credits.
- End credits: 45 seconds max. Bloopers can go in there.
- Run long and we may trim your film for the screening. Nobody wants that.
08Opening card + credits
- Opening card (5 seconds): your team name, film title, genre, and "Two Days, No Sleep · San Francisco · Spring 2027" (or Oakland · Fall 2027). We'll give you a template, or design your own.
- End credits must include: Made in two days for Two Days, No Sleep · twodaysnosleep.com
- Keep that line on the film whenever you show it in the future. That's all we ask.
09Delivering your film
- File
- MP4 (H.264)
- Size
- 1920 × 1080, 16:9
- Audio
- Stereo
- Max
- 4 GB
- Upload through the Dropbox link in your registration confirmation email. You don't need a Dropbox account. Name your file "Team Name – Film Title.mp4".
- If any dialogue isn't in English, include English subtitles, burned in or as an .srt file.
- Watch your levels. Very loud or very dark films play badly in a real theater.
10Overtime
Did you miss Picture Lock? Then your film becomes an Overtime film. We'll still screen it (we're not monsters), and it can still win the Audience Award, but it can't win juried awards. Films that come in after Monday at noon won't screen.
11Paperwork
We kept this as short as we could. Everything is online, and everyone signs on their phone with a finger. There's no paper and nothing to drop off. All the links are in your registration confirmation email, so you can start collecting signatures as soon as you register. Every form asks for your team name: use it exactly as you registered it, so your paperwork stays together. All paperwork is due by midnight Sunday.
| Form | Who signs it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Producer Agreement | The Producer | A checkbox when you register. Read it here. |
| Cast & Crew Release | Everyone on your team, plus a parent or guardian for anyone under 18 | Any time after you register, at the latest when they arrive on set. Text them the link, or let them scan it from your phone. |
| Location Release | Each private location's owner or manager | Before you shoot there. Hand them your phone. |
| Music & Materials Release | Anyone whose music, footage, photos or art you use | Before Picture Lock |
| Picture Lock Form | The Producer | Right after you upload. It lists your team, locations, music and any AI tools, and confirms the film was made in the window. |
No paperwork, no screening. We hate this rule too, but we can't put your film on screen without it.
No SAG-AFTRA performers. We don't have a union agreement, so SAG-AFTRA members can't act in Two Days, No Sleep films. Union members are welcome behind the camera: writing, directing, shooting, editing, catering.
12Keep it under wraps
Don't post or show your film anywhere until it has premiered. Posters, stills and teasers up to 30 seconds are encouraged. Hype is good.
13Content
We like weird, dark, gross and uncomfortable. We won't screen hateful content, pornography, anything that defames a real person, or anything illegal to make or show. We may add a content warning before your film, and we have the final say on what screens.
14Safety
No film is worth anyone getting hurt. Safety comes first for your cast, your crew, the public and any animals on set. Don't shoot anywhere you're not allowed to be.
When you hit upload, go to sleep. Seriously. Nobody should be driving anywhere on zero sleep, including to get celebratory tacos.
15Teams
- Any size. Any experience level. Phones welcome.
- One person is the Producer. They register, sign the paperwork and accept awards for the team. Who keeps the trophy is up to you.
- Producers under 18 need a parent or guardian to sign.
- Festival staff, judges and anyone who lives with them can't compete. Volunteers and sponsors can. Judges sit out scoring any film a family member worked on.
16Registration
- Early Bird
- $125
- Regular
- $150
- Late
- $175
- One fee per team, not per person. The deadline for each price is on the homepage.
- Spots are limited and go first come, first served.
- No refunds, but you can transfer. If your team can't make it, tell us before Call Time and we'll move your spot to the next season. One transfer per registration.
17Judging + awards
Judges score every on-time film with a complete Call Sheet:
- Story & creativity
- 40%
- Craft: picture, sound, editing
- 30%
- The Call Sheet: did you check the boxes, or make them sing?
- 30%
- The Insomniac Best Film
- Best Director
- Best Writing
- Best Performance
- Best Cinematography
- Best Editing
- Best Sound & Music
- Audience Award One per Premiere Night, voted by the crowd
How winners are announced: judges watch every film in the week before the Premiere Nights, and their picks stay sealed. Audience Awards are voted by the crowd at each Premiere Night. Everything is revealed together at The Wrap, our awards party about a week later.
Judges' decisions are final. Argue about them at the bar.
18Your film is yours
You own your film, full stop. By entering, you give us free, non-exclusive permission to:
- Screen it at Two Days, No Sleep events
- Use clips, stills and your poster to promote the festival
- Post it on our website and social channels, unless you tell us not to
We will never sell your film, license it to anyone, or take a cut if you sell it.
19The fine print
- You're responsible for your production and what it costs.
- You have the rights to everything in your film.
- You release the festival, our partners and the venues from liability for your production.
- We can update these rules before Call Time. If we do, we'll email every Producer.
- California law applies.