// THE RULES
RULES
Eligibility
You must be 18 or older to enter or accept a prize. One account per person. No bot, ghost, or shared accounts.
Entry fees
Entry to every arena is a flat $35. $25 goes straight into that arena's prize pool; $10 keeps the lights on (platform, moderation, AI grading). All sales are final: once your story is submitted, you cannot withdraw or refund. If a moderator denies your submission for a rules violation, you are refunded automatically.
Reader access
Reading and grading is free. Each arena has a reader cap; seats are first come, first served. Readers do not pay a pass fee.
Submissions
Original work only. You retain all rights to your story. By submitting you grant us a non-exclusive license to display the story for the duration of the arena and to feature winning stories on the public site and Demo Day.
AI use
Purely AI-generated submissions where the writer added little to no creative direction are not allowed. Every submission runs through an AI-authenticity + rules-compliance pass; if the AI-check score falls below the threshold the submission is auto-flagged, hidden from the public listing, and reviewed by a human moderator who can approve or deny it.
Four rounds for writers
Submit your story before the arena closes. Once submissions open, your story enters Round 1 and starts collecting reader ratings and feedback. At the end of each round, stories are ranked by their writer score and the lowest-ranked are cut. Round 1 cuts the bottom 30%. Round 2 cuts half of the remaining stories. Round 3 trims the field to a finalist bracket sized by the arena's target percentage, bounded by a hard minimum (usually 6) and maximum (usually 100), and never exceeding 70% of the stories still alive. Round 4 ranks the surviving finalists and crowns the top 3. You win by keeping your story alive through each cut: high reader ratings and strong feedback sentiment drive your score, and earlier submission time breaks ties. You are cut if your story ranks below the cut line, if a moderator rejects your submission, or if you fail to grade the feedback assigned to you.
Four rounds for readers
Reading is free, but each arena has a reader cap, so seats are first come, first served. Once you join, you receive assigned stories to grade each round. Rounds 1–3 are your chance to build a reader score: writers rate your feedback and our system scores its quality and volume. You are not cut by score in Rounds 1–3, but you must submit feedback every round; inactive readers are removed when the round advances. To reach Round 4, your reader score must meet the arena's finalist threshold. Only qualifying readers enter the final round and can win a share of the reader prize pool. You win by writing consistently helpful, specific feedback that writers rate highly, and by reading enough stories to earn the capped volume bonus. You are cut if you skip a round without grading, or if your final score is below the R4 threshold.
Scoring
Two leaderboards, both 0–100, recomputed every round. Writer score = 70% average reader rating + 30% sentiment signal from reader feedback. Reader score = 60% writers' ratings of your feedback + 30% feedback quality score (helpful / pass / fail) + 10% capped volume bonus. Only feedback that passes moderator review and is not marked fail counts. Missing ratings are backfilled with the arena median. Ties break on earlier submission time.
Prize split
The pool is split 50% / 50% into a writer pool and a reader pool. Within each pool the top 3 split their side 50% / 25% / 25% for 1st / 2nd / 3rd.
Moderation
Moderators may approve, reject, or flag submissions and feedback. Decisions are final. Egregious abuse, hate, or doxxing is grounds for permanent ban without refund.
Payouts
Payouts are released after results are published. You must configure a payout account in Settings → Payouts (PayPal, bank transfer, Wise, or other) and have it verified by an admin. We hold winnings up to 60 days while you complete setup.
Demo Day
Demo Day is held quarterly in Los Angeles for winners of arenas flagged Hollywood-demo. Invited finalists present a logline to industry guests. Travel and lodging are not provided unless explicitly stated.