01
The Tracks
Selected tracks are opened to approved creators, one project at a time, with written permission for that specific cut. Applying grants no licence and no catalogue access, and master files are not available to download.
Open call · The Reel Room
We open the tracks.
You build the world.
CHANNELTHE invites directors, editors, videographers and animators worldwide to apply for selected original tracks. This is a voluntary open call for creative collaboration, not a paid commission round, and it will not suit everyone.
Apply with one reel
Voluntary collaboration · No upfront fee currently budgeted
What’s your frequency?
What the call actually offers
02
The Collaboration
A short, scoped project. You direct the visual; deliverables, revision rounds, credits, portfolio use and any costs are agreed in writing before you shoot.
03
The Credit
A role-specific credit, an agreed copy of the finished piece for your own portfolio, and written permission setting out where you can post it.
The principles
Built for a fair creative collaboration.
This is a voluntary open call with no upfront fee currently budgeted, and it will not suit everyone. Paid work remains a real priority for working filmmakers, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
What we can do is be explicit about how a collaboration should work before anyone picks up a camera. These are the standards we aim to hold ourselves to, and the things worth asking us about.
Clear compensation
Any payment, expense contribution or revenue participation is discussed and written down before production, never assumed afterwards. If there is no budget for a project, we say so before you commit time.
Meaningful creative input
You are treated as the director of the visual, not a pair of hands. The treatment, the grade and the edit are your work; we give notes and approve use, we don't quietly overwrite it.
Bounded scope and revisions
Deliverables, the number of cuts and the review points are agreed in writing first, so a small collaboration cannot expand into unpaid weeks.
Role-specific credits
Your name and role — director, DP, editor, colourist — are credited exactly as agreed, in the placement and format recorded in the project terms.
Portfolio copies and permissions
You receive an agreed copy of the finished piece, written permission for where and how you can post it, and a clear answer on how the music may be used in your own cut.
Reliable communication
One named contact, a stated reply window and a written answer rather than silence. If a project stalls or falls away, you will be told.
Optional reading
First-person accounts and community threads, shared for context only. They are not a survey, not a representative sample, and not evidence that unpaid collaboration is better than paid work.
Four steps, nothing assumed
- 01
Apply with one reel
A finished piece you already have, plus a short description of what you'd like to make. No unpaid treatment deck, and no completed video made for the pitch.
- 02
Discuss the terms
If your application is shortlisted, we talk scope, credits, portfolio use, music and video permissions, timing and any costs — then put all of it in writing.
- 03
Cut the world
Production begins only after the written project terms are agreed. A cleared track and an agreed brief go to you, and the visual is yours to direct.
- 04
Agree the release
How and when the piece goes out is agreed by both sides as part of those written terms. Nothing about reach or timing is promised here.
The terms, stated plainly
No upfront commissioning fee is currently budgeted. This is an invitation to discuss voluntary creative collaborations. Scope, production expenses, credits, portfolio use, music/video permissions, release timing and any revenue participation must be agreed in writing before production. There is no guarantee of selection, release, views, future paid work or revenue.
Costs are not automatically payable by either party. Any cost either side is willing to carry has to be agreed before it is incurred, and nothing is assumed because a project is discussed.
If what you need right now is paid work, say so in your application — it is a fair and legitimate priority, and we would rather be honest about the current budget than waste your time.
Open call · Applications
Get on
the board.
One existing reel and a short description. Applications are reviewed by CHANNELTHE administrators; we reply to applicants we can take forward, and we can't always reply to everyone individually.
No upfront fee is currently budgeted. Sending an application does not select you, licence any music or grant access to the catalogue.