CriticBridge is the marketplace where independent filmmakers commission honest, professional reviews of their films from verified Rotten Tomatoes-approved and Tomatometer-approved critics. Submit your film, set your budget, and reach critics who actually publish on the outlets distributors and festivals care about.
A one-time listing fee of $10 (films under 45 minutes) or $15 (feature-length films) covers the listing. Each review is then priced by critic tier — Reach ($35/review), Press ($65/review), or Prestige ($85/review) — and held in escrow until the critic publishes. Prestige listings add a $10 per-review publicist coordination fee for critic outreach and follow-up. Listings with a deadline inside two weeks include a $10 per-review rush fee.
CriticBridge is a professional platform that connects independent filmmakers with verified Rotten Tomatoes-approved and Tomatometer-approved critics. Filmmakers pay CriticBridge for the service of sourcing, vetting, and managing the critic network — critics are independent contractors compensated out of that fee for their time and labor to watch the screener and publish a review on their own outlet. Payment is never tied to a specific opinion, score, or rating, and editorial independence is contractually required.
Structurally, completely. Filmmakers pay CriticBridge, not the critics, for the service of sourcing and managing coverage from a network of vetted professional critics with verified credentials and published bylines. We compensate critics out of that service fee for their time and labor, never for their opinion. Critics choose which films they review, nothing is ever assigned, and they are contractually forbidden from coordinating their opinion with us or with the filmmaker. Reviews can be, and often are, negative or mixed, and the critic is paid the same regardless. Even if a filmmaker disputes the charge with their bank over a review they hated, the critic is still paid in full. This is the same labor-compensation model publications and editors have used with freelance critics for decades: the writer is paid for the work, and the opinion is their own.
No. Critics have always been paid for their work, the ethical question has never been whether a critic is paid, but who pays and what the money buys. On CriticBridge, filmmakers never pay critics. Filmmakers pay the platform to coordinate coverage, and the platform pays critics for their time and labor, at rates we set, in full regardless of what they write. A critic is paid the same for one star or five, and we've paid critics in full even when filmmakers disputed charges over reviews they disliked. Critics choose the films they review, nothing is ever assigned, and no one can buy a verdict.
Kenneth R. Morefield, President Emeritus of the North Carolina Film Critics Association and author of its Code of Ethics, wrote a full essay on this question after joining the platform: Why I Joined CriticBridge.
There is a small listing fee of $10 for short films (under 45 minutes) or $15 for feature-length films. On top of that, you choose a critic tier — Reach ($35/review), Press ($65/review), or Prestige ($85/review).
Some critics offer optional paid service add-ons — extra deliverables like a video review, social media post, or podcast mention — that you can purchase alongside a review. Each critic sets their own price, and a 10% platform fee is included in the total you see at checkout. You can add these when you accept a critic from your Interested Critics list, or anytime after a critic has claimed your film, directly from the critic's profile. Add-ons are optional and never required.
Any reviews that haven't been fulfilled by the deadline will be refunded to your account. This excludes the listing fee and the rush fee, as those are non-refundable.
Reviews from critics do not guarantee positive outcomes. All reviews reflect the critic's honest, independent opinion. Critics are paid for their time and effort to review and publish their articles about your film — not for favorable coverage. Editorial independence is a core principle of the platform.
No — filmmakers may not contact critics directly, and doing so is against our Terms of Service. This protects the editorial independence that makes every review on the platform credible. All critic-related communication goes through CriticBridge: if you have a request, a correction, or updated screener details, send it to our support team through the Support page. We respond fast and will get it to the critic right away. Prestige-tier listings also include publicist coordination, where our team handles critic outreach and follow-up on your behalf.
When listing a film with the rush feature, your film is placed at the top of the list and all qualifying critics are notified immediately, helping your film meet its deadline. The rush fee is $10 and is automatically applied when your review deadline is 14 days or less.