ScreenKey Basics: Organizations, Projects, Screening Rooms, Galleries, and Users

Use this guide if you are new to ScreenKey and want to understand the main terms you will see throughout the platform.You do not need to memorize every ScreenKey role before getting started. In most cases, it is enough to know what you are trying to do:

• Watch a screener
• Review or approve media
• Upload files
• Create a Project
• Share media with someone else
• Manage a team or Organization

This article explains the basic building blocks of ScreenKey in plain language.

The big picture

ScreenKey is organized around a few main concepts:

A simple way to think about it:

Organizations are the workspaces where teams manage Projects, users, permissions, and settings.

Projects are where media lives. Teams use Projects to upload, organize, review, approve, and share content.

Most sharing happens directly from Projects. If you need to send someone a screener, rough cut, folder, or set of media from one Project, you can usually share that Project directly.

Screening Rooms are used when you want to create a curated viewing experience across multiple Projects. For example, a sales team might use a Screening Room to let reviewers browse a catalogue of titles without sending separate links for each Project.

Galleries are used in Media Approval workflows. They organize media that needs to be reviewed, approved or rejected.

Users get access based on what they need to do, such as managing Projects, watching screeners, uploading files, or approving media.

Organizations

An Organization is the administrative workspace in ScreenKey.

It usually represents a company, production, studio, department, agency, or team.

Organizations are used to manage:

• Projects
• Team Members
• Permissions
• Security settings
• Workflows
• Billing
• Account-level settings

Projects belong to Organizations, not just to individual users. This means that when you create a Project, it is created inside the Organization you are currently working in.

If you belong to more than one Organization, you may need to switch Organizations to find the right Projects or settings.

Example

You might belong to:

• A production company Organization
• A studio Organization
• A vendor Organization
• A personal testing Organization

Each one can have its own Projects, Team Members, permissions, and workflows.

Projects

A Project is the main workspace for managing media in ScreenKey.

This is where files are uploaded, organized, reviewed, approved, and shared.

A Project may contain:

• Media files
• Folders
• Galleries
• Sharing settings
• Review access
• Upload access
• Approval workflows
• Feedback settings
• Download permissions
• Analytics
• Security settings

A Project often represents a film, episode, campaign, or production workflow. But Projects are flexible. One title may have more than one Project.

Example

A single film could have separate Projects for:

• Dailies
• Editorial review
• VFX review
• Awards screeners
• Sales screeners
• Media approvals
• Regional distribution

This helps each workflow have its own media, settings, permissions, and audience.

Project modes

Projects can work differently depending on the workflow they are meant to support.

The three main Project modes are:

Theater Mode

Theater Mode is designed for secure screener review and distribution.

It gives viewers a polished, streaming-style experience. Instead of seeing a work-in-progress project workspace, viewers see content in a more presentation-friendly layout.

In Theater Mode, folders may appear as categories.

Theater Mode is commonly used for:

• Screeners
• Sales review
• Awards review
• Executive review
• Compliance review
• Distribution review
• External stakeholder viewing

Use Theater Mode when the viewing experience should feel clean, polished, and easy to navigate.

Workspace Mode

Workspace Mode is designed for production and post-production collaboration.

It gives users a more workspace-style experience, with folder navigation and tools for browsing larger sets of media.

Workspace Mode is commonly used for:

• Dailies
• Rough cuts
• Editorial review
• VFX
• Color
• Sound
• Marketing assets
• Internal or vendor review

Use Workspace Mode when people need to move through folders, review many assets, or collaborate around production and post-production media.

Media Approval Mode

Media Approval Mode is designed for approval workflows.

This mode is commonly used when outside contributors, vendors, partners, photographers, agencies, or other collaborators need to submit media for review and approval.

In Media Approval Mode, teams use Galleries instead of standard folders.

Media Approval Mode is commonly used for:

• Photo approvals
• Marketing asset approvals
• Vendor submissions
• Campaign asset review
• Media that needs to be approved or rejected before moving forward

Media Approval Mode Projects may need to be created by the ScreenKey Team on request.

Screening Rooms

A Screening Room is a viewing experience for people who need to watch or review content.

In everyday use, you may hear “Screening Room” in two ways.

Project sharing creates a viewing experience

When you share a single Project with someone, ScreenKey gives that person a secure way to view the content you shared.

In most cases, you do not need to manually create a custom Screening Room just to share one Project.

Custom Screening Rooms are for curated packages

A custom Screening Room is used when you want to create a curated viewing experience spanning multiple Projects. A custom Screening Room can bring selected content together into one organized place.

Custom Screening Rooms are useful for:

• Sales catalogues
• Buyer packages
• Awards packages
• Festival review packages
• Executive review packages
• Regional distribution packages
• Collections of films, episodes, or selected media from multiple Projects

Example

Your Organization might have separate Projects for five different films.

Instead of sharing five separate Project links, you could create one custom Screening Room that presents selected content from all five Projects in a single viewing experience.

Galleries

A Gallery is used in Media Approval Mode.

Galleries are where media is collected, reviewed, approved, rejected, and completed as part of an approval workflow.

A Gallery is similar to a folder because it holds media, but it is more specialized. It has its own approval process.

Galleries are used for workflows where people need to approve or reject submitted media.

How Galleries are different from folders

In Media Approval Mode:

• Media must be uploaded into Galleries
• Team Members create Galleries instead of standard folders
• Galleries are shared with approvers individually
• Each Gallery has its own approval workflow
• Galleries are not used in Theater Mode or Workspace Mode

Users

A User is anyone with a ScreenKey account.

A user may belong to multiple Organizations and may participate in multiple Projects across different Organizations.

The important thing to know is that a user’s real-world job title does not always match their ScreenKey role.

For example, someone might be a producer, executive, editor, vendor, publicist, agency partner, or photographer in real life. In ScreenKey, that same person may be a Reviewer, Team Member, Contributor, Approver, or some combination of those depending on what they need to do.

ScreenKey roles

ScreenKey roles describe what someone can do in a specific place.

A person can have different roles in different Organizations or Projects.

For example, you might manage Projects in one Organization but only review screeners in another.

Team Members

A Team Member belongs to an Organization and helps manage that Organization’s Projects, content, users, and workflows.

Depending on permissions, Team Members may be able to:

• Create Projects
• Upload and manage media
• Create folders or Galleries
• Share content
• Manage users
• View analytics
• Configure Project settings
• Manage workflows

A Team Member is an Organization-level role.

This can be different from how people use the phrase “team member” in production. You may be part of a production team in real life, but in ScreenKey you might only have review access to a specific cut or screener.

Reviewers

A Reviewer is someone who has been given access to view or review content.

Depending on the Project settings, Reviewers may be able to:

• Watch media
• Browse Projects or Screening Rooms
• Leave feedback
• Download files, if downloads are enabled
• Mark a Project as complete
• Request renewed access to expired content

Reviewer access is usually connected to a specific Project or Screening Room.

Use this role concept when someone’s goal is:

“I need to watch, review, comment on, or download something that was shared with me.”

Contributors

A Contributor is someone who can upload media to a Project.

You may also hear this described as upload access or collaborator access.

Contributors are often external vendors, partners, agencies, production collaborators, photographers, editors, or other people responsible for submitting media.

Depending on the Project settings, Contributors may be able to:

• Upload files
• Add files to specific folders or Galleries
• Create folders, if allowed
• View the media they uploaded
• See part or all of the Project folder structure

Contributor access is different from Reviewer access.

A Contributor may only be able to see the media they uploaded. They do not automatically get access to review, download, or view everything else in the Project.

Upload access always requires sign-in. There are no Share Links for upload access.

Approvers

An Approver participates in a Media Approval workflow.

Approvers review assigned media and make approval decisions.

Depending on the workflow, Approvers may be able to:

• Open assigned Galleries
• Review images or media
• Approve media
• Reject media
• Mark favorites
• See rejection limits, if applicable
• Submit final approval decisions

Approvers are used in Media Approval Mode workflows.

Use this role concept when someone’s goal is:

“I need to approve or reject images or media.”

Why roles can feel confusing

ScreenKey roles are based on access, not job titles.

This means one person can have different access in different contexts.

For example:

• A studio executive may be a Reviewer for an early cut
• A photographer may be a Contributor when uploading images
• A producer may be a Team Member in one Organization but a Reviewer in another
• A photo editor may be an Approver in a Media Approval workflow
• A vendor may upload files as a Contributor but not see the full Project

If you are not sure which role applies to you, start with what you are trying to do.

Which area should I use?

How these concepts work together

ScreenKey is organized around Organizations and Projects.

An Organization owns the Projects and manages Team Members, settings, permissions, and workflows.

A Project is where media is uploaded, organized, reviewed, approved, and shared.

Depending on the Project mode:

• Theater Mode uses folders to present content in a polished viewing experience
• Workspace Mode uses folders and workspace-style navigation for collaboration
• Media Approval Mode uses Galleries for media approval workflows

A Screening Room presents selected content to viewers, especially when content from multiple Projects needs to be shared together.

A Gallery is used inside Media Approval Mode to manage approval decisions.

A User can participate as a Team Member, Reviewer, Contributor, or Approver depending on what they need to do.

Common examples

“Someone sent me a screener link.”

You are probably using Reviewer access to open a Project or Screening Room.

Start with: How to Watch a Screener Link Sent to You

“I need to approve or reject images.”

You are probably working in a Media Approval Mode Project and reviewing a Gallery.

Start with: How to Review and Approve Images

“I need to upload files.”

You probably have Contributor or upload access to a Project.

Start with: How to Upload Media to a Project

“I need to set up a new workspace for media.”

You probably need to create a Project inside an Organization.

Start with: How to Create Your First Project in ScreenKey

“I cannot find the thing I was invited to.”

You may need to check My Projects, For Review, or switch Organizations.

Start with: How to Find Your Projects, Screeners, Approvals, and Uploads

Summary

ScreenKey uses a few core building blocks.

An Organization is the workspace that owns Projects and manages users, settings, and permissions.

A Project is where media is uploaded, organized, reviewed, approved, and shared.

A Screening Room is a curated viewing experience, used to share selected content from several Projects.

A Gallery is used in Media Approval Mode to manage media approvals.

A User is anyone with a ScreenKey account. Users can have different roles depending on what they need to do.

You do not need to know every role before you start. The easiest way to find your way around ScreenKey is to ask:

Am I watching, reviewing, approving, uploading, creating, or sharing?

That answer will usually point you to the right place.