Membership Roles

  • Active Members – The Philadelphia Film Critics Circle is a community and members must remain active in that community to retain membership. Along with keeping an active portfolio of work (25 reviews per year), attendance to the year-end voting is considered a member’s minimum requirement for good standing. Failure to participate in the year-end vote may result in termination of membership.
  • Emeritus Members – Members in good standing that no can longer meet minimal output requirements will be considered for Emeritus status. They will no longer be considered part of our Active Membership rolls, but will be kept on our general membership rolls. Emeritus Members will be eligible to vote for the year-end awards.
  • Heritage Members – These are members no longer living, but still presented on our site as one-time members.

Administrative Roles

  • Director – The Director will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the group including leading key initiatives, goals and finances.
  • Marketing Director – Marketing Director will be responsible for all outreach efforts of the group including our social accounts.
  • Technical Director – The Technical Director will be responsible for managing the technical needs of the group.

Administrative Roles will be voted on as needed with new terms every four years. Any role left vacant will trigger a vote to fill that vacancy for the remainder of the term. Members wishing to run for any role will submit their name for consideration no less than one month before any voting takes place. Each role will require a member to gain a majority of votes from the total membership to be approved. In the case of multiple members running for the same role, a vote of all members for their chosen selection will be held. In order for such votes to count, the total number of votes must represent a majority of the membership. In the case of a tie, a second vote shall be held one month later for all tied members. If that vote results in a tie no member will be placed in that role for that term unless one of the tied members chooses to step down.

New Member Minimum Requirements

To be considered for membership an applicant must meet minimum requirements in order to be brought to a formal vote. Applicants must:

Express a direct desire to join the organization via open online application. That period will run April 1 through April 30.

Submit an application consisting of:

  • A 500-word letter of introduction explaining why they want to be considered for membership and what they would bring to the membership.
  • A resume of their critical writing history.
  • Links to 10 of the writer’s reviews that best showcase their work.
  • A link or links to the writer’s first review from at least 5 years ago, and to 25 current film reviews per year the last two years, with no less than 50 in any two year period. Podcasts and video reviews are admissible forms of reviews. But the media submitted must offer thoughtful criticism on film and not simply cover pop culture or news.
  • Take an active role in media screenings.

Once an applicant  has submitted their application, and it has been reviewed, they must have the support of at least four current members to trigger a vote on that particular application. To be accepted as a member applicants must receive supporting votes greater than half of the current membership, rounded up.

Applicants will be informed by June 15 if they have been chosen for membership.

All information must be submitted to the PFCC via e-mail to: info at philafcc.org

All new members must join our Discord server (available via browser or app) as that is currently our primary platform for communication.

Membership Voting

Any applicant that meets the New Member requirements will be submitted for potential membership.

Voting will take place in May/June over a two week period ending at midnight (EST) 14 days later.

To be accepted as a member applicants must receive supporting votes greater than half of the current membership, rounded up.

Members are not required to vote and all non-votes shall be counted as votes against an application.

All voting will be by secret ballot.

Member Removal

Members may be removed from the PFCC for specific reasons.

Cause:

  • Plagiarism – Any member found to be guilty of direct plagiarism of another critic’s work beyond standard quotes may be subject to expulsion.
  • Criminal Activity – Any member convicted of a criminal act may be subject to expulsion.
  • Misconduct – Any member deemed to have participated in clearly egregious behavior detrimental to the reputation of the organization may be subject to expulsion. Such misconduct must be agreed upon by a majority of the organization before an expulsion vote is taken.

A member may also be requested to leave the membership if their status in the group changes to the degree that they:

  • No longer write predominantly for Philly publications, or from a Philly perspective,
  • And no longer lives in the Greater Philadelphia area.
  • Does not take an active part in the organization, or fulfill minimum requirements for membership.

Such a request must be supported by a majority of the membership and, if made, the current member may either agree or disagree. If the member does not accept the request then a vote to remove the member may be made. If a majority votes to agree to remove then the member will be notified of their removal.