Video guest essays were formerly known as video Op-Eds. At their core, video guest essays are an argument defined and substantiated with evidence. Convening rich discussion and debate is an important and unique way The Times helps readers better understand the world. Inviting “intelligent discussion from all shades of opinion” has been core to the work of The Times since 1896, when our publisher Adolph Ochs declared it part of the newspaper’s mission.

We believe it’s valuable to create space for people who aren’t journalists and who often have no institutional affiliation with The Times to speak directly to readers instead of being mediated through a reporter. By design, these arguments and voices will often diverge or dissent from those of our columnists and editorials.

Video guest essays offer our audience a robust range of ideas on newsworthy events and issues of broad public concern from people outside The New York Times. We strive to feature voices and views that might not ordinarily be featured in text at Times Opinion.

Video guest essays can take many forms, such as:

• First-person accounts: Where everyday people describe their experiences in their own words in a way that compels readers to see the world or reflect on their own experiences in a different light.
• A hub for experts: Where experts can present findings, highlight problems and propose solutions to the public and to one another. We seek out essays from experts in which they make an original, robust argument based on their unusual or deep expertise. Economists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, psychologists, playwrights and many others may all have expertise on a given topic that may advance an important argument.
• A platform for public officials: Where public officials can make their case, explain their position, or tell their stories. Because these individuals already have significant platforms, their essays are held to especially high standards and offer readers newsworthy insight.

We discourage video essays that are primarily responses to other Opinion videos, articles, columns or editorials. Video guest essays are different from Op-Docs, our short documentary series that is more filmic and less newsy. To reach Op-Docs, our award-winning short film documentary series made by filmmakers, please visit Submit an Op-Doc.

Powerful video guest essays present a focused argument that is aimed at a specific target (such as a company, a C.E.O., an elected official or a committee). It should be clear why this story is best told in video.

The best video guest essays have a few things in common:

• They try to challenge and engage viewers who do not necessarily agree with the writer’s point of view. They give insight into complicated problems or anticipate big ideas.
• There is a reason they are videos and not text.
• Good videos usually allow the audience to experience the story or convey an emotional or visual transformation of the story.
• They start conversations, influence policymakers and have an impact far beyond the pages of Times Opinion.
• They aspire to delight the reader with visuals, emotion, great writing and originality and to open a window into a world we might not otherwise see. Video guest essays typically run three to seven minutes.

Our Standards

Originality: Essays must be original and exclusive to The Times; they cannot have appeared elsewhere — in any form — in print or online.

Ethics and conflicts: Guest writers are expected to take care to avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance of such conflict and comply with The Times’s policies on ethical journalism.

Fact-checking: Before we publish your video, it must be fact-checked. If a video is accepted for publication, you will be asked to submit annotated references listing the relevant sources for each factual assertion.

• We focus our checking on verifiable facts. For example, the number of Americans without health insurance, the median household income, the date a law was enacted.
• We investigate broader factual assertions (“No one named to the court in the postwar period was as conservative as Justice Scalia or as liberal as Justice Brennan,” “Laos is one of the world’s most corrupt nations”) that may need to be qualified, explained or stated with greater precision or nuance.
• We look at the factual evidence cited to verify that the methodology is sound and that the data is presented with precision and balance.
• We prefer primary sources (an N.I.H. research paper) to secondary ones (a news article about the paper’s findings).
• If we determine that a particular fact cannot be verified, we will not publish it.

We will work to verify the facts in your video, but as the contributor, you bear the ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of your work. We cannot fix anything after publication without appending a correction — and corrections are permanently archived. Past errors are a factor when we consider whether to accept future work from a contributor.

Below are some examples of powerful Opinion Video guest essays that exemplify our standard:

• If I Caught the Coronavirus, Would You Want Me Making Your Next Meal?
• How Was My Son Ahmaud Arbery’s Murder Not a Hate Crime?
• Why These Disneyland Employees Can’t Afford Rent

You do not need to be a filmmaker to submit a video guest essay: There are a range of ways and methods to produce a video guest essay. Most contributors come to us with an idea, and we work with them to produce the video. Other contributors come to us with an idea and produce the video themselves, with our guidance. Some video makers submit finished videos that we acquire. All videos must meet our technical specs, fact-checking standards, editorial standards and guidelines.

To submit your video essay, please complete this form.

When submitting your video essay:

• Include sources (in hyperlinks in the text or in parentheses) for key assertions made in your essay. All of our video guest essays are rigorously edited and fact-checked.
• Please also let us know about any production experience or resources that you possess.

A member of our staff will read and review every submission, but because of the large number of messages we receive, we may not be able to respond to everyone individually. Unfortunately, we have to reject many excellent ideas. If you do not hear from us within a week, you should feel free to submit your work elsewhere.