How To Submit Your Recipe Videos

Welcome to the Real Women of Philadelphia. Recipe submissions are open March 29, 2010 at 6:00 am PST and the first week's category is SIDE DISH.

Follow these simple steps to get your recipe officially submitted into the Real Women of Philadelphia casting competition. If you’re a novice in the film department, check out the helpful videos at the bottom of this page to learn how to whip up a wonderful recipe video.

Prior to submitting your recipe, please read the rules of the competition in the Submission Guidelines.

To submit your recipe video you'll need an account on this website and an account on YouTube. Create a YouTube account here.

Creating a Real Women of Philadephia Account:
  1. Click here to begin the process of creating an account.
  2. Enter your email address, create a password, and enter your date of birth OR click the "G Connect" button to sign in with your Google/Gmail account if you have one.
  3. If you did not create an account using Google Gmail, go to your email and find the confirmation email from EQAL with the subject "CONGRATULATIONS - You have created an EQAL account" (you may need to look in your junk/spam folder).
  4. Click the link that says "Follow this link to verify your account"
  5. This will take you to the Join page. You will need to enter your first name, last name, gender, and location, and you can upload a fun avatar as well. Don't worry only your friends will see this information.

Congratulations, you now have an account on the Real Women of Philadelphia!

Submitting a Recipe Video:
  1. Login to the Real Women of Philadelphia website.
  2. Click here or on any of the gold "Submit your recipe video" buttons on the site.
  3. If this is your first time submitting a recipe, click here to connect your YouTube account. Enter your YouTube username and password (if you don't have one, create a YouTube account here).
  4. Fill out all the fields on the the recipe video submission form. Make sure you "Tag" your recipe video as "Side Dish" "Appetizer" "Entree" or "Dessert". Also make sure you submit your recipe steps one step at a time.
  5. Click "Add a Video" and an "Add a Video" modal window will appear.
  6. Select a video that’s already in your YouTube account from the "YouTube" tab, or upload a video from your computer to your YouTube account from the "Upload a Video" tab.
  7. NOTE: If you upload a video to your YouTube account from the "Upload a Video" tab, it may take a long time. Keep the window open until you get a confirmation message. We strongly recommend you keep your files smaller than 100 MB. Your video must be at least one minute, but no longer than 10 minutes. Get more info here.
  8. Click, "Add Video" in the bottom-right corner of the modal window.
  9. Click "Submit" and then read and accept the Submission Agreement if you agree to the terms.

You will see your recipe on your profile page and it will say "You Submitted this Recipe". Your video may not be available until it finishes processing on YouTube, but don't worry it will show up when it's done.

After a manual review of your submission (the review is for technical elements, not for quality), your video will be placed in the Recipes Gallery. If your recipe does not immediately appear in the Gallery, this does not mean anything is wrong with your submission.

If you have any questions, email support@eqal.com or ask a question in the forum here.

Paula's Proven Video Pointers
How to Develop a Recipe
My friend and food stylist Libbie Summers joined me in the kitchen to give everyone a few tips on developing your recipe. Now, the Real Women of Philadelphia is all about creating original recipes using cream cheese, so Libbie and I wanted to give you some thought starters on how to create delicious recipes that will give you the best shot at becoming a finalist and getting closer to picking up that $25,000!
Framing your Shot
To some of you girls out there picking up that camera and making a video might sound a bit intimidating. But I want to assure you that it is much easier than it seems. There are so many easy-to-use video cameras out there and most of our phones or computers come with cameras. Since I don’t want fear or intimidation to hold anyone back from this opportunity of a lifetime, I wanted to give you some tips on shooting your videos. This video will teach you how to “frame” your video so you look your best. What should my shot look like? Should I use close-ups? What if I need to shoot the video by myself, how do I do that? All these questions and more will be answered.
Plating your Dish
You know it is said that we eat first with our eyes. I believe this wholeheartedly. Your food should look as great as it tastes. And since this is a cooking competition where we will be judging videos in part on how delicious the food looks, I’ve brought Libbie back to give y’all some tips on how to make your food look as beautiful as it tastes. So, enjoy this video and Libbie’s tips – it will be a great learning experience both for your videos and dinner parties.
Setting Up Your Lighting
We are not going to be judging you on technical things like lighting, sound or editing. But just in case you were curious about the best ways to use the lighting in your kitchen to make your video look as good as you can, I brought our lighting man Tom into the kitchen to give us some great tips. Oh, and ladies, he’s easy on the eyes so this video was kind of an excuse to get him out from behind the camera to say “Hi” to everyone.
Doing Your Hair
It takes a lot of work to get my hair looking like you see it on TV, but I do like to look my best on camera. I was thinking that it might be helpful for some of you out there to hear my hair stylist Jamie Cribbs walk us through how he gets my hair going from flat and dry to shiny and high! You may not need all of these tips for your hair, but maybe one or two will be a new technique that can help you out both in your videos and in your everyday life.
Picking Your Wardrobe
When you are getting ready to make your videos, you should definitely think about what you are wearing and how your wardrobe will look next to your dish. My assistant and wardrobe stylist Brandon Branch volunteered his time to give y’all some helpful hints on picking out your wardrobe for your video. He recommends wearing colors that either complement or contrast your dish. He also answers the question of whether you should wear stripes or solids on camera. Enjoy the video, Brandon sure is a hoot!