Curse Words

USLatin said:
Jason, I hope you are wrong about the new "F" rule. But no cigarettes in my films, unless I want to use it to portray a character with certain flaws that would make him a smoker. Not this one.
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If you've seen the move "Once"(2007), it has an MPAA rating of 'R' for Language... I don't know how many times a 'bad word' was uttered, but I can't think of any shot or scene that wasn't PG-13 at the most, other than perhaps a few F words tossed around. What's more... it was a movie with a subject matter that would probably not appeal to a age 13 and under audience anyway...
 
Jason Ramsey said:
Don't quote me, but I think the rule now is, if there is more than one "F" word, it is an automatic R.

I also heard there was a push to make any smoking of cigarettes in movies be an automatic R rating... Don't know if that ever happened or not though.

Later,
Jason
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That's right Jason. One occurrence only. More than that...R. :beer:

I can't remember where I heard it, (This Film Is Not Yet Rated?), but the filmmakers were trying to make sure they made the best use of the word since they could only use it once.

Also, Doc Hollywood was rated PG13, and it had a nude Julie Warner scene in it, so you never know. But that WAS back in 1991. They may have tightened up on that, I don't know.
 
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10s said:
The producer huh, hmmmm, OK
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I am not "the" producer. I can't say much at this point and that is why I often talk in hypotheticals.

At this point I am trying to make this the best project I can, and polish it as much as possible.

Please don't get me into trouble. :)

10s said:
if you're the producer write it and shoot it both ways. It should hurt your schedule/budget just a smidgen, but you'll have options in the end.
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Shooting options is certainly in my mind, though schedule is obviously always a concern. I hope we'll be shoot next winter, but no earlier than that, so there is time.

Blaine said:
That's right Jason. One occurrence only. More than that...R. :beer:

I can't remember where I heard it, (This Film Is Not Yet Rated?), but the filmmakers were trying to make sure they made the best use of the word since they could only use it once.
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Wow... thanks Blain and Jason for bringing that up. Right now this would be an R with at least 3-4 occurrences of the infamous "F" word.
 
Going to the MPAA is also an expensive process.

If you get the chance, you should rent This Film Is Not Yet Rated. It's a very interesting look at the way the MPAA works. They definitely seem to deal differently with the Indies and Studios, giving preferential treatment to studio pictures.
 
Blaine said:
If you get the chance, you should rent This Film Is Not Yet Rated. It's a very interesting look at the way the MPAA works. They definitely seem to deal differently with the Indies and Studios, giving preferential treatment to studio pictures.
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Dang! that would be great and fun to watch, but Blockbuster doesn't seem to have it! I checked to see if Netflix had it but wasn't there either. I guess I'd have to buy it.
 
As far as movies are concerned I don't care what people put in it. This is of course coming from a person who's two favorite films are (or were) rated NC-17. If a movie isn't at least rated R I don't know it it will live up to my viewing standards. (Although there are plenty of films I like that are PG-13. Star Wars and Indian Jones come to mind.

What I would do is just replace all the curse words with similar sounding words (in the script and when you shoot not after). It depends on your subject matter. This was done well (coincidentally both sci-fi shows) on "FarScape" and "Battlestar Galactica." Everyone says "Frak" or "Fraking" and magically the R rating disappears! Just build it into your "world" and it will sound natural. Sort of like a Clockwork Orange. Create a special language for your film.
 
I just counted roughly 39 F's and 21 S's in my 36 page script which might call for a little bit of cutting down now that I look back at it. But, in my defense, it does contain alot of high stress moments which would warrant colorful language.

But with that, cigarette smoking, drinking and gunfights, I'd say I'd be leaning towards a pretty hard R.
 
Do it as it feels right for you when reading the script and hearing the lines. It doesn't help to think about these things.

Everything is so politically correct these days that anything that isn't is making it big. Some cartoons these days are like (*you know what*) for people starved for politically uncorrect material. You can't have a sense of humour and not be annoyed by how hypocritical is all is. I didn't say (*you know what*) because that could lead a (*you know what*) addict to the board through google and make him a filmmaker in the respective genre:) I don't know if there are board rules about saying (*you know what*).

A subtitute for a word that transfers the full meaning is so hypocritical it's fun. I'm still waiting for a gansta film where all curse words and substituted by the funny substitutes. It needs a serious script and cast though to be funny enough. It could be interesting destinctive cartoon sound effects that follow or cover each word also.
 
Right now, before clean-up, I have: 6 Fks, 5 Shts, 2 Piss, 1 Arse and 2 Damn, all in 95 pages.

I think I have a good shot at getting it down to one F without messing it up, so long as I can have more Shizzels... How is the S-word? Any specifics for that one?
 
Personally I know I won't do any weird sounding words, it wouldn't work with my story. If it were more of a tragi-comedy or some other genre where it would work then I would love to have fun with it. This story tries to bring it home, make it realistic, so anything that weren't normal would pull the audience the other way.

I don't think replacing some of the F's for S's is a big deal... S is still strong enough.

What about SOB?
 
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