No more @#*$%!!

U

USLatin

Panamaniac
I am trying to work my profanity down to PG-13 levels. I am not asking about whether I should do this or not, but trying to get a quick link to a page that can help me get closer to where I'll need to be. Or hopefully just get someone to tell me what the basic "rules" are. I realize it will all come down to the people in the room charged with having to rate our film. I think they will be pleased if I tone down the language. So I am just trying to get in the ball park right now.

I got my F-bombs down to one already. Weeee!!! But I am wondering if any of the other ones need to go as well, like the "poo-poo" word. :D

A$$h0le is a real bad one too right? Does that one need to go for sure? Hands down? I would guess it does.

Here is where I am at right now:
"A$$" (3 occurrences)
"A$$h0le" (1 occurrences)
"Bu11sh1t" (1 occurrences)
"Crap" (2 occurrences)
"Damn" (5 occurrences)
"Fukc1ng" (1 occurrences)
"Piss" (3 occurrences)
"Sh1t" (1 occurrences)
​
:lipsrseal
​
 
I don't mind profanity (whatever that means) if it is justified.

P.S. Do PG-13 people really say "feces" instead of "crap" and "urine" instead of "piss"?
 
Last edited:
Don't quote me, but I believe that the F word is an automatic R these days.

Shrek used hell damn and ass a few times and it was pg, so that i wouldn't worry about too much, unless you say them a whole lot.

wouldn't worry too much about piss.

bullshit could be a problem...

I'm not the mpaa, so I'm just giving my own perspective from what I have seen in the past... obviously :)

I would also say that the overall content of your film is going to play a larger factor than individual words in most cases.... While you *may* be able to get away with an asshole or a bullshit, if your film is a blood fest or full of drugs and such, and a lot of sexual content (not even talkinga bout nudity) then, you might have a harder time.

Hopefully someone with some firm knowledge or experience with the mpaa can chime in...

my observations have been that while there may be a few hard things that will automatically push you from one rating to the next... a lot of it will end up being subjective, and politics and such will come into play more so than a list that they go down and count how many profanities are in your film.

One interview I was watching, there was a sex scene and it showed the guy full frontal with a condom on for a second... he filmed it 3 ways... flaccid, semi, and fully erect... they gave him the middle option and he was able to stay an R rating.
 
Back to the Future is PG, despite "If my calculations are correct, we are going to see some serious shi*" and "Doc, if my folks don't get back together, when do you think I'll start to fade out?" -- "Beats the shi* out of me."

Doc Hollywood, despite a nude - but very innocent - scene with Julie Warner, and despite "I am so poo pooed! - "Watch it son, you’re in the buckle of the bible belt." is rated as PG-13.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for your input Cranky, I would agree with you, but again, no need to discuss what people like or prefer, just hoping to figure out this "technical" profanity detail. All creative decisions have long been made on this project.

No nudity, no drugs, no drinking and driving, nothing bad really but a few curse words in there. There is practically no gore at all in the whole movie but one scene, and it will be shot as a wide, no unnecessary extreme close up for us.

So, I am preparing a PG-13 contender for that very reason. We might shoot options with the curse words in it, just in case we decide to go the R way. But truth of the matter is there are many parents that will let teenagers watch some R's, and that would be our type of R, if that is what we end up being rated. We aren't offensive and don't show illegal or morally apprehensive behaviors, our characters are just scared sometimes, or a little lose lipped when there are no kids around. Very "normal" stuff.
 
might be worth filming the parts that you would be concerned about with more than one option, so if they come back and said it would be an R b/c of this word right here, you can say "no problem" and replace it with a more "pg-13" word easily...

Later,
Jason
 
The MPAA rules change and are subjective and are not easily found out. But my understanding of it is that there is not necessarily anything that you're "allowed" in any specific rating, rather that there are certain things that, if present, will trigger an automatic minimum rating.

For example, any depiction of drug use or drug paraphernalia will instantly escalate your picture to a minimum of PG-13.

Any instance of the "f" word or its variants will cause a PG-13, unless it is used in a sexual context, in which case it causes an immediate "R". Two uses of the word also cause an immediate "R".

Certain pictures get around such things by appealing to the MPAA, so don't expect that just because Julia Roberts used the "F" word in that context and got a PG-13, that you will be able to as well. 'Cause you ain't Julia Roberts, and she won that appeal.
 
Jason Ramsey said:
might be worth filming the parts that you would be concerned about with more than one option, so if they come back and said it would be an R b/c of this word right here, you can say "no problem" and replace it with a more "pg-13" word easily...

Later,
Jason
Click to expand...

No!

USLatin said:
We might shoot options with the curse words in it, just in case we decide to go the R way.
Click to expand...

Same difference. :)

Barry_Green said:
The MPAA rules change and are subjective and are not easily found out. But my understanding of it is that there is not necessarily anything that you're "allowed" in any specific rating, rather that there are certain things that, if present, will trigger an automatic minimum rating.

For example, any depiction of drug use or drug paraphernalia will instantly escalate your picture to a minimum of PG-13.

Any instance of the "f" word or its variants will cause a PG-13, unless it is used in a sexual context, in which case it causes an immediate "R". Two uses of the word also cause an immediate "R".

Certain pictures get around such things by appealing to the MPAA, so don't expect that just because Julia Roberts used the "F" word in that context and got a PG-13, that you will be able to as well. 'Cause you ain't Julia Roberts, and she won that appeal.
Click to expand...

Thank you Barry. So far I am "complying" with everything you said. Let's hope we get what we hoped for. Either way our movie won't change based on the rating, we just hope that parents won't be afraid of us because of an R rating due to "Some violence and language".
 
Jeeez. What do you gonna use? Bleeding Christ or Holy Cow?

This is so bigoted - MPPA should go to a school yard, listen to some conversation of under 13 kids and get their reality adjusted.

Frank
 
IMO, Making gestures of frustration and groaning/gasping/etc... sounds can just as easily convey the thought/emotion being communicated. There's really no reason one cannot eliminate all offensive words while retaining the integrity of character. I would make a version like this as a test to see if you might be able to convey meaning through discription rather than dialogue. What's that saying?...show rather than tell.
 
Thanks Randall:

parental-strongly.gif
A PG-13 rating is a sterner warning by the Rating Board to parents to determine whether their children under age 13 should view the motion picture, as some material might not be suited for them. A PG-13 motion picture may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements, but does not reach the restricted R category. The theme of the motion picture by itself will not result in a rating greater than PG-13, although depictions of activities related to a mature theme may result in a restricted rating for the motion picture. Any drug use will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. More than brief nudity will require at least a PG-13 rating, but such nudity in a PG-13 rated motion picture generally will not be sexually oriented. There may be depictions of violence in a PG-13 movie, but generally not both realistic and extreme or persistent violence. A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive, initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context. The Rating Board nevertheless may rate such a motion picture PG-13 if, based on a special vote by a two-thirds majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used or because the use of those words in the motion picture is inconspicuous.

restricted.gif
An R-rated motion picture, in the view of the Rating Board, contains some adult material. An R-rated motion picture may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements, so that parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated motion pictures unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about R-rated motion pictures in determining their suitability for their children. Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated motion pictures.


This sounds very encouraging, though we'll never know till it is actually rated.
 
Macauly Culkin in "The Good Son" tells Elijah Wood's character "Don't F' with me" and I think that movie was PG or PG13.
 
Here ya go, Cranky!


pro·fan·i·ty
n. pl. pro·fan·i·ties 1. The condition or quality of being profane.
2. a. Abusive, vulgar, or irreverent language.
b. The use of such language.
3. Vulgar or irreverent speech or action.
4.Blasphemous language (expressing disrespect for God or for something sacred) dirty word, vulgarism, obscenity, smut, filth- an offensive or indecent word or phrase.

pro·fane adj. 1. Marked by contempt or irreverence for what is sacred.
2. Nonreligious in subject matter, form, or use; secular.
3. Vulgar; coarse

...and so on.
 
Last edited:
This Film is Not Yet Rated is a very funny and mildly despair-inducing documentary about the MPAA and its ratings system.
 
So, let's see if I get this, Postmaster.

If it's true that some young kids use foul, dirty language in the schoolyard, then it's wrong for filmmakers to make movies for them that don't include such foul language.

Moviemakers should do everything possible to validate the grubby behaviour of grubby children.

Adult censors should abandon their own principles as soon as they notice that the principles of some children differ from theirs.

Is that it?

.
 
Umm, see...

Umm, see...

USLatin said:
"A$$h0le" (1 occurrences)
"Bu11sh1t" (1 occurrences)
"Crap" (2 occurrences)
"Damn" (5 occurrences)
"Fukc1ng" (1 occurrences)
"Piss" (3 occurrences)
"Sh1t" (1 occurrences)​
Click to expand...

​
May I just butt in here and ask you, USLatin, exactly why do you want to put dirty language in your film in the first place?

Serious question.

What exactly is the point of doing that? What advantage do you gain? How does dirty language improve your story, your characters, your plot, your arcs, your subtext, etc etc..... and all the other things that go into a good film?

Please, explain it to me, because I have never really noticed any real benefit in using dirty words in fiction.

.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top