“How the F-word became common in PG-13 movies”
I get asked this question routinely: How many F-words are you allowed to have a PG-13 movie. An article from Time magazine takes on the subject:
At least three summer movies have taken advantage of what might be considered lax standards by slipping in a bunch of naughty terms. Ryan Gosling’s abs in Crazy Stupid Love get the F-reaction, as do the robots in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Bryan Cranston in Tom Hanks’s pet project Larry Crowne.
But what’s the reason for this (relative) explosion of expletives? Surely Hollywood hasn’t just decided to say f___ it and do as it damn well pleases? Probably not. The official edict from the MPAA’s (Motion Picture Association of America) Classification and Ratings Administration’s guidelines lays out that, “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.”
But (and didn’t you just know there would be a ‘but’ coming?) the guidelines also add that if two-thirds of the ratings board members hold the view that multiple F-words are being used in a legitimate “context or manner” or are “inconspicuous,” the film is still eligible for its PG-13 rating.
If you use the F-word with a sexual connotation, you are f*cked [immediate R-rating].
If you use the F-word as an oath / swear word, the conventional wisdom is anything more than 2 usages gets you an R-rating.
But with the success of R-rated movies, which drop F-bombs like a B-52 on a strafing run over the Mekong Delta in 1967, perhaps the MPAA is loosening up.
To think almost any child in the U.S. eight years or older hasn’t heard the F-word is clinically delusional. Moreover as writers, our goal is not to satisfy the Puritanical whims of the MPAA, but be true to our characters. And if they swear like a sailor, so be it.
On the other hand, if your characters aren’t prone to cursing, then you must respect that, too, and don’t arbitrarily lay in F-bombs simply to get an R-rating.
As usual, the story rules.
If you have a script with just three F-bombs, strongly think about each usage. The potential B.O. difference between a PG-13 and R-rate audience is substantial.
For more of the Time article, go here.