Reader Question: Should we be concerned about profanity in a spec script?

Question from Daniel:

As I was about to start page work on my next spec, I realized: all my prior scripts and shorts have been peppered with expletives, with no real thought about possible future ratings. Should us writers assume (within reason of course) that producers and story analysts will ignore the use of swears (and references to nudity for that matter) at the spec stage, or would too much R-rated language sway opinions on possible profitability?

Hoping you can shed some f***ing light on this for me.

And by the way, best of luck with the classes. I have always gotten so much out of this blog and read it daily.

As fate would have it, we’re dealing with a very public issue of the F-word in movies with regard to The King’s Speech. Here’s one article about what’s transpired:

You might think the Weinstein Company would be pleased with The King’s Speech. It’s been a critical darling ever since it premiered last September, and a success with audiences since its theatrical release at Thanksgiving. To date, the film has grossed more than $123 million in the United States, a healthy return on the Weinsteins’ investment. Oh, and it won the Oscar for Best Picture, too.

But Weinsteins were deeply unsatisfied. For you see, The King’s Speech was rated R, thus depriving children of the opportunity to experience the inspiring story of a British king who stuttered and then didn’t. The cries of these millions of children filled the Weinsteins’ ears until they could stand it no longer. Children MUST be able to watch Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in a historical drama, and they MUST be able to do it without a parent or guardian! Sometimes a 14-year-old wants to a see a critically praised Oscar-winner and doesn’t have a parent or guardian handy.

So the Weinsteins bleeped out the movie’s F-words, got the new version rated PG-13, and will soon put it in theaters, swapping it out with the filthy, filthy R-rated one. Mind you, the scene where the king delivers a flurry of profanity — which he does as an exercise when he realizes he doesn’t stammer when he swears — is still in the movie. It’s just that now the sound is muted when he drops the F-bombs. Viewers will still see the whole drama, and see his lips move, and know what word he’s saying. They just won’t be able to hear him say it. This will presumably help the Weinsteins make an additional $400 million.

You can think strictly like a writer and put whatever F-bomb filled invectives in however many characters in your story as much as you’d like, thereby garnering a R-rating in the coverage of your script as it goes into the script submission process. Or you can also think like a producer who knows that (A) R-rated movies generally make considerably less money than PG-13 movies and (B) how hard it is to win battles with the MPAA over R-rated language. Per the latter, it can boil down to the actual number of F-words you use and how you use said F-words.

For instance, a character can say, “F — k you!” and that’s okay. But if they say, “I really want to f — k you,” that pretty much raises the MPAA’s R-rating hackles.

Ultimately I think it depends upon what type of movie you’re writing. If you’re going for The Hangover with all sorts of nudity, debauchery, and what-not that will already assure the movie will get an R-rating, then you’re free to drop F-bombs all over the place. There your concern is primarily an aesthetic one — as aesthetic as it can be in a script littered with F-words — as to how much is too much.

If however you’re writing a script where the action and content is PG-13 and the only reason you’d be getting an R-rating is because of repeated uses of the F-word, I would think twice about it as [see above] a script with coverage that states it’s R-rated is going to be reviewed differently than one that is PG-13.

BTW to my knowledge there is no official set of rules the MPAA has made public about what words in what contexts and how frequently constitute what rating. In the past I have heard that two F-words = an R-rating. I’ve also heard three F-words were necessary. I found this discussion about the subject online. Maybe something here of value.

GITS readers, what’s your take on F-bombs in spec scripts? And particularly a shout-out for feedback from you script readers.

UPDATE: In comments, agwah reminded me of the documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated, the best expose of the MPAA and the ratings ‘system.’ Here’s the trailer:

[Originally posted March 21, 2011]

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