Is there a particular limit to profanity/violence when submitting shorts to festivals

M

MelonDome

?

I ask because, say I have the word fu*k used a few times, and someone is shot, will they reject my film because it is "R" rated? That is, if it is a short. I understand that feature length films are ok to be R ratings, but can shorts be aswell? Maybe a stupid question to ask, but I need to confirm it :(
 
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I'm going to go with no...

Here's why:

Road Kill was accepted to the Shamrock Film Festival, which has a "PG-13 equivalent content" stipulation in the rules... The festival coordinator called me and asked me if I would submit a copy with the profanity either bleeped or muted so it could be included in the festival. Granted this isn't necessarily the film in it's entirety this way, but it was still accepted, etc...

I'm willing to bet this is an extreme example, most festivals probably aren't as strict, this one is attached to a family oriented community celebration ("Leprechaun Days") and as such the films have to more or less be 'kid friendly'...


On the flip side though, if you can write the script without the profanity and still get across what the f**k's and sh*t's are in there for, it might be a stronger piece anyway, and then you wouldn't have to worry about it.. :)
 
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The yafi folks have been working at getting away from profanity (just being more creative about it) as a matter of course... and to stand out from the standard indie fare.
 
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MelonDome said:
?

I ask because, say I have the word fu*k used a few times, and someone is shot, will they reject my film because it is "R" rated? That is, if it is a short. I understand that feature length films are ok to be R ratings, but can shorts be aswell? Maybe a stupid question to ask, but I need to confirm it :(
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Not a stupid question. My advice is make your film first, and then find the festivals that are suited for it, not the other way around. There are festivals for all kinds of films.
 
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In my experience the answer is both yes and no. Some festivals
have limits, some don’t. Some will accept movies and then ask the
filmmaker to bleep words or cut out the violence.

Our founder said it best.

Make your movie and then choose the right festivals for it. Or
research the festivals you want to enter and read their rules.
 
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