How does the rating policy effect movies?

Hi ! i”m from Israel , and i”m writing a screenplay in English. I know that in the Us there is a rating policy , and I also noticed that many action movies, that are targeted to teenagers, are rated -”R”. it means that youngsters in the age of 13 till 17 must have a parent (or guardian) accompany to the movie.
I want to understand the American movie audience culture – does high school students actually go to the movies with their parents or older brother/sister ? Or are they going to see movies with friends (in the mole) in the weekends.? (PG-13 movie)

in one hand, for a PG-13 action movie we must give up on so many option that can make our movie a lot more interesting. but, in the other hand, it's widens our potential audience.

Will it make a big difference , in terms of target audience and revenue, if my movie will be rated "PG-13" or "R" ??

What do you think of all that?

It's a balancing act really.


I'm in the UK myself and I know that movie ratings are a double edged sword over here. We have other ratings... from top to bottom: 18 (18+ only), 15 (15+ only), 12 (12+ only), PG (11 and under need an Adult with them) and U (everyone).


Having a film rated 18, which means 18 years old and over only, it cuts off the amount of people who can actually go and see the film. Studios hate this idea.
So a lot of studios go for lower ratings, either 15, 12 or PG simply to get the film available to as many people as possible as it will almost guarantee more money from tickets sales.


The problem with this though, is that the finished product of the film is affected due to cuts in content, and puts off a lot of Adult movie-goers. Also, not many Adult Cinephiles want to sit in a cinema filled with screaming kids and moronic teenagers.




The other question in regards to teens and students going to the cinema with their parents... in the UK it's a dying thing. Teens are a lot more independent these days and going to the pictures with a parent is seen as "uncool".

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A prime example right now is myself...


The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has been released and I want to see it... it's rated 12... I haven't been to see it yet. Solely because the Schools are in the middle of their holidays right now.


I'm waiting for the Schools to reopen then I'll be down the cinema during daytime hours when there's no kids in there screaming and talking and it's quiet due to everyone else being at work.

thanks for the tips and recommendations !

think about the American pie movie. the movie is obviously aimed for youngsters, but it's rated "R". so how did this movie made so much money?
maybe if they made some little changes , they could have get the PG-13 in the US and make much more.....

what do you think?

American Pie certainly wasn't aimed at kids.


There's a lot of "childish" humour, vomit gags and cock jokes etc in there, but the content of a lot of it was very adult in nature.
It made a load of money in Britain due to the 15 rating and having a lot of adult content... kids love films with adult content and being that most of them could see it due to the 15 rating, it made a load of cash... if it was an 18, it would have made less money, I presume.

I'm sure some teens go with their parents or an older brother or sister or they get an adult to buy them the tickets, but many of them just buy the tickets themselves. Others get into the theater by purchasing tickets for PG-13 or lower flicks and sneaking their way into the R rated ones. Movie theaters generally pay low wages, probably minimum wage or maybe slightly more. Many of their employees are teenagers themselves and they simply aren't paid enough to care, so once patrons gets past the ticket booth not much attention is paid to where they go.

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I"m aiming the script to be for a PG-13 movie , but it's very hard, especially in action movies.
the most important thing is that the movie will be interesting ! therefore, I can't limit the script too much !
And if i"ll go on a "R" movie so it should be "R" all the way - more brutal fighting, more curses, and some nudity.

If the script has dialogue or characters that a studio/producer wants. you'll sell it. They can easily switch it to PG-13 or R depending on where they want to take it. If they want you to change it to make it tamer or harder they'll tell you, but for now I'd write it for yourself.

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What you write will almost certainly not end up onscreen in anyway that you'd imagine it anyway. That's just the nature of filmmaking. You know when you see a really bad film that makes little sense and you think "who greenlit this?" Well, that usually bears no resemblance to the script everyone signed on for.

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Mark, thanks for the tips ! i also think's that colorful characters are very important.

It's mostly political horsecrap, I think...

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You"re also right, the political atmosphere influences their judgment......