Full Frontal!!!

Now that I've hooked you with the title, I will give you one of those strange intern stories that I find quite hilarious. Word of warning, this story deals with some slightly graphic subject matter but I'll make sure to keep it clean for the kids. Additionally, I'll even try and make this a little educational for you lovely readers. I know you are reading this and sweating with hot anticipation for my story, but first I will provide you with the "boring", depending on who you talk to, stuff so you can have a background as to why this story is important. Without further ado, I present to you the story of Good Universe's interesting relationship with the MPAA.

For those of you that don't know, the MPAA stands for the Motion Pictures Association of America. The MPAA is responsible for determining film ratings which has surprisingly big business implications. Just as a quick reminder, the ratings range from G to NC-17. While a movie rated G may be open to all audiences, it comes with a certain connotation; alienating certain groups from wanting to see the film. On the flip side, a movie rated R is more restrictive but may be taken more seriously by pretentious film buffs such as myself. Often times, an indie film will strive to get an R rating for that very reason. If your film receives an NC-17 rating it will only be exhibited in special theaters which is bad business. Films will then have to be re-edited to achieve an R rating. Remember this fact because it is integral to my story. The last tidbit of information I will give you is that the MPAA values drug use, language, and sex more explicit than violence. In Europe, violence is considered much more explicit than sex. I just found that interesting.

Now, on to my story. Unfortunately, I will have to be extremely ambiguous due to the Non Disclosure Agreement I signed but you should be able to follow. So Good Universe is producing a film scheduled to be released in the Fall. There is a scene in the film that involves a certain shot of a male that many would find inappropriate. I think you understand what I'm saying, if you need hints look back up at my title. Anyway, the MPAA decided that this was enough to give the film an NC-17 rating. As I have told you before, this is bad business. Instead of opting for a re-cut, and this is where the story gets strange, they tasked interns with scanning through other R rated films and taking screen shots of "similar situations" if you follow what I mean. Since I was familiar with a lot of the films on the list, don't judge me, I was recruited to help. So for the next few hours, myself and another intern selected the best "shots" and compiled them. Once we were done, we compiled the pictures and sent them in to one of the assistants. I would LOVE to see the look on the NSA agent's face who was monitoring that email conversation.

Another tidbit I found interesting, mainly cause I had never given it much thought, is the process of obtaining said "image" for use in you film. In our case, one of the assistants was on the phone all day with a porn star's manager negotiating deals for licensing out his "package". So the next time you see nudity in a film, think about the poor interns who made it all possible.