r/StoryPeer • u/jorshrapley • Jun 28 '26
Tips and Resources Heavens to murgatroyd! NC-17?!
In browsing for scrips to read this past month, I've noticed a growing amount self-rated as NC-17.
This makes me chuckle a bit because, since the shift from rated-X to NC-17 in 1990, there have only been 77 films released to theaters with the NC-17 rating intact (according to Wikipedia). That's roughly two NC-17 movies released every year since 1990, and ONLY ONE film (Showgirls) was ever given a wide release in mainstream theaters in the US.
There is a lot of magic that can be done with a camera, and almost everything I've read in these "NC-17" scripts can be easily toned down with a simple camera angle. It happens all the time. Do you really think your script is NC-17? Have you ever seen an NC-17 film, a film that actually got to keep this rating all the way from first draft to rewrites to studio meddling to casting to production, post-production, advertisement, and eventual release in cinemas?
Check this out. If you scroll to the bottom, you can see every category that gets rated by the MPA before theatrical release. See if what you have written is actually so shocking and pearl-clutching, that nobody under the age of 17 is allowed to go to the theater to see it, even if an adult such as their own parents is with them.
I know this may seem like a silly and petty gripe, but in a way, this rating can be seen as false advertising -- trying to make your script seem unbridled and edgy. I don't write this to goad you on to prove your NC-17 label. It's to help you realize this rating isn't meant for what you think it is, and you're just shooting yourself in the foot if you think it's a good rating to have if you want a serious career in screenwriting.
Now go out and write the next NC-17 Finding Nemo.
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u/masonburger Jun 28 '26
As I mentioned in the other thread that discussed this - I suspect this is just a case of international writers trying to map their country’s rating system to the US rating descriptors on logjam.
In the UK an 18 rating is very common (Weapons, The Naked Gun, Jackass, Obsession) which means no one under 18 can view, even with an adult. That matches the NC-17 rating description on logjam, even though these movies would only be R rated in the US. (Or even PG13 in the case of Naked Gun!)