California, Encino, the American Film Association, which is commonly known as the location of MPAA.

In the Rating Committee meeting room of the Film Association's internal rating committee, a discussion on ratings on "Saw" is underway.

“There are many extreme violent scenes in this video.”

Sitting on the side of the oval conference room, Matt Mendes said very clearly: "The bloody and violent shots are extremely unfavorable to the mental health of teenagers and may have many negative effects."

Matt Mendes, as one of the oldest judges on the rating committee, said something is quite substantial.

Some of the other judges in the conference room were nodding, while others were thinking.

According to the MPAA regulations, the judges of the rating committee must be parents of children aged 5 to 17, and the term of office shall not exceed seven years. However, Matt Mendez has served on the rating committee for nine years, and the child has long passed the legal adult age.

His position at MPAA remains firm because he is the spokesperson for Walt Disney on the judges.

In terms of things, many judges, like Matt Mendez, no longer complies with the MPAA regulations, and some people even don’t even have children, but they still serve as judges.

Because the Rating Committee is a "secret" institution that does not disclose the identity of the judges, it is the voice of the six members of the Film Association Committee on the Rating Committee.

Clement, the least experienced of the top six member agents, joined the rating committee after his ex retired and agreed with Sony Columbia Pictures.

"Matt's words make sense." Lindelof said at this time: "Extremely violent, not suitable for teenagers to watch."

Clement smiled slightly and Universal Pictures stood up.

Then, behind the scenes, Ferman, who stood 20th Century Fox, said: "This is the most violent movie I've ever seen this year, and it must be restricted."

Paramount Pictures' agent stood up and said, "This "Saw" has exceeded the limit of R-level."

Warner Bros. agent Cartero said directly: "I suggest, nc-17 rating."

Clement glanced at him. It is said that Warner Bros. has worked closely with Relativity Entertainment. It seems that while cooperating, you will not be lenient when you need to suppress it.

They had not discussed any in advance, but they had a silent tacit understanding.

This kind of tacit understanding actually happened last year, but I have never found a suitable opportunity to perform. The rating committee can indeed be used as a weapon, but many standards and rules are in the clear. Even the Six majors cannot be done too much, otherwise it will cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Some films rashly upgrade to a higher rating, such as fully meeting the R-level standard but rated as NC-17, and the authority and credibility of the MPAA and the rating committee may be damaged.

The rules of mpaa have been running for decades, and many movements can only play edge balls.

They waited for these ratings for a long time, and finally waited for a movie with extremely violent scales. The six major tacit understandings do not require prior communication.

Although it can be modified and re-classified, the time and energy delayed in it may disrupt the deployment and rhythm of the film company.

"Where are you?" someone asked, "What do you think?"

Clement smiled and said directly: "I think nc-17 is suitable."

"Super proposal!" Someone agreed.

All judges unanimously passed the grading of nc-17.

Matt Mendes said in a formulaic manner: "Saw, nc-17 rating, unanimously passed."

According to the prescribed process, the next day after the grading was determined, MPAA notified Shahai Entertainment, and the news quickly fed back to Luo Nan.

George Clint, who received the news, immediately brought director James Win to the Relativity Entertainment side.

"Sorry, Mr. Anderson." James Winn was slightly terrified: "My job was not done well."

Ronan shook his head: "This matter has nothing to do with you, so don't need to do this, James. I'm sure of the final version, and I took it a little careless."

Relativity Entertainment has been developing smoothly in the past two years, and DreamWorks is still ahead, and Ronan is more or less relaxed.

This is human nature, it is impossible for a certain thread in the head to remain tight.

George Clint was a little angry: "We submitted the film to the rating committee very early, but they delayed it until the time limit to agree on the rating of "Saw", which is clearly targeting us. The ratings of the rating committee have always focused on cyan and less violent. There are many R-level films under the six major brands that are violent than "Saw", but they have no objection!"

Ronan smiled: "George, this means we are a very powerful company."

"Uh..." George Clint was stunned for a moment, then understood what Ronan meant, and said, "It's true."

Ronan sighed and said, "This may happen in the future. You can prepare some preparations."

George Clint scratched his head: "The Six Great Masters are really the same as always, using old methods."

"This is not the 1960s and 1970s," said Ronan. "The six majors themselves have competition and cannot be truly united. They use the means within the rules of the game, but we cannot underestimate them. Those falling film companies are the lessons of the past."

Many companies can't stand it just by means of matching the rules of the game. For example, DreamWorks, the Six Majors have never used any other methods outside the rules of the game, and they can't even see the Six Majors have suppressed DreamWorks on the surface, but DreamWorks finally fell apart and no longer had the chance to challenge the top Hollywood players.

DreamWorks itself has many problems and is of course also a key factor.

Because even if the six major companies have tacit understanding, they are competitors themselves and it is impossible for them to truly unite.

James Win is still a pure director now, a little confused.

"What should we do?" he asked.

Ronan made a quick decision: "James, you can re-edit as soon as possible and put the scales appropriately smaller."

James Win always felt that his job was not done well and said, "Give me three days."

George Clint responded: "When the re-editing is completed, I will submit the rating committee to re-evaluate immediately!"

Ronan nodded: "This is the only way to go for the time being."

He did what he said, James Winn did not delay for a minute, immediately said goodbye and left, summoned people to the Warner Studios' post-production studio to re-edit "Saw".

In the office, George Clint said: "I received a notice and called to stop copy printing. At least 1,000 copies were not available, and it wasted more than $1 million."

Luo Nan was also a little angry, but no matter how angry he was, there was no good idea, unless he didn't go to the MPAA rating.

According to current American laws, no one forces producers to submit movies to MPAA for rating, but most producers and distributors still submit their movies for ratings, because after ratings of the movies are equivalent to a certification of the movies, which is equivalent to the marks posted after being evaluated by the MPAA Association.

Most media require that the film must be ranked first before the film is allowed to be advertised on the media, otherwise it will be protested by other advertisers or public groups.

And if you don't rank, "Saw" can be released in hundreds of theaters at most.

Even, it may be boycotted by the Teachers and Parents Federation.

These non-governmental organizations are not good-looking as mascots, and their influence should not be underestimated.

Ronan shook his head and said, "This is the only way for the time being. George attaches importance to this matter and formulates corresponding response measures. The mpaa rating committee cannot be solved in the short term."

It’s too late to enter this industry, and the power cake of top players has been divided up long ago.

In fact, the grading system of mpaa is generally reliable, but the judges may not be reliable.

Some media once said that MPAA's rating committee is the only secret committee in the United States except CIA.

Because the identities of the judges are kept confidential and not disclosed, even the ratings are kept confidential and not disclosed.

MPAA has clear regulations, and no group or individual can affect the rating process.

How many people will completely believe this regulation?

Since MGM lost its qualification, MPaa now has only six members, namely the six major Hollywood companies. It is not impossible to complete a task, but there is no chance for a new company to join MPaaa.

For example, DreamWorks, all of them were rejected after several efforts.

The members of mpaa have already reached an agreement, and important decisions such as absorbing new members must be agreed upon by the six major members.

In other words, like the Security Council, any of the six major companies have a veto power.

It is possible to convince one of two or even three or four of them, but the six major nodded unanimously...

It is conceivable that a competitor comes over to discuss with you and wants to share the interests and powers in your hands, what choice would you make?

The Six Great Ones are not the Virgin.

There are also major films that have been upgraded to the ratings, but after the rating is completed, the rating committee will directly tell the producers who belong to the major films which need to be deleted and modified so that they can be downgraded when reviewing again; the outcome of other movies like "Saw" is that they only tell you the movie ratings, and if you want to get the corresponding level, you need to change it, without specifying where to modify it.

If the final rating is higher, such as pg-13 becomes r and r becomes nc-17, a higher level means millions or even tens of millions of dollars in losses.

It’s okay to say that a powerful company like Relativity Entertainment is, but for independent movies, it basically means being done.

This incident also made Luo Nan realize that Relativity Entertainment probably has entered the sight of the six major companies, crossed the psychological bottom line called "no threat", and was regarded as a powerful competitor.

Luo Nan also knew that he might deal with some troubles from the Six majors at any time in the future.

But no matter how much trouble you have, it cannot be an obstacle to the development of relativity entertainment.

This time, "Saw" encountered trouble, but it did not become a barrier to release within the rules of the game. After James Win re-edited, George Clint submitted a rating review, but did not give the rating committee a chance to pick on it, and successfully got the R-level rating.

The video was released smoothly!
Chapter completed!