Most professional producers I've met can't speak without cursing, and a lot of productions deal with teamsters, so the industry is alive with cursing.

If you're trying to enter a high school festival or something age dependent then it might have an effect, but most festivals are about total free expression- so pretty much anything goes.

Don't try to be Tarantino, though, because it's been done to death.

Why do you feel the characters must curse? If you are asking us our opinion then I'm thinking you are not 100% sure they have to curse. Find a way to take it out. Is it worth the chance that one person might not like it? Is it worth taking that chance over a film that might be excepted over yours? I write my intitial draft with the curse words then I find a way to take them out! Find a way!

well, like i said, i truly believe they need to curse. If you have ever seen any british gangster film, then you know what i am talking about. I've written the first draft, and have gone back to make all the swearing make sense, so it's not just random but in specific places. I was more just curious if anyone has had a problem getting their film into a festival because of language.

The only problem with festivals is you most will never know why a film has been rejected. Why give them an extra reason to reject you? I have seen a few British gangster films and I love them...except for the cursing. There is not one valid excuse for it. If you are using the excuse that someone else used cursing...that is not a valid excuse. So tell us why they have to curse. I think you can make a better film without it. I am challenging you to write one/produce one without the cursing. Nobody ever complains that a film would have been much better if it had more cursing. The fact is that many people complain about the cursing. Are you up to the challenge or are you going to do what all the others are doing? Are you unique or are you like everybody else?

You will get more attention by not cursing...it will be refreshing. If you don't have it in you to write a script without the cursing then don't be surprised when they say your film is like all the others...and you won't get into the festival. I hope I'm pushing your buttons a bit, because you need to separate yourself from all the others. Are you up to the challenge? If not then keep the cursing.,,that's the easy way to write.

you make an excellent point Kess. However, i believe that, at times, cursing is truly necessary. I have seen movies before where i could not believe in certain characters because they did not curse. Cursing is an everyday part of a lot of people's lives. You may not use it, but i can almost guarantee that the majority of people around you do. Of course, in movies, cussing isn't close to real life because there really isn't enough cussing, and i do believe that it can be too much at times. But, if you have a character who is everything that is unholy, who holds much hate for everyone around him, who is selfish, and who represents those who come from the street, how can he not be cursing when reacting to extreme circumstances?

But then, again the argument could be that when it really comes down to it, if you want your movie seen and you're not someone who is well known, you have to conform a little and give a little.

But then, of course, someone could say that you should never conform and that there are countless examples of people who did not and were successful.

So, in all, i'll just stick with what i believe in and roll with it.

thanks.

Excessive cursing will make no difference whatsoever to your selection chances (unless, as someone said, it's something like a kids festival), what will is a totally juvenile use of swearing inserting f*&$ unnecessarily everywhere to try and make your characters seem tough, or just expecting swearing alone to be funny or character building, if they're genuine gangsters then they're going to swear a lot so it becomes necessary, just don't go over the top with it, if all your characters are Joe Pesci in Good Fellas you just end up looking like a talentless moron copying a very extreme character because you think it's cool.

Steve Piper
Coffee Films
www.coffeefilms.com
www.myspace.com/coffeefilms

I've had a similar problem with my current movie. I just finished the screenplay. And I found that I simply could not keep myself from including swearing in certain situations. There is a scene when one character catches up with a man who tried to rape his wife. How on earth would he not swear?

I know what you mean, i feel ya.

-Jorge Pinkel

When you can't go verbal go physical. How could he not swear? Because he's beating and kicking the guy. Or because he broke down in tears as he's strangling the guy. Or because when you shoot the scene you pump up the soundtrack to heighten the drama. Or he switched to his native Spanish (or whatever) when he's freaking out and he's swearing in a foreign language. Or he swears in Italian because he's trying to impress mobsters or something. He's swearing, but we can't hear him. Or lastly you simply bleep out the swears. Yeah he cursed but nobody in the audience heard it, they just know he cursed.

There are lots of options, especially for a single scene.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

I personally encourage my actors to do it, as its a part of life and represents a sense of realism. Cleary.

www.myspace.com/b31_film_productions

I think it depends upon the type of movie, the setting, and the character. It says a lot about someone who swears a lot just as it says a lot about someone who avoids swearing.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

I agree it is a must at times, but it's good to work to remove it. It will help you write the best script possible. I always write a few drafts with it and then see if I can remove it. Hey...I can cuss with the best sailors in the world.

RJ had some great advice...to use a physical action.

Since many movies are using it you may stand out more if you don't use it. Do what others aren't doing and get noticed.

There is a Youtube video bouncing around of a Robot Chicken skit of the Emporer taking a call from Vader after the destruction of the death star. They bleep his words when he is clearly swearing and I think it's extra funny because of that.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

you could always try to write a gangster type movie where obscenities are replaced with out of character pleasantries said in the same manner. That would probably get a bigger reaction than simply with or without.

I have been a few productions myself and was originally taken back by the amount of cussing in films now a days. As I was reading the scripts I realized that without those swear words, the character and the film wouldn't have had near the affect it did on me when I saw it for the first time. It intensifies the scene, and gives some characters more credibility. So if your characters are prone to swearing than keep it as is your going to get a much better result from your actors, but also a better review from your audience.