After
a weekend of having fun with the Alongside Night Movie website and the
YouTube teaser trailer for Alongside Night, I have returned the
Alongside Night Teaser Trailer to a normal title and put it back on the
Alongside Night movie website, then wrote the following email to MPAA,
since having paid big bucks for an MPAA rating so Alongside Night can
play in American movie theaters that won't play movies like mine without
an MPAA rating I think I should actually try to get one.
Now let's see where this fully reasonable approach to "comply" with what the MPAA rules actually say gets me.
Cheers!
Neil
------------------------------
I have made several replies and made modifications to both the
Alongside Night movie website and the Alongside Night teaser trailer
that was embedded on that website based on the following report:
Film title: ALONGSIDE NIGHT Rating: NOT YET RATED
(1) "Internet Trailer" (81 sec.) - Disapproved: Sequences of minor holding / firing gun - disapproved.
Please revise and resubmit.
(1) "Official film site" - Disapproved: Trailer within site disapproved. Revise site trailer and resubmit for
approval.
I ask you to reverse this ruling and if necessary I will file a formal appeal based on the following information.
ADVERTISING ADMINISTRATION RULES Effective January 1, 2014 state the following on Page 16:
APPENDIX A
In furtherance of Article II, Section 5 of these Rules, advertising
“Approved (Without Restrictions)” shall not include the following:
"Depictions of violence, including but not limited to: excessive
gunfire or weapons around children; guns pointed directly at people or
the audience; and people in an explosion or violently thrown from an
explosion."
The MPAA rules say depictions of weapons around "children" not depictions of weapons around a "minor."
The character of Elliot Vreeland is 16-years-old in the movie Alongside
Night, which takes place in Las Vegas, NV in a future where civil
authority has broken down.
Elliot Vreeland is depicted in the
movie being armed with the handgun he carries throughout the movie by
his father, who is also depicted in a flashback near the beginning of
the movie training him in the use of the firearm, and the plot clearly
demonstrates that Elliot's father Dr. Martin Vreeland regards his son as
a responsible adult. The character of Elliot Vreeland is depicted as a
responsible adult throughout the movie. Two examples: (plot spoilers
deleted) Nowhere in the movie is there any depiction of nudity or sex,
nor is the F-bomb used anywhere in the movie even a single time. (plot
spoilers deleted)
This is not the role of a child in a movie.
Furthermore, today within the State of Nevada where the events of the
movie take place, in any case involving a 16-year-old charged with a
crime involving a firearm it is mandatory for the case to be transferred
from juvenile court to adult court. In the State of Nevada a
16-year-old carrying a firearm is legally liable as an adult.
Therefore, neither the teaser for Alongside Night nor the motion picture
itself depicts a child around weapons and does not violate industry
standards as defined by the MPAA's advertising rules.
Sincerely,
Neil
J. Neil Schulman
Writer/producer/director
Alongside Night
Managing Member,
Alongside Night, LLC
Anne Genstorfer
![FANTASTIC 1st day on the set of "One More Round" working with @[100001103032085:2048:Kevin Sorbo], @[1260247397:2048:Chip Rossetti], @[1260484565:2048:Donald James Parker] and many others! God is GOOD!](https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1/s403x403/1555405_10201536798447255_1380831116_n.jpg)
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