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Tue 20 Jul, 2010 02:46 am
I'm trying to sell a screenplay but may end up shooting it myself. I'm worried about the laws when it comes to shooting sex on film. There is a law that says it is illegal to show sexually explicit content if the character in the movie is underage. Even if the actors are 18 or over it can be depicted as illegal if the film portrays underage characters engaging in sex. In my script there is a 16 year old femme fatale character who seduces adult men as part of her plan. She has to be a high school student for another part of the plot.
Now if you read the amendments, it says that this is illegal to show, but there are several movies that show this all the time. Just look at American Pie, Wild Things, Hounddog and In Praise of Older Women. So if those movies can show underage characters having sex, how is it that they are slipping through the law? There are exemptions and boundaries, but what are they? I tried seeking out lawyers about this but I do not live in the US but am going to market the script there. So I need to know the law of a country I do not live in. Anyone know or know where I can find out? Thanks.
@harmonica,
I'm sure all of those movies that you think are depicting minors having sex do not contain "sexually explicit" images of minors (or adults portraying minors) having sex. That's the key. See
18 USC 2252 and
18 USC 2256. In order for a depiction to be "sexually explicit," there pretty much has to be some genitals showing. My guess, then, is that, if you don't show any wing-wangs or hoo-has, you should be OK.
For an easy, non-legalistic analysis of this question, check
here.
@joefromchicago,
So I can show coitus from the neck up? Or show coitus just so long as the girls breasts are covered and nothing below is showing? I was trying to read cases for examples.
One court case a guy was prosecuted and found guilty because he had a picture up a woman on the internet dressed as a minor trying to portray a naughty school girl. He was jailed just for that. Yet movies get away with far more. What are the boundaries when it comes to movies as oppose to objective pictures that are deemed illegal even though they have no nudity or sexual activity in them?
@harmonica,
harmonica wrote:So I can show coitus from the neck up? Or show coitus just so long as the girls breasts are covered and nothing below is showing? I was trying to read cases for examples.
I won't give you any legal advice here because: (a) it's against the forum rules; (b) I would need to know more about the exact nature of what you propose to show; and (c) this is not my area of expertise.
harmonica wrote:One court case a guy was prosecuted and found guilty because he had a picture up a woman on the internet dressed as a minor trying to portray a naughty school girl. He was jailed just for that.
I'm not familiar with that case, but my guess is that, if there was such a case, it either didn't take place in the US or the defendant wasn't jailed "just for that."
harmonica wrote:Yet movies get away with far more. What are the boundaries when it comes to movies as oppose to objective pictures that are deemed illegal even though they have no nudity or sexual activity in them?
I'm not aware of such pictures. Why are they deemed illegal even though they have no nudity or sexual activity in them?
I read it was illegal because of what the ammendments say. That it is illegal to display pictures or footage that depict a minor wanting to have sex even though she is not the process of having it.
Okay so that sections of the ammendments I read, don't apply to today. Which make sense since all the movies are getting away with it. I'll write the sex scene like how any other movie would do it. Thanks guys.
@harmonica,
How'd "Kids" get away with doing it?
Would make it outside US juridiction. If you release it in the US afterwords, censors will likely try and get you to rewrite her age as 18+. If you want an MPAA rating you'll have to comply. If you're a filmmaker however (heh) release it unrated. To hell with the MPAA.
MPAA rated movies = commercial attempts to make money.
Unrated movies = film making.
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