The heads of Hollywood's major film studios have admitted that children as young as nine are being used as guinea pigs to test films with an adult rating. The shady practice came to light last week when film chiefs were summoned to Washington to answer a Federal Trade Commission report alleging that the film industry was targeting youngsters with adult material. There were several contrite speeches and promises to be more responsible in Hollywood itself, where film trailers with adult themes are regularly screened before children's films and the marketing of adult films to all age groups is ruthless. But the Senate Commerce Committee, led by former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, was unimpressed.
Many film makers are in a frenzy.
The new guidelines will prohibit this practice, and the knock-on effect is already becoming clear. That is the only kind of subject we can promote to a large audience. The inability to get R-rated films off the ground also means that mediocre scripts for family films are being pushed through.