So I'm applying to several schools and I actually kind of have come across an interesting cross road. One of my screenplays is pretty vulgar, I mean it's a comedy and the main characters are college age guys who party a lot, needless to say a lot of the dialogue can be pretty crass. Truthfully I think it's one of my better works, it's funny, unique, and has a perfect audience in mind but it's the type of script you wouldn't show your parents. So I was wondering what the typical thoughts on submitting this is. I certainly don't want to offend anyone or get my work just thrown to the side because it's subject matter is deemed to vulgar. So what is the standard operating procedure on this kind of thing?

Thanks

The rule for that is: there is no rule.

If it looks like lazy writing, it will count against you. If it is thrown in there just because it can be, it will count against you.

As a college kid, do you really curse as much as your characters do? Is it REAL that they curse that much? Are they at a community college in a bad part of town or are they at Harvard?

What school are you applying to? Is it a super conservative one? Is it a liberal one?

Food for thought.

I'm applying to UCLA, USC, NYU, Texas and Boston. The script itself is pretty juvenile at points but like I said it knows its audience, it goes in for it's jokes through dialogue and character responses as opposed to the typical shock or gross out factor. I'm hedging it a bit to make it a little more digestible but like I said I think for the most part the voices I give the characters are unique but authentic. Much of the characters and the conversations are modeled after real life. I know to some who read it it would seem like "Who really swears this much?" and that is a concern I have. I know it's not tacked on for vulgarities sake, but I want to make sure the reader knows as well. It's incredibly important for them to understand the absurdity of the characters and their attitudes while placed against a back drop of the real world. I kind of find myself in a daily debate about the direction to head in. I wrote this script as a guilty pleasure of mine, I really don't want to alter the concept so much that it's unrecognizable. Besides I think giving my characters voice is my strongest ability, where I may lack things elsewhere I've always taken pride in creating believable characters and dialogue. I suppose I should just take a leap of faith with my work.

I don't want to pretend to offer any inside information on this, since I have none, but I will offer some objective advice if you want an outside perspective...

The most important question to ask yourself, in my opinion, is: do you really want to spend 3 years, and xxx-thousand dollars, on a film program where you will feel compelled to self-censor your work? If the answer to that question is yes, I think you may want to reconsider your value set.

Particularly if your interest is screenwriting (an assumption of mine that may or may not be right), ask yourself if the value of that program overcomes sacrificing your creative abilities and ambitions. A fun anecdote I heard years ago is that the director Tony Scott decided to direct a film written by a young, struggling screenwriter after finding himself engrossed by the opening dialogue--a graphic conversation about cunnilingis; you may have heard of the screenwriter--his name is Quentin Tarantino, and the film ("True Romance") in fact opens with this dialogue.

Because you insist this is some of your best work, I say don't neuter it, and don't submit something lesser in its place just to potentially satisfy the prurient who might be reading your application. Some of the schools you are applying to are amongst the elite of the country, they should be once and/or current professionals who understand good writing from bad, regardless of the subject matter...and if they don't, I honestly think they're not worth your years or your money--and this is coming from someone who is proudly about to start at USC.

Good luck.

Thanks Phantom I think that is definitely the route I'll go. I was thinking about it earlier today and I just felt like it would be disingenuous to send in an altered script. If a school wants me, I want them to want me for the scripts I want to write. It would flat out suck to get to a school and with expectations to write a certain way because that's how I led them to believe I write. Years ago I originally attended college with the hopes of getting my degree in journalism, in high school I used to write for the school paper and I had a blast. I never really made the connection though that what I was writing were more short stories and satirical pieces than news, so when I finally arrived at college it was like the world was flipped upside down on me. I mean I felt miserable, I had zero creative freedom, zero chance to add my voice, it was boring and made me dislike writing. It would be a mistake for me to go down that path again, and I think this will be what I look at it in my statement letter. I've found my voice and I know what I like to write, and if it's too much for some people so be it. But I would much rather right my style and fail than try to fit myself into a box and be successful. Besides worst case scenario they grant me an interview just because they need to see the perverted freak who came up with this script.