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Final cut privilege is a film industry term usually used when a director has contractual authority over how a film is ultimately released for public viewing. On nearly all[citation needed] occasions, only established and bankable directors are given such a privilege (such as Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, The Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Peter Weir and M. Night Shyamalan). However, outside of the Hollywood studio system - in France, for example - directors whose reputations are built on artistic merit, as opposed to bankability, frequently have final cut on their films. In America some acclaimed, but not necessarily bankable directors, such as Woody Allen and Terrence Malick, also enjoy final cut.
Before a film is released, studios will usually make changes for commercial purposes, or to remove any controversial content. Sometimes such practices can cause conflict between the director and studio releasing the film (see American History X and Brazil).
Other contractual agreements will still apply, though: A director commissioned for a film with a rating no higher than "R" (in the US) will still have to make sure to meet this agreement. This happened with Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, which included an orgy scene that was shown in Europe, but would have given the film a higher "NC-17" rating in the US. For its US release, background actors were digitally added to obscure some sex acts to reach the contractually obliged R rating.
The use of the term "privilege" is misleading because, from a legal standpoint in many jurisdictions, any artist - including a filmmaker - has an automatic innate right to guard the honour and reputation of a piece of art he/she creates, which includes final say over how it will be released. This is known as moral right in intellectual property law. An artist's moral rights to a piece cannot be sold, but they can be waived. In contract practice, most filmmakers must waive their moral rights over a piece in order for investors, including studios, to consider investing. Thus the "privilege" is actually an innate right the filmmaker retains.
Sources
Authorship and film By David A. Gerstner, Janet Staiger. (AFI Film Readers ) Routledge 2002 ISBN 978-0-415-93994-2
Related
- Alan Smithee
- Artistic control, the same term when applied to musicians
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