Motion Picture Association — industry body governing major studios. Issues U.S. film ratings (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17). The rating gatekeeper.
The Motion Picture Association — long known as the MPAA — is the trade association of American major studios and has regulated the rating system since 1968, which has become the global standard for age classifications. You will encounter it as soon as you produce a film for the U.S. market or go into international distribution. The system works through five categories: G (General Audiences — ages 0 and up), PG (Parental Guidance — ages 6 and up, recommended with parents), PG-13 (parental accompaniment advisable for those under 13), R (Restricted — under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian), and NC-17 (no one under 17 admitted). This may sound theoretical, but your editing decisions will be determined by it.
In practice, this means you calculate in the screenplay which rating is realistic. An R-rating automatically costs you a large market share — cinemas show such films less often, merchandising becomes more complex, and advertising slots are more expensive. Therefore, many action and horror films have their most critical scenes — violence, blood, language — cut or softened long before the MPA assigns a rating. Some studios shoot alternate cuts with less explicit material. As an editor, you often need several versions in the system simultaneously — the Director's Vision and the "MPAA-compliant" version.
The rating process itself is opaque. You submit your final version, a panel reviews it, and two weeks later you receive a verdict — sometimes with suggestions for necessary cuts or changes. This is not binding, but if you appeal it, it becomes expensive and public. Major studios have lobbyists who already know in advance how critically a film might be rated. Smaller productions often have to go through the process blind.
Important: The MPA system is purely American. Other countries — Great Britain (BBFC), Australia (ACB), France — have their own systems. A film can simultaneously be R-rated in the USA, certified 15 in the UK, and released for ages 12 and up in Germany. Your local cuts must differ accordingly. This is one of the reasons why international co-productions work with edit lists that consider all markets — from the outset.