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Researchers from the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business and Yale University School of Management also found films from directors with a history of producing "R"-rated features consistently receive more restrictive ratings, says a joint statement.
David Waguespack, assistant professor of management and organization at the Smith School, and co-author Olav Sorenson, professor of organizational behavior at Yale School of Management, "looked at the parental guidance ratings films receive and how those ratings are determined by the Motion Picture Association of America", it says, continuing: Because children account for roughly one-third of film receipts, movies with restricted ratings earn less, on average.
When comparing films with similar content, Sorenson and Waguespack found an uneven playing field in the ratings game. They looked at data from Kids-in-Mind, a website that provides parents with detailed information on film content, and found a gap between higher and lower status projects in the assignment of ratings to films.
"According to our analysis, a film with a moderate degree of sex and violence, for example a Kids-in-Mind score of 12, might be twice as likely to receive an R rating if distributed by an independent rather than one of the major studios," the statement has Sorenson saying, adding: "And that translates into profits. In our sample, films with a PG or PG-13 earned 76% more at the box office than those with an R."
The researchers attribute the biases to:
* Power, or influence, of the filmmaker or production studio
* The "halo effect," or reputation of the producer
* What they dub proto-typicality - the type-cast effect that has producers who typically receive a certain rating for their work consistently receiving that rating, regardless of content
The research will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Organization Science.
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