BWNS is given an R Equivalent Rating of Mature from Fair Ratings 4 All

Fair Ratings 4 All (http://fr4a.org/) gives free independent ratings for games, movies, music, television, and videos. They contacted me earlier this week about rating Boy Who Never Slept. I fully support the idea of an organization outside of the mainstream MPAA, dedicated to providing content ratings for independent works. There website is new and there isn't a lot of items rated right now, but I'm really interested in seeing if this site / organization takes off.

They gave BWNS a rating of "mature" which is equivalent to the MPAA rating of R. This is consistent with what other websites that have listed BWNS as containing mature content (this includes veoh video and yahoo video). Reasons given for the rating from fr4a are "This movie is rated Mature (M) due to its use of alcohol, adult language, sexual content, and nudity".

You can check out the rating here:

FR4A.org BWNS Movie Rating

FR4A also expressed interest in donating to future productions. I'll keep you posted on what happens. Below are some of the e-mail exchanges I've had with fr4a.

Solomon Rothman:
Fair Ratings 4 All is an independent entertainment ratings organization which rates games, movies, music, television, and videos. We have yet to watch Boy Who Never Slept, but we look forward to watching and rating it.
We are also interested in donating some money to a future project of yours. Please let us know how we can help. Thanks.

-FR4A Staff
http://www.fr4a.org

Thanks for the e-mail. I hope you enjoy watching Boy Who Never Slept and I'm very interested in seeing how you rate it. I checked out your website and I completely support what you are doing. With all the new indie content being produced, a rating system outside the control of any mainstream organization like the MPAA is an outstanding idea and I wish you success. What criteria do you current use when deciding on a rating for a movie?

I think it's great that would like to make a donation to help fund future productions. The easiest way to do this is through paypal (submit donation to the address Solomon@moviepals.org ) or click the donation link on my website (it will also offer you options to pay with credit card etc) additionally you could mail a physical check or money order to:

Solomon Rothman
17914 Vista Ct.
Canyon Country, CA 91387

Exactly where your donation money will go:
Currently, all donation money is going into an account to be used for an equipment purchase (video camera, materials to build a dolly and sound equipment) . This equipment will be used to shoot my next production and when finished that movie will also be released online for free.

I haven't released the specifics of exactly what my next project is, but I've already written draft scripts for two shorts, and two features, but have yet to finalize which one I'm actually going to filming next. This is because that decision will largely depend on the budget and resources available to me. The unofficial time frame to begin production is in 3 months, so very soon.

If you would like I'll mention FR4A in the credits of my next movie. Depending on the circumstances, I wouldn't mind pre-releasing it to FR4A for an independent rating. That way when it's released I can give people an idea of the content and avoid having to say it's NR (not yet rated).

I noticed your website is relatively new and currently has a Google page rank of 0. I can help you with that. As soon as you've finished rating the movie, send me a link to the listing and I'll post a blog entry about it, and about Fair Ratings 4 All.

Thanks again for writing and enjoy the movie. More movies are already in the works.

Solomon

Solomon:
We do not really have a set list of requirements that we rate content based on. We mostly watch the content and rate it based on what age groups we feel would be allowed to watch the content. It is the opinion of the organization that this allows us to more fairly rate content. Regarding early release of your next project that sounds like a great idea and if you wanted we can even provide you with an image including our rating to post in front of the movie if you so chose to. I plan on watching your film tonight and should be able to provide a rating for it tomorrow. I will let you know when I post the rating. Thank you for your time and have a great day.

-Ricky

Solomon:
I have posted the rating on Fair Ratings 4 All. You can view the rating by going here
(http://fr4a.org/index.php ?option=com_content &task=view&id=18&Itemid=3) or you can go under movies and then mature on the Fair Ratings 4 All web site. As you can see on the rating page we gave Boy Who Never Slept a rating of Mature. This may initially sound harsh, but Mature is an equivalent rating to the MPAA's R rating. If you have any questions or comments feel free to let me know. Thanks.

-Ricky

Ricky,

Thanks for the rating. I posted in my blog about FR4A and linked to both the main site and the ratings page. I also noticed the pre-content rating screens added to your front page, very cool. I hope you get some takers. I'll be sure to contact you again before I release something new.

Thanks,

Solomon