Final Cut Privilege - Condition

Condition

On nearly all occasions, only established and bankable directors are given such a privilege (such as Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, Joel & Ethan Coen, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino, Wolfgang Petersen, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, David Fincher, Francis Ford Coppola, M. Night Shyamalan, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, and Joe Dante). However, outside 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, Alexander Payne and Terrence Malick, also enjoy final cut. Sometimes nonbankable directors get final cut privilege when they make the film on a low budget, like with George Lucas on American Graffiti.

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.