Geographical location?

I'm in NoVa/DC/Midatlantic

Privet is cheap, fast growing, and you can control the height and width of it forever.
The negatives are that they can be invasive in some areas and you will have to trim them at least once a year if you want to control size - you'll have to trim them three times if you want a precision clipped hedge. They will lose their leaves late in the year, ut over time the twigs get dense enough to prvide some degree of privacy in the off season.

red-tipped photinia's nice

I am very fond of my holly hedge (blue maid I believe). It was smushed by the snow but bounced back. I can easily keep it at 8 feet.

Holly is great, but it is expensive especially if she is after an 8-10' hedge.

Is Boxwood the same as privet? I was recently at HD, and pulled out one of the plastic stakes to read a little more about the plant, a Boxwood privet hedge~are they one and the same? TIA ;o)

Another question~~are the Boxwood fast/slow growers? Need little/much water? Do they get bugs easily? TIA

Box is not the same as privet. Buxus sempervirens (box) is a lower growing small leaved evergreen. It CAN grow to 8 feet - after about 50 years and if unpruned. Privet (Various Ligustrums) is deciduous in colder areas and has larger oval leaves. It is a very greedy feeder and will deplete the soil making it difficult if you want to have any kind of flower bed in front of it. There are lots of plants suitable for hedging without resorting to privet. And since you only want to fill a 15 ft length you would not need many plants. Viburnum tinus, Hibiscus syriacus, hollies, beech, hornbeam, yew, Escallonia, various roses, some of the Berberis, bay (if it's hardy for you) and many different conifers can all be grown as a hedge.

But would you consider just going for a mixed shrub border rather than a hedge? It would be less formal but you could have a selection of evergreen and deciduous and go for shape, foliage, flowers, fragrance, berries etc as you wish. In front you could put in some perennials and bulbs. Stick in some bird feeders for the winter. The neighbours would be screened and you would be adding an attractive and interesting area to your garden which you could enjoy from your patio. It would not need the regular clipping that a hedge would require. The neighbours could enjoy it from their side and you wouldn't have to go round to their property for maintenance.

' never had a problem with Ligustrum ovalifoilium depleting nutrients on this side of the Atlantic.

EJB, if you lived closer, I'd let you have all of my privets. They're variegated, and they have a wonderful natural habit. Unfortunately, the PO's of this house planted them in a 3' wide bed, right next to the foundation. Some of them still had the plant tags on them, which I noted as saying that each plant can reach 15' x 15'! They were already reaching over the walkway when we moved in, so I pruned them pretty severely. We've had a pretty harsh, wet winter, and they're leafing out like crazy right now. From what I've read, they're very sturdy, and aren't prone to any serious pests, at least in my area.

Not wanting to shear them, and not wanting to prune every few months, I think mine are coming out. Maybe I can transplant them to the back corner of the property to screen the neighbors junk pile?

laag - that's curious. It's pretty much a given over here. Maybe it's because our gardens are so small. We have to maximise the space so a hedge which you can't grow things up against is unpopular. I have checked and found numerous UK references to privet being both hungry and thirsty and affecting the growth of nearby plants.

What about Viburnum? It's fast growing and pretty.

What about Japanese Cleyera, if that will work in your zone?