Script length
Your advice of 110 to 120 pages for script length agrees with what others say, but upon sampling a large number of films I find their lengths usually fall between 85 and 115 minutes, including five minutes of credits. At a minute per page, something doesn’t click. Do producers expect 15 extra pages because they feel scripts usually have fat that needs trimming? Or perhaps producers know that during script development, writers find it less distressing to eliminate scenes and hope no one notices, rather than turn them into something far removed from the original vision. Just a thought.
–Ryall
It’s true that a lot of movies clock in at 100 minutes or less, and that the one-minute-per-page rule of thumb really depends on whose thumbs are doing the measuring. Moviemaking is more art than science, so it never holds up to much mathematical scrutiny. Whatever the reason for the discrepancy, I assure it doesn’t come from producers trying to spare writers’ feelings.
One variable that really effects running time is pacing. GO was about 102 minutes long. The script was 126 pages, and almost nothing was dropped. The movie never dawdled, however, which is how it got the story told so quickly.
Even movies that end up at 85 minutes probably began as screenplays in the 110 to 120 page range. In the course of production, or post-production, scenes often get cut. Either they are never filmed, or they end up on the cutting room floor, just waiting for the DVD version.
Since scenes are going to get cut, why not just start out with a shorter script? It’s not a bad question. In television, where programs have to be delivered to the network at a precise running time (at ABC, it is 42 minutes, 20 seconds for a "one-hour" drama), it is obviously preferable to avoid shooting scenes that couldn’t possibly fit into the allotted time.
In terms of features, however, anything shorter than 100 pages "feels" too short. It’s literally just not enough pages in your hand. And if you go much beyond 120 pages, people get nervous. Even if it’s great, it feels long.
Articles
May 16th, 2005 at 12:47 pm
I’ve been working on a screenplay for a few months now, and it’s about 160 pages. I’ve been slimming the descriptions and whatnot to get it to about 150, but, at the end of the day, it’s just going to be a longer film. Looking at many of my favorite films, I’ve found them to be around 150 to 175 pages. If your story is good and each scene is relevant to the story, there’s no need to sweat over fitting it into a specific range. Just keep in mind that, if not for anything else, the ability for an audience to sit in a theater for over three hours is physically exhausting, no matter how good the film is.
May 17th, 2005 at 7:06 am
I was in a similar boat on one of my scripts. It was an epic, and I thought that justified the longer page count. But as I tinkered with it more and more and really discovered the story I wanted to tell, the page count dropped. Significantly. Now it’s at a tight 123 and I’m happy for now. So I understand that you might feel 150 is justified, but I can almost guarentee it can be cut down. If they can get 600 page books down to 2 hours, you can get your spec down there too. Just got to “Kill your babies”.
February 23rd, 2007 at 9:29 am
My story is quite different. I began writting short tales for magazines, then scripts for short films that did well on many festivals, and now I´m writting my first feature. But every time I rewrite I end up with 80 scenes, and every time a read a script I see at least 100 scenes…is there a rule for this? is perhaps my script lacking from complexity? or is it just me just thinking too much about lenght!? (please, excuse my english)
February 23rd, 2007 at 9:35 am
Oh… By the way. I´m Venezuelan, living in Caracas, and I see you´re working on a project concerning our country. If any information is needed just let me know.