Page count and tight formatting
I have a question regarding page count. I have a screenplay that I’ve completed, which is about 135 pages or so. I brought it down from 143, but I keep hearing about this magic number of 120 pages, and how that’s what Hollywood looks for. I know my story is tight; it’s now to a point where it’s sacrificing what I set out to do.
I’ve actually used the “tight” page layout option in Final Draft to get it down to 125 pages. My question is: Is this something that is easy to spot, or considered bad? Personally I can’t tell very easily that it’s formatted tighter?
And as an aside…any chance of getting my short film mentioned on the site? It’s called “this moment” and screened at Sundance this year, as part of Kevin Spacey’s triggerstreet online festival top ten.
– Ayz
I’ve plugged your film, so let’s get to your question.
Yes, everyone can tell when you use the “tight” setting on Final Draft. Yes, it’s cheating. While I know some people who use it, I personally recommend against it. In typographic terms, “tight” reduces the leading between lines, which makes your script fractionally more difficult to read. Anything that makes the reader more likely to give up rather than finish your script is a Bad Thing.
So don’t do it.
I’ve crossed the 120-page barrier on many occasions, and the world hasn’t come crashing down on my head. But 135 is really long. While you may think you’ve trimmed out all the fat, you haven’t. How can I be so sure, without having read your script?
- This is one of your first scripts, and first scripts are always fat.
- Please flip to page 73. If you had to cut this scene, would the entire movie fall apart? No. You’d write around it. So cut it and deal with the absence. Repeat as needed.
- Your short film is good, but it too has fat. If each of the setups were half as long, the film would be more effective.
In case you’re wondering, real working screenwriters do worry about page count and such. I was on a panel last week with Terry Rossio, where we both talked about going through the script page by page, killing off widows and orphans.
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October 27th, 2004 at 5:57 pm
Terry actually has much to say on page count over on his Wordplayer site (there’s a link on John’s home page). If I recall, he says if your script is under 100 pages, they tend to think it’s too short, and if it’s over 120 they won’t read it because it’s too long. 110 pages is his magic number for a spec.
I know it probably sounds insane to outsiders, but if you have to read scripts all day long, you really value brevity. I went to a script reading this week for a spec that was 140 pages long, and easily could have been cut to 100 pages if the writer would have stopped describing every detail in every scene down to the individual grains of sand the characters walked across. After the reading, I tried to explain to him about page count and he looked at me like I was asking him to cut off the fingers of his first born.
October 27th, 2004 at 6:02 pm
Echoing and amping on Gary’s comment,
If you ever do a screenplay reading, take an hour and make a shorter, read-aloud version of the script. That means greatly reducing the action pieces, and removing a lot of the unnecessary parentheticals and asides. Distribute it to everyone and have them read aloud from that, rather than the “real” script. It makes the process much less painful.
October 28th, 2004 at 1:58 am
In the UK, I know that most readers will sigh if passed a screenplay that’s over 110 pages.
I try to keep it to less than 100 (though more than 87). Only put in what is essential. (underline ‘essential’) — it just makes life easier for the reader and gives them less reasons to not get round to reading your screenplay.
October 28th, 2004 at 11:44 am
As a reader for Heart of Film script competition at Austin Film Festival this year, I was handed scripts of various lengths but I can tell you one thing: story, story, story was pretty much all that mattered. You have posted here in the next article I believe what you should ask about your story and what is happening. This is such good advice and it works. I like Terry Rossio’s site as well for down to earth realistic recommendations.
October 28th, 2004 at 8:49 pm
Thanks for the advice John. Strange thing is, after i emailed you, I took another look at my script and actually found a couple of places where I felt like i could cut more… and after your post, i’m now sure i’m going to go for it…
anyway, thanks again. Much appreciated.
-ayz
November 22nd, 2004 at 8:49 am
Isn’t John August’s BIG FISH something like 124 pages long?
November 22nd, 2004 at 9:39 am
Big Fish is long-ish. In my own defense, I’ll note that it has a lot of short scene-lets (such as the circus montage, and fixing up Jenny’s house), which take up paper but don’t add to the running time. I also double-space before scene headers, which isn’t mandatory, but makes things a bit more readable.
November 23rd, 2004 at 7:31 pm
Echoing John’s comment about script readings:
A slight easier way is to take the Narrator copy (the actor who reads the action) and highlight the stuff you want him to read, leaving out all the extraneous description and minor details.
I’ve sat through six script readings so far (one was mine) and you quickly realize how much can be cut out of a script when you hear every boring and unnecessary detail read aloud.
November 24th, 2004 at 10:54 am
The problem with just highighting the stuff you want the narrator to read is that the actors don’t know how much it’s been cut down, so they’re not sure when to give their lines — which results in awkward silences. Doing a new draft for everyone is more work, but it leads to a much smoother read.