Scenes (number of)?

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I'm finally working on my screenplay. It's getting into the sorta' advanced outline stage and it's partially written. It looks like it will end up being about 45 to 50 scenes. Is that pretty close to normal, or is it on the short side?RonB"There's a story there...somewhere"

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[nq:1]I'm finally working on my screenplay. It's getting into the sorta' advanced outline stage and it's partially written. It looks like it will end up being about 45 to 50 scenes. Is that pretty close to normal, or is it on the short side?[/nq]
Depends on the length of the scenes.
cd

The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl Grey.

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[nq:2]I'm finally working on my screenplay. It's getting into the ... close to normal, or is it on the short side?[/nq]
[nq:1]Depends on the length of the scenes.[/nq]
I guess you've got a point there. I'm just wondering what's average or if there is any such thing as an "average."

RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"

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[nq:1]I'm finally working on my screenplay. It's getting into the sorta' advanced outline stage and it's partially written. It looks like it will end up being about 45 to 50 scenes. Is that pretty close to normal, or is it on the short side?[/nq]
Depends. Are you talking 50 sluglines (in which case it's probably low) or 50 "major story moments" (in which case it's probably about right, unless you're writing a character based drama, in which case it's probably a little high.)
But note the number of times I wrote "probably" in the above paragraph. A lot depends on how the writing goes. At this stage, for you, I wouldn't worry about it yet - if you think 50 scenes feels right to you in your outline, than write it with those 50 scenes.

Then see where your page count ends up, and go from there.

-Ron

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[nq:2]I'm finally working on my screenplay. It's getting into the ... close to normal, or is it on the short side?[/nq]
[nq:1]Depends. Are you talking 50 sluglines (in which case it's probably low) or 50 "major story moments" (in which case ... outline, than write it with those 50 scenes. Then see where your page count ends up, and go from there.[/nq]
Thanks, Ron. There would probably be about 60-65 sluglines, as some of the index cards outline sequences rather than simply scenes.

I've got another quick question. Most of my action lines are short a line or two so there tends to be a lot of white space. Does this mean anything when considering the total number of pages?

RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"

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[nq:1]I've got another quick question. Most of my action lines are short a line or two so there tends to be a lot of white space. Does this mean anything when considering the total number of pages?[/nq]
It means that most of your pages will be less dark...

That's probably a good thing, assuming of course that there's a lot of story in those pages as well.
Glad to hear that you're writing your screenplay now!

Doug
Just a virtual guy... in a virtual world

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[nq:1]I've got another quick question. Most of my action lines are short a line or two so there tends to be a lot of white space. Does this mean anything when considering the total number of pages?[/nq]
No - this is pretty standard. (Some people, like Neal, write in longer paragraphs, but what you're describing - and what you've shown us in scenes posted to the group) is pretty typical.

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[nq:1]Thanks, Ron. There would probably be about 60-65 sluglines, as some of the index cards outline sequences rather than simply scenes.[/nq]
That seems pretty low. My most recent script came out at 73 sluglines, and I consider it to be very short. My first script was just over a hundred.
Then again, in the former (the most recent script), my initial outline that I was working from would've projected to be only about 60 sluglines, maybe less. You very well may find that in the process of writing, the script "fills out" more than you thought it would (if you remember a few weeks ago, I made a panicked post about thinking my script would only come out at 60 pages; it ended up at 91).

Then again, it's probably just best to write the story and not worry about scene counts/page counts/etc. If it's good, it's good. If it needs work, it needs work. And none of that has to do with the scene count.

Stephen Mack
"Nobody's smart enough to be wrong all the time." -Ken Wilber

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm finally working on my screenplay. It's getting into the sorta' advanced outline stage and it's partially written. It looks like it will end up being about 45 to 50 scenes. Is that pretty close to normal, or is it on the short side?[/nq]
Sent the last message before I wanted to. The sluglines count came up and the scenes shortened on the 2nd and 3rd drafts.

Write it I think it'll work.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm finally working on my screenplay. It's getting into the sorta' advanced outline stage and it's partially written. It looks like it will end up being about 45 to 50 scenes. Is that pretty close to normal, or is it on the short side?[/nq]
My one and only completed script has 92 sluglines, 115 pages. If that means anything.

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[nq:2]I've got another quick question. Most of my action lines ... this mean anything when considering the total number of pages?[/nq]
[nq:1]It means that most of your pages will be less dark...

That's probably a good thing, assuming of course that there's a lot of story in those pages as well. Glad to hear that you're writing your screenplay now![/nq]
Yeah, it's fun again. I've even got another stupid question that I'm going to ask in another thread.
Thanks.

RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"

Scenes (number of)?

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