Screenplays Standard Length

Question

I must start by saying I've made only one full screenplay and two other very long treatments. I've sent treatments, and now I'm going to send my first screenplay. I read that movie screenplays generally consists of 125 pages. 115 pages are ok, 135 pages are too much. I've read all about setting margins and screenwriting software, but it was difficult to me following those suggestions. I've noticed a large discrepancy between the rules and the actual number of lines per page from script to script (i.e. downloadable old scripts, http://www.dailyscript.com/movie.html ). I wrote my script in Word
2000 and I'm going to load the script into Final Draft 7. For themoment, I have 40 lines per page, 60 characters per line. I have now a total of 135 pages, 120.000 characters.
Now, if I'd follow the formatting rules in Final Draft 7 I'll have 150 pages or so, due to my long dialogues. The dialogues are to be settled in a narrow space producing an additional number of lines and pages. Look at those numbers below. There are great differences between famous screenplays. Compared with these my long screenplay (120.000 characters) is not at all - long. Do you think should I cut another 20 or 25 pages of my script?
I think there are film like 'The piano' with short dialogues or long mute scenes, and there are film like 'Forrest Gump' with long V.O. dialogues. By the way in many old screenplays dialogues were formatted exactly like comments. Sorry for my English.
Claudio,
Italy
Characters Pages Time
AIR FORCE ONE -223.000 - 172 PG. - 124'
ALIEN -160.000 - 149 PG. - 117'
ALMOST FAMOUS - 182.000 -198 PG. - 122'
AMERICAN PSYCHO(M.M) -184.000 - 209 PG. - 102'
APOCALYPSE NOW -148.000 - 187 PG - 150'
BODY OF EVIDENCE -173.000 - 141 PG - 120'
BATMAN FOREVER - 184.000 - 148 PG. - 120'
BARRY LYNDON - 157.000 - 178 PG. - 184'
BLADE RUNNER -167.000 - 135 PG - 118'
CAST AWAY -149.000 - 156 PG. - 135'
CLERKS -122.000 -189 PG. - 90'
ERIN BROCKOVICH -189.000 - 164 PG. - 130'
ERIN BROCKOVICH REVIS.-195.000 - 171 PG. - 130'
FIGHT CLUB - 209.000 - 189 PG. - 135'
FORREST GUMP -215.000 - 158 PG. - 142'
GET SHORTY -121.000 - 169 PG. - 105'
HANNIBAL -216.000 - 193 PG. - 131'
INDEPENDENCE DAY -139.000 - 172 PG. - 144'
JACKIE BROWN -222.000 - 221 PG. - 155'
JURASSIC PARK 1 -166.000 - 177 PG. - 126'
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL -198.000 - 174 PG. - 137'
LETHAL WEAPON -179.000 - 160 PG. - 110'
MINORITY REPORT -228.000 - 119 PG. - 145'
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 -163.000 - 134 PG. - 123'
PEARL HARBOR -165.000 - 172 PG. - 160'
PHILADELPHIA -183.000 - 159 PG.- 119'
PULP FICTION -244.000 - 177 PG.- 154
SCARY MOVIE 2 -198.000 - 158 PG. - 83'
SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE-168.000 - 122 PG.- 100'
SEVEN -237.000 - 182 PG. -127'
TAXI DRIVER -158.000 - 148 PG. -113'
THE GODFATHER -161.000 - 182 PG. -175'
THE GAME -208.000 - 155 PG. - 128'
THE MAJESTIC -171.000 - 175 PG. - 151'
THE PATRIOT -155.000 - 179 PG. - 90'
THE PIANO -123.000 - 105 PG. -121'
THE TRUMAN SHOW -190.000 - 148 PG. - 102'
THELMA & LOUISE -206.000 - 152 PG. - 128'
THIRTEEN DAYS -172.000 - 178 PG. - 145'
THREE KING - 173.000 - 147 PG. - 114'
THREE KING REVISED - 173.000 - 163 PG. - 114'
TOP GUN -124.000 - 158 PG. - 109'
WALL STREET -152.000 - 171 PG. - 124'

Usenet · Accepted Answer

First of all, it depends who you're writing for. If it's for an Italian production company or if you're looking to get it made in Europe, that's one thing. If you're looking to sell it in Hollywood, that's another matter.
Assuming you're looking to sell it to a US studio: one thing to remember is that few if any of the screenplays you've listed were specs by first-time writers. When you're an established writer, who has been commissioned to write something, rules aren't that important.

So yes, 150 pages is way too long. It may be 150 pages is absolutely the right length to tell the story you want to tell. But the fact is, the sheer number of pages alone will put your s.p at a disadvantage and may prevent it even being read.
So my suggestion would be to either cut 30 pages - or save your epic until your an established writer.
I'd also suggest you review whether you need such long blocks of dialogue.
A

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Now, if I'd follow the formatting rules in Final Draft 7 I'll have 150 pages or so, due to my long dialogues. Do you think should I cut another 20 or 25 pages of my script?[/nq]
Yes.
I don't care what you think you can divine from looking at other scripts and counting their characters-per-line. A script which is 150 pages long, when done with Final Draft's default settings, should have AT LEAST 30 pages cut.
You should try as hard as you can to get done to 120. Sometimes it's just not possible. I recently finished a script with a 153 page first draft. We ended up adding several scenes, and then cutting as hard as we could, and got it down to 122. I suspect that with more perspective we may be able to get it down to 120.
Screenplay formating is, in many ways, an illusion. There are so many variables which effect length that the hard-and-fast rules about page length often seem silly.
I understand this.
But the illusion of proper formatting must be maintained at all costs. You can prune windows, you can occasionally let a dialog margin slip by a character or two (notice, I said "occasionally" and "by a character or two." Not "always" and "by half an inch.")
But if it looks noticeable to somebody who's used to looking at scripts, you're in trouble.
-Ron

Usenet · Answer

Hi Claudio!
So, there's a number of things to consider when asking "is this story too long?"
1. Do you think it is too long? How does it feel to read all those longspeeches out loud? Should all the characters have long speeches? Is this a story about communicating or about people who talk compulsively? If not, why are there so many long speeches?
2. What genre is it? What tradition of storytelling (American,Scandinavian, Italian, Russian, Hong Kong, Japanese, etc.). These traditions have their own practices re: length.
3. You don't get to write with the freedom that a writer/director oralready-produced writer does (other responses address this) if you are trying to sell to a mainstream studio buyer..unless the story REALLY needs to be that long. Of your examples below, many were written by produced writers or writer/directors. Thelma and Louise was written by a first-timer, who handed it off to a friend who happened to be Ridley Scott.

So, if you really think your script has no fat, then don't worry about the "rules." However, I'd get a second, third, and fourth opinion before deciding that you've really written a story that needs to be 2.5 hours long. For example, Unforgiven doesn't feel long at over 2 hours, other films drag at 83 minutes...
I'm going to have to look at the script for Scary Movie 2. It's hard to believe they turned 153 pages into 83 minutes running time.

So, read your whole script aloud, see where it feels draggy to you, and try to do some cutting, see what you come up with. You'd be a rare bird indeed if all the words you thought you needed were words that you really did need...
Good luck!
Mysti

Usenet · Answer

11 inches.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]11 inches.[/nq]
You call that 11 inches??
Dena Jo

"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say."
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]11 inches.[/nq]
[nq:1]You call that 11 inches?? Dena Jo[/nq]
I think Bill was talking about a screenplay for a short.

Alan Brooks

A with an Underwood
"Bris Milah; The Director's Cut"

Screenplays Standard Length

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions