Script Length

[nganok]

I've a half a million script writing books and they all pretty much say the same thing. don't write more than 120 pages for a spec. Is there a certain length per genre? I recently wrote a murder mystery that only ran about 100 pages. my thinking was that it would be about a hour and forty minutes or so.

[Joe Calabrese]

Genre scripts, such as horror, comedy, etc... tend to run shorter than dramas. Your 100 pages aint too bad. I try and keep all scripts between 95 and 125, with horror on the lean end and epics, adventures, dramatic stuff towards the fatter end. Comedies somewhere inbetween.

[Chesher Cat]

Genre scripts, such as horror, comedy, etc... tend to run shorter than dramas. Your 100 pages aint too bad. I try and keep all scripts between 95 and 125, with horror on the lean end and epics, adventures, dramatic stuff towards the fatter end. Comedies somewhere inbetween.

Ditto.

[Enigma]

Genre scripts, such as horror, comedy, etc... tend to run shorter than dramas. Your 100 pages aint too bad. I try and keep all scripts between 95 and 125, with horror on the lean end and epics, adventures, dramatic stuff towards the fatter end. Comedies somewhere inbetween.

That's good to see in writing. I'm working on one that involves music - a lot of music - and the length is quickly heading down from the original (draft) 170+ pages to what looks like will be about 90 +/- when I get to the ##.

Since it involves music, is there anything special I should be aware of?

There are two places where the film could be edited into music videos and I'm fighting the temptation to mention that in the script, synopsis, or somewhere. Leave it alone? Let "them" figure it out all by themselves?

[JustinoXXV]

All the books I've state that feature length screenplays should be between 90 to 120 minutes. It's one minute per page, so the movie would be between 1 and 1/2 hours to 2 hours.

[Chesher Cat]

That's good to see in writing. I'm working on one that involves music - a lot of music - and the length is quickly heading down from the original (draft) 170+ pages to what looks like will be about 90 +/- when I get to the ##.

Since it involves music, is there anything special I should be aware of?

There are two places where the film could be edited into music videos and I'm fighting the temptation to mention that in the script, synopsis, or somewhere. Leave it alone? Let "them" figure it out all by themselves?

Including music in a spec script can be tricky - is it original music or other people's. If the latter, and intregal to the story it can stop producers from being interested because they don't want to deal with rights. Generally, I've been advised to only include a lyric or two in the dialogue but only if it's essential to the story.

You might want to try and find a copy of "Almost Famous" - it had tons of music in it - original and otherwise.

[bison]

"All the books I've state that feature length screenplays should be between 90 to 120 minutes. It's one minute per page, so the movie would be between 1 and 1/2 hours to 2 hours."

120 pages will get edited down somewhat. The reason they shoot for 90 minutes is mainly based on how many times they can cycle a film at a given movie house on a given day. The more cycles, the more $$$$$$$$$. Also, longer movies would cost too much to produce.