Movie lengths question.

Caitlin Black

Caitlin Black

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Okay, so I've been outling a movie idea this month in preparation for Script Frenzy in April. Well, today I got to the point where I was estimating scene lengths. I know it's not a perfect set-in-stone thing, but I thought I should at least estimate them, to give me an idea of the length of the movie.

So today I figured out that this movie will be approximately 1hr53min - and that doesn't include a couple of scenes I haven't outlined yet, which are meant to succinctly join Acts together. Probably 2 short scenes between Acts I and II, and 1 between Acts II and III.

So the whole thing could easily come in at about 2 hours long.

So my question is: Is that too long to be saleable if I'm writing a romance with slight dark comedy aspects?

I've never attempted to write a movie, and while I know the rough guide of lengths for most genres of novels... I have no clue for genres of movies.

All I know is that most of the romantic comedy movies I've seen have come in anywhere between 1hr30min and 1hr50min. That doesn't mean they can't go longer or shorter... But what's my best bet the easiest-to-sell length?

I'd guess 1hr40min would be pretty good... but I'm sure there's some sort of range.

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. :)
 
alleycat

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Around 110 pages is typical, but a little more or a little less is acceptable. Just don't write one that's 300 pages.

The rule of thumb is one page of script equals one minute of screen time.
 

nmstevens

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Cliff Face said:
Okay, so I've been outling a movie idea this month in preparation for Script Frenzy in April. Well, today I got to the point where I was estimating scene lengths. I know it's not a perfect set-in-stone thing, but I thought I should at least estimate them, to give me an idea of the length of the movie.

So today I figured out that this movie will be approximately 1hr53min - and that doesn't include a couple of scenes I haven't outlined yet, which are meant to succinctly join Acts together. Probably 2 short scenes between Acts I and II, and 1 between Acts II and III.

So the whole thing could easily come in at about 2 hours long.

So my question is: Is that too long to be saleable if I'm writing a romance with slight dark comedy aspects?

I've never attempted to write a movie, and while I know the rough guide of lengths for most genres of novels... I have no clue for genres of movies.

All I know is that most of the romantic comedy movies I've seen have come in anywhere between 1hr30min and 1hr50min. That doesn't mean they can't go longer or shorter... But what's my best bet the easiest-to-sell length?

I'd guess 1hr40min would be pretty good... but I'm sure there's some sort of range.

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. :)
Click to expand...

Two hours would be pretty long for a romantic comedy. On the other hand, estimating scene lengths based on an outline is a pretty rough business. And on the third hand -- an outline is a pretty good place to take a look at scenes that, just maybe you don't actually need and maybe you could cut or combine.

The earlier you ask the hard questions about what the "story work" that scenes are doing, the less deeply routed they are, the less work you've put into them, the less committed you are to them because of that brilliant piece of dialogue and the easier they are to get rid of.

So now's the time? Do you really need it. Is it just there to get from point A to point B? If you were to just cut from A to B, wouldn't the audience get it without that intermediate scene? Do scenes need beginnings? Do they need endings? Do they need beginnings, middles, or endings? Maybe you can just get rid of that scene altogether.

NMS
 
Caitlin Black

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alleycat said:
Around 110 pages is typical, but a little more or a little less is acceptable. Just don't write one that's 300 pages.

The rule of thumb is one page of script equals one minute of screen time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd heard the 1 page = 1 minute rule of thumb before. So 110 pages = 1hr50min... Which is pretty close to what I've estimated.

Hmm... *strokes chinbeard* That's good news indeed. I'll still need to tighten it up a bit, and err on the side of shorter, but 110 pages sounds like a good plan to me.

Cheers. :)

nmstevens said:
Two hours would be pretty long for a romantic comedy. On the other hand, estimating scene lengths based on an outline is a pretty rough business. And on the third hand -- an outline is a pretty good place to take a look at scenes that, just maybe you don't actually need and maybe you could cut or combine.

The earlier you ask the hard questions about what the "story work" that scenes are doing, the less deeply routed they are, the less work you've put into them, the less committed you are to them because of that brilliant piece of dialogue and the easier they are to get rid of.

So now's the time? Do you really need it. Is it just there to get from point A to point B? If you were to just cut from A to B, wouldn't the audience get it without that intermediate scene? Do scenes need beginnings? Do they need endings? Do they need beginnings, middles, or endings? Maybe you can just get rid of that scene altogether.

NMS
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree totally. Estimating length from an outline is imperfect, and now is definitely the time to have a long hard look at each scene, before I write any of it.

I know I felt like I was spoon-feeding the timeline to the audience with maybe 2 short scenes... so they'd be the first place to look at critically. Gotta trust those hunches, y'know. :)

And then I might have to write down importance of scenes, and importance of which parts of those scenes, to figure out what else can be cut.

Then if I wind up underwriting, and coming closer to 1hr25min or something, I can just weave back in the better bits of what I cut, bringing it closer to my 1hr40min goal.

Yes, this sounds like a good plan to me. :)

Cheers. :)
 
Hillgate

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Dialogue-heavy scripts can come in shorter on film time so the 1 minute = 1 page rule is a rough rule of thumb. I wouldn't worry about screen-time yet: follow NMS's advice re cutting something if it's just a bridge between A and B and if it doesn't in some way drive the story forward.
 
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