Questions about Script Length

http://www.vcu.edu/arts/playwriting/length.html

Playwriting is about using up time, regardless of how long the play is. You need to use up enough time to tell the story and have it last for at least 90 minutes, the typical minimum for a full-length play. That's why using professional manuscript format is important: one page of manuscript usually takes a little over 1 minute to play on stage.

Unless you're Steve Martin, the minimum manuscript length you need for a full-length play is about 90 pages. [His PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE runs only 75 minutes, or about 67 pages in format.]​

And Yes, it's also true that Harold Pinter's ASHES TO ASHES only ran 45 minutes in London and New York. And thus grabs the record for the shortest "Full-Length" play in the history of the world.​

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Practically speaking, you can have a stage play last maybe three hours or so with at least one intermission/interval. On the other hand, some works--such as The Norman Conquests or Mourning Becomes Electra or Nicholas Nickleby were designed to be performed over a set period of nights (the last over four or five nights in a row, while the first can be rotating repertory very easily because they're happening at the same time pretty much).

About two hours is standard, although ninety minutes or two and half hours can work just as well.

Another good site

Playwriting 101 is another good site.

Be advised that stageplay format is not as rigid as screenplay format. The format scheme that you use can make a difference in the page:minutes ratio. In general, I think it is safe to say that you can expect 1 to 1-1/2 minutes per page. It really works to act out some of your pages, with yourself reading all the parts, to get an idea of time per page.

Some of the things that you read about format on one site will be completely different from what you find on another site.

In particular, you will find some notable discrepancies about ACT/SCENE numbering and page numbering.

For those interested, here is what I have learned and decided, after reading many style guidelines on the issue of numbering:

• Number the pages from the first page of the play proper, where ACT I or Scene 1 starts (this is unlike the way with screenplays, which does not number the first page). Number consecutively from the first to the last page of the play. Do not start renumbering pages with each act!
• Each ACT starts on a new page. Each SCENE starts on a new page. Of course, if you have just started a new ACT, then start the new SCENE on that same page, just below ACT.
• Use Roman numerals for the ACTS. Example: ACT III. You can underline or not.
• Use Arabic numbers for SCENES. Example: SCENE 3. You can underline or not. You can use all caps for SCENE or not.
• Here is the part that is really different from what you would think: In a manuscript, such as you would submit to a theater, number the SCENES consecutively through the whole play, even if you have ACTS. Consequently, the first scene in ACT II might be SCENE 3. On this particular issue a lot of the style guides are contradictory to one another or say nothing at all. But this is the numbering scheme in the Mollie Ann Meserve style manual, sold by Samuel French.
• You can put your ACT & SCENE & Page Number in the header if you have software that will let you (and if you know how to do it!). You can do this in FinalDraft by using the Label feature. (Quick tutorial: You have to select some text on the first line of your page. Select the ACT or the SCENE, whichever is first on the page. Click Document | Insert Label. Then name the label. You want to name it with whatever phrase you want to be in the header. Example: I-1 for your Act I and Scene 1. You can do this with each new Act or Scene. Of course, you can include the page number in the usual way. You can add some spaces as appropriate to make things look nice.)

Okay, enough. Maybe this helped somebody.