40 page script grows beyond 60 when double spaced

Hi All,

Apologies if this question is frustratingly basic, but I'm massively confused in relation to paragraph spacing in Spec scripts.

I've written a pilot sitcom, intending to submit it to the BBC Writers Room. The BBC being advert free, I worked on the basis of a full 30 minutes, rather than 22 minutes. The script finished up at about 40 pages (not too far beyond the 1 page = 1 minute rule of thumb), and I was happy enough.

But stupidly, only then did I belatedly check the BBC Writers Room FAQ and find their stipulation that scripts must be double-spaced. I couldn't believe it.

Final Draft (which I used for the writing) defaults to single paragraph spacing, and I had assumed (perhaps naively) this to be industry best-practice. Further buttressing this notion in my head, was the fact that so many of the sample scripts available on the BBC Writers Room site are themselves single-spaced.

When I reformat my script to be double-spaced, it shoots up from 40 pages to well over 60 pages. From my research, I can't seem to get a handle on whether the 'rule of thumb' about 1 page = 1 minute of screen time implies single-spaced or double-spaced paragraphing. The difference is huge!

Again, sorry if this is an annoyingly novice question, but it's very hard to get any correspondence from the BBC Writers Room directly.

Any advice, greatly appreciated,

Cheers,
Flann

flann said:

Again, sorry if this is an annoyingly novice question, but it's very hard to get any correspondence from the BBC Writers Room directly.

Click to expand...

I spoke far too soon. Someone from the BBC Writers Room graciously came back to me on this. In case anybody is as dumb as me, and suffering the same confusion, this was their reply:


Some TV and radio formats use double-spacing, while film format (which is increasingly used for TV in this country, and has been for many years in the US) doesn't. The one-minute-per-page rule of thumb is for film format.

Final Draft's standard format is perfectly acceptable for any TV and Film submissions, so just send it in as-is.

As the request for double-spacing in the FAQ is confusing I've removed it. Thanks for pointing this out.

dpaterso said:

Yeah that could have been confusing, it's good that they caught it.

You've probably already seen BBC Writersroom's sample screenplay, which shows the expected layout (pretty standard, no surprises):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scriptsmart/screenplay.pdf

...and the script archive has plenty of example scripts too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/script_archive.shtml

-Derek

Click to expand...

Hey Derek. Yeah, I've been snooping around the archives, but it can confuse as much as enlighten you. There's at least as many single-spaced (if not more) than double-spaced scripts.

Also, virtually all the scripts they put up on the site are shoot scripts, which is kind of odd considering they're soliciting spec script submissions. I'm just delighted they got back to me though, because I was left not knowing what to think.

icerose said:

It just means the new format, double spaced, is catching ground but both are still perfectly acceptable.

Click to expand...

Sounds that way Icerose. But what I found frustrating is that articles that reference the '1 page = 1 minute' rule of thumb never clarify whether that is 1 page of single-spaced or double-spaced script. For example, a 30 page single-spaced script could translate into a 55 page double-spaced script, making the latter a radical departure from 1 page = 1 minute.

Thanks a lot.