Screenwriting : Number of pages by Phil Mitchell

I never heard of that 95 page restriction for a review.

Did you mean a table read?

Phil Mitchell some of the competitions do not even specify, and some of them allow for a fairly wide range from 85 to 130, some consensus for feedback suggests keeping it to less than 120 across the board, and better to be 110 or 105 depending on genre, but obviously there is not really any one standard, but 140 might be tough to get a read on ... sometimes I find it's better to cut out an entire sequence instead of trying to grind down the whole thing ...

I was always told they won't even read a script over 120 pages. Then it was, it had to be close to 115 pages. Now I don't know. Just completed a 108-page screenplay. Probably could get down to 105 pages. I think Indiana Jones One was 105 pages. That's my new goal.

Eric Sollars rock on. I keep thinking back to Badlands by Terrence Malick - 75 pages - if that spare and lean outcast horizon allowed for the expression of such a resonant feature, irrespective of all the variables it gives me some kind of confidence and hope in cinema and in a future of possibilities, a movement in favor of the imagination. I'm looking at 108.

From what I was told when I started, the minimum was 90 pages and maximum was 120 pages if you're unknown. The more clout you get, the more leeway you can have in having scripts being longer or shorter. Such as Aaron Sorkin's 199 page script for Molly's Game or Ken Russell's 57 page script for Lisztomania.

But I've heard so much conflicting things since then, like biopics can be upwards of 140 pages, horror scripts can be 80... and like Daniel mentioned, screenplay competitions can be all over the place on what they consider feature-length. One contest I was looking at said they considered a 40 page script a feature!

I do know that Stage32 coverage services will look at scripts over 140 pages, so that might be an option for you Phil if you're wondering if your scripts work as they are.

110 pages.

In Europe no one counts pages...Hungarian "Saul fia" is like 70dunno...powerful film....Oscar winner...

Lord of the rings 1,2&3 had 173, 222 & 152pages respectively. But guess what, it was all written by professionals.

All I always keep in mind is to find a way to hook them with either my logline, synopsis or treatment... Genre type will affect the page numbers.

When your logline and synopsis/treatment are intriguing, the next thing is what's in each page... If it's powerful, they will read without counting pages.

Make your script attractive from the very beginning of the process... That's what matters.

Script pages also depends on writing quality & Genre. Horror generally is okay with below 100 pages, Drama may need 120 pages to tell a great story. There are a ton of other variables that play into the equation - formatting, choice of words, grammar, pacing, structure, character depth, conflict, so on and so forth. Goal should be to have readers begging for more.

-- pritesh

I shoot for 95-100 with my low to mid-budget screenplays. For a dream-budget blockbuster type idea, I think you can run up to 110-120, but those pages better SING.

I try to write between 85-100 (final drafts). Big studio movies can be 120+ pages.

Are you looking for a 'rule'? There are none - only guidelines. I tell my students wanting to write FL scripts to AIM for 100 pages +/- and it must be 'properly' formatted. Keep in mind too that killing a few of the babies often makes for a better story.

Nash - 'Word count' is the novelist's domain, 'page count' is the term preferred in screenwriting. The basic reasoning relates to the 'one minuet of screen time equals one script page' concept. It's widely inaccurate but somewhat indicative. It turns out (I tested it) that the 'average' word count of a well crafted & formatted 'spec' script works out to very close to 196 words per page or a little under 20K words.

120 below is fine ... and tell a good story!

I write sparse, so I have a low page count. Clint Eastwood was handed a 90 page script and he said “this is already the best script I have ever read”.

Your script could be 300 pages. They’ll read the first page and if it is bad. they’ll stop. If it is short they may cut you some slack and read further.

If you write long script every page (yes EVER PAGE) must be the great page in history. Why? Because you are asking someone to work twice as hard for the same reward, a single script. Therefore you must give them twice the reason to keep reading.

The industry standard, script formatting has long been Hitchcock's, 'North by Northwest', by Ernest Lehamn, which by the way is 179 PAGES LONG. Simply concentrate on telling a great story with a minimum amout of words. Edit, edit, edit the ' GOOD STUFF ' until there is nothing left but the ' GREAT STUFF ' ! See script https://web.archive.org/web/20170516223147/http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~...

North by Northwest by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures".

When i was in school, we read Syd Field’s how-to book and we had to buy a printed script of “Chinatown” to study formatting. That was our go-to script in the 1990s before computers, Internet & screenplay software.

Ppl still study “Lethal Weapon” script, written by a 22-year old, reinvented the modern American screenplay

OK, thanks for all the advice. I'm down to 121 pages. But as I took the movie from one of the books I wrote (350 pages) there's still a lot of the story I would love to have included. Oh well, such is life...

Hi Phil. Sometimes when a lot of good stuff are in my script and I don't want it to go to waste I would try to design the story where there will definitely be a sequel to it. There you can fit in all the good stuff into two screen plays.

Learn to write tight and don't be afraid to kill a couple of your babies.

I wrote one of my first scripts in Microsoft Works, later when I scratched up some cash and bought Final Draft I imported the file and it ended up being 300 pages! Formatting got it down to 180 and cutting got it down to about 130. Through the page by page battle of economy of words I was eventually able to knock it down to 110. Editing is like a muscle, the more you do it the more you are able to spot areas where edits will be most effective.

From what I've learned along this journey, readers don't want to read anything over 120 pages, so any length between 95 and 120 pages is acceptable.

I would say no more than 120 pages. Sometimes it depends on what genre your writing in. Most of the horror scripts I've read stay under 100 pages. Less is more.

My impression is 110 is the new 120. But as has been pointed out, it depends on genre too.

The process is called "Killing your darlings." Quite honestly, I've always found my writing much improved by aggressive cutting of excess. The whole idea is to create a streamlined arrow that will pierce any target.

140 pages is usually considered too long.

Very true, Mike Romoth.

I agree with killing the darlings because producing the extra 45 pages adds up!

Think of it this way: It costs about $100,000 per page to produce a movie with a 15 million dollar budget. As a screenwriter we need to ask ourselves: Is every one of our pages worth 100K or can our screenplay be edited down?

I submitted 140pg printed screenplay to my college professor; he flipped to the last page, shook his head said, "too much backstory", and ripped page 1 to 40 off the fasteners, then said, "now, the script is better." lol, and he was right without reading.

120 should be your max and now even that is being called "long". If it makes you feel any better, I have a 180 page one that I need to cut and don't have the heart or drive to butcher.

120 max, 100 ideal. but it does depend on the genre, comedy and horror, 90-95 is the sweet spot. Animated feature 88-90 (unless you're putting in lyrics), drama and biopics usually push 115-120. If I get a coverage script over 120, I can pretty much guarantee the story lacks solid structure. Look at it this way, it is very hard to get a script read for someone trying to break in, the shorter it is the less time you are taking from someone's day where they have piles of scripts from writers they know have experience. One thing that is always an easy target to get down the count is dialogue. Most writers use far too much of it and it eats up more page real estate.

Great insight, Laurie Ashbourne.

So, are you trying to say when you finish a script; Drama or Adventure... And the pages count up to 130 or more... And you know for sure that everything in there needs to be there to make the script a whole, you still need to cut it down to 120pp or less???

What if forcing the script to 120pp or less won't help it's perfection???

Felix, in general, yes cut it down. Obviously I don't know your work or the material, but I am willing to bet that it is not "perfection." It's where the term "kill your darlings" comes to mind. Have you had someone give you notes or coverage on it? How do you know every single scene, action description and line of dialogue drives the story to a synergistic completion? The first thing I would do is to get professional feedback from a trusted source who can tell you where it needs some attention. As mentioned, the hardest thing for a writer who has not made a name for their work is to get read. And that page count is a detriment to that endeavor. If you are Tarantino and/or making this yourself, it doesn't matter. But if you want others to make it for you, you have to get them to read it.

I get you in some case, Laurie... Thanks for talking back.

Phil, the bottom line is, if you're trying to sell your script, and I assume you're a hell of a great writer, then it doesn't matter how many pages you have, because once you sell it, it now becomes the property of whoever bought it and they will do with it whatever they want, i.e. cut it down, wring it out, tighten it up, remove what they don't like, etc. And unless you have an iron clad contract, you may even find your script with some other writers name on it.

So, it doesn't matter if your script is 90, 100, 130 or a 140 pages. What matters is if you can grab the reader on page one and prolong that grab to the end of the script.

I find most people have different guidelines for what they accept I haven’t looked at Stage 32’s yet though. The only thing I would say is look at you format your font and text size. If not done right your script could take up more pages than needed. I know a lot of people who make the text size much bigger than realistically needed or required by the company reading the script. You’ve probably done it fine but I just thought I’d mention it.