‘How long should my movie script be?’ is a question many beginner screenwriters ask, and it’s an important one because it can impact your script’s marketability. 

Below I explain why script size matters, reveal the ideal page range, and give tips on how to stay within that range.

One Page = One Minute

Being a blueprint for a feature film, a screenplay’s length is related to a target running time. There are practical, real-world reasons for this because the film industry is just that: an industry. This is why feature scripts have to follow specific formatting.

Producers, financiers and studio execs will need to read your script and be able to project how much money it’s going to cost and how long everything’s going to take to shoot. This is one of the main reasons for the “one page = one minute” rule that industry standard formatting makes possible: each page of a screenplay should represent one minute of screen time on film.

The Average Page Range for a Screenplay

The average page range for a screenplay is between 90 to 120 pages. As stated above, each page of a screenplay represents one minute of screen time on film (and most feature films run between 90 to 120 minutes). Once again, this is one of the main reasons for industry standards formatting. A screenplay that’s not formatted properly cannot realistically be produced and made into a movie.
 
These days, most aspiring and professional scriptwriters use screenwriting software because it automatically formats your script to industry standards, and it ensures that each page represents one minute of screen time. So be mindful of the running time of most feature films, and aim for a page count in that ballpark.

Different Page Counts for Different Kinds of Scripts?  

When paying attention to the runtime of films, you might see a pattern emerge: the length of a movie is oftentimes contingent on its genre. In other words, different types of movies have different running times. Adventure films are often longer than a comedy or thriller/horror. Dramas can vary depending on the subgenre: crime stories and historical dramas tend to be longer than smaller, character-driven films (e.g. your typical indie “slice of life” drama). 

This is one of the various reasons you should know the genre you’re writing in. The more you know about your chosen genre, the clearer your target page count will be.

Also know how many characters you have, how many settings, how many plotlines and subplots: it all will affect your final page count. So if you don’t want a script that’s too long, tell a simple story or, at very least, one with a tight focus.

Script Size Matters

Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘But not all movies are between 90 to 120 minutes. Have you ever watched a Martin Scorsese or Christopher Nolan movie? Or the Lord of the Rings films? What about The Godfather? Or Avengers: End Game??’

Yes, there have been many produced films that surpass 2 hours and/or hit the 3 hour mark. However, in most cases, these are films made by well-established filmmakers, or they’re based on a globally-known IP. If you’re a successful writer-director or writing an installment of a popular movie franchise, the industry will make an exception. 

But chances are, if you’re a beginner screenwriter, this won’t be the scenario. As such, it’s smart to keep your script between 90 to 120 pages. In fact, the shorter your screenplay, the better. You should really be thinking between 90 and 110 pages, which has become the encouraged page range per most industry professionals. I’ve even read a few produced indie thrillers that were between 80 and 90 pages long, although it’s not advisable to be any shorter than that (unless you’re writing a short film, TV pilot or script for a YouTube video).

As stated above, page count is a budgetary factor. Thus, when a manager, producer, studio exec or director reads your script, they know a higher page count means a higher budget. This could be viewed as an obstacle, and it’s possible an industry professional might pass on your script for this reason alone. This is especially the case if you’ve written something geared towards the indie market (in my article “Big Story, Small Budget” I expand on this concept).

One of the first things many industry professionals do when opening up a screenplay file is look at the page count. If your script is too long, some might not even read it. A 90 to 110 page screenplay sends an immediate message: the writer has done their research and is ready to work according to industry standards.

Outline To Maintain Your Target Script Length

One way for a beginner screenwriter to avoid writing an overlong script is to outline beforehand.

Final Draft contains various outlining tools that you can use to map out your script from conception to a finished draft. The Outline Editor (located directly beneath the Toolbar) allows you to structure your entire story and then send it to your script. One of the Outline Editor’s features is a numeric framework that forces you to structure your story within the perimeters of a specific page count. 

The Outline Editor defaults to 120 pages, but you can modify the page length to be shorter. Double-click or right-click anywhere in the Outline Editor to adjust the Target Script Length (the number of pages represented): 

The more pages there are, the longer the Outline Editor will be. If a script is longer than the Target Script Length, the page numbers and hash marks will appear in red:

If your script surpasses the Target Script Length, simply go back to your outline and omit or tighten certain subplots. In addition to getting your page count down, this is likely to lead to an overall more focused and less complicated story.

Shorter Is Better For Screenplays

Most people respond to simplicity, especially these days. We’re constantly being bombarded with new information and new platforms for storytelling. This is even truer for managers, agents and producers who are constantly receiving and reading screenplays. A script that’s lean and has a narrative that’s easy to grasp is more likely to be received positively by industry professionals. 

So if you’re planning on writing a 120 page plus script, consider a 90 to 110 page version of the same story and if everything still works: go with the shorter version.