Script Length -- Continue?

shutterspeedfilms

shutterspeedfilms

Well-known member
Anyone have experience directing or working on a feature film (74+ minutes) from a script with less than that number of pages?

I have a script that's clocking in at 66 pages. I chose this story for its leanness, since I plan to direct it myself as an independent feature (trimming all the fat). However, as much as I tinker with it, I haven't been able to add much more that doesn't come off as contrived and artificial.

For what it's worth, it's a period drama (yes, properly formatted). So I plan to film long takes with alot of acting nuances. There are also a couple of set pieces like a dance and so on that will play longer than as written in the script.

If the finished film turned out to be at least 74 minutes (my opinion on what a baseline feature running time is), I'll be satisfied.
 
Well you can add lots of long pauses and long takes, but you risk turning off the viewer in the final product. When screenplays go to competitions and get looked at by readers, they generally toss anything less than 100 pages. It's pretty BS in general, but the idea is that if it's less than 100 pages, your story isn't fully developed.

You may want to look at fleshing it out with another character or add another B story that wraps up somewhere at the end of Act II. If you've written it yourself, have you shown it to people to get their feedback and make sure all your ends are tied up? For me, even a lean script comes in around 90 something pages, and I know it still needs to be longer. Ideally you want about 110 pages, so you have stuff to cut out. It would be a royal PITA to wind up with too little footage rather than too much.
 
Hi SSF,

For a period drama, I'd guess your DP could find plenty of fillers - extra master shots, artistic perspective shots, B roll, etc.

Otherwise, you might want to blend in some form of montage, intercuts, cut-aways with voice-overs, or the like. Check out Cohen Brothers latest - "No Country For Old Men" and I think you'll see some possibilities... (Tommy Lee Jones narrative v.o.)

Good luck, Michael
 
you're going to want room to cut and you will have a hard time convincing anyone that a 66 page script will be long enough, especially if you've never directing a feature.

Most deals (negative pickup, presale, distribution...) have minimum delivery requirements concerning running times. I think the norm is around 85 mins +
 
Thanks for the help.

I've been working on fleshing out some of the secondary characters' stories. I know that El Mariachi was a 40 (or was it 60?)-page script, but Rodriguez admitted it wasn't properly formatted. Mine is. And I feel pretty confident that my story is no El Mariachi. :laugh:

Ugh. Back to work.
 
I dont usually recommend people to worry much about length, i find alot of writers are so absorbed with conforming to industry standards as far as time goes they either cut to much from there scripts or they stretch a script way longer then they should.

But in your case 66 pages is pretty short, without actually reading the script it would be tough to give good advice, but i think you already got some good pointers, there has gotta be a subplot somewhere you can flesh out for an extra 10 pages.
 
shutterspeedfilms said:
I know that El Mariachi was a 40 (or was it 60?)-page script, but Rodriguez admitted it wasn't properly formatted. Mine is.
Click to expand...
You never did say how many pages you have. But generally speaking, if it is properly formatted and of feature length, you can pretty well figure that the page count will be close to the running time. Do you have a lot of "white space" or is it an "action line" directed movie?
 
66 pages. Period drama. It's not overly-directed. There are some scenes that have been written short but will take up a few minutes on the screen (a dance and so forth). I'm fairly sure the film would run in the 70+ minutes, but I don't plan to muster the troops without more insurance in the form of pages.
 
Total blind here.

I prefer to cut than to add, so in my narrative style, I'd just write about this and that, things that'll give more life to the story, make the world richer, while providing for the rest of the main story. There's this vibe that I'm getting that says this story is anorexic. Fat, too, has it's purpose in the body. Precariously balancing between too fat and too lean, that's the issue.

Again, total blind here.
 
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