What to do when it's too much

Don't Panic! For right now, just write your story. Then take a break from it. Cutting 20 pages should be perfectly doable, once you achieve some space from the work. Get some readers to make suggestions of what might be cut. Better yet, find a friendly director to read it. Directors are used to making cuts when a show is running too long. I will ask, why are you aiming for 110 pages? As a rule of thumb, a page of dialogue is about a minute of run time. 120 pages would end up being around 2 hours, which is reasonable for a play and not unreasonable for a movie. That would leave only 10 pages to cut.

I read lots of scripts that are over 120 pages.

120 pages is an arbitrary number based on the page-a-minute theory. A two-hour movie (or less) means more screenings a day which translates into a larger audience and more box-office. And in many cases, shorter films cost less to produce.

The real question you need to ask yourself is whether or not your story warrants 130 pages. My most frequent criticism of long scripts is that the story could have been told in fewer pages. A long script is never a bother if the story deserves the length and engages the reader from fade in to fade out.

Since most scripts don't work, regardless of length, a shorter screenplay is always more merciful.

As was said, don't panic. Keep writing without worrying about the pages, and keep the pace as you naturally feel it should be.
If you worry about it too much now, you run the risk of letting it affect the pace and make the second half of the script feel a bit hurried. I've had that issue in the past and it's a bit messier to fix than when you can consistently trim down some fat with a good overall view on the complete script.
(though I work with an impulsive, trim-happy writing partner, so I'm getting used to doing it the slightly more messy way now)

lalyil said:

Honestly, I don't have too much dialogue, most of my pages are action.. so I'm guessing 120 is best. I just always read 110 is recommended for films so that's why I aimed there. I really try to limit myself on dialogue so I hope it shows lol

thanks. I guess I starting panicking. I never believed I could get this close to finishing and now I'm worried about it lol

Click to expand...

I agree with the 'just write it and then worry about editing and length' advice, but I'm a little confused about a couple things here. You're trying to limit yourself on dialogue - in a screenplay? Most of your pages don't have much dialogue? This sounds sort of odd as a screenplay should consist of mostly dialogue, unless it's like Wall-E or The Artist or what have you. otherwise, what's happening?

lalyil said:

Thanks guys.

cornflake, I'm writing about a place that doesn't exist so I have to describe each location which takes some space, and then there are a few action sequences so the actions are described. Some of the characters are more silent than others so they respond better with facial expressions/actions. I do have one character who is very verbose however, and some others that are "normal". Still, a lot of the pages goes to descriptions and actions. I try to bring out a lot more visually.

Click to expand...

It's a screenplay though. That type of stuff should still be pretty minimal - like 'BOB glares,' 'a desolate landscape of sand and scrubbrush...' etc.

Have you put anything up in SYW? Not that you have to or anything, just wondering. It may all make sense, I'm just having a hard time picturing it.

Usually when this happens it is a good sign.