I know screenplays are supposed to be a minute a page but I feel like mine are real bare bones. I feel like my pages are 3 to 5 minutes each. I write several little scenes on one page. Am I under explaining my surroundings? Am I telling to little of a story ? I have trouble coming up with enough to really fill out a story... Any advice ?
How much time is the page?
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I pretty much guarantee your descriptions aren't short. Seems your perception is maybe off, as I can't fathom a formatted page taking 3-5 minutes. You'd read a straight pg. of text faster than that.
dpaterso
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Sorry, someone's gotta say it: read more screenplays! I'm pretty sure that's the key to it all. If you haven't already, check out the tips thread.
-Derek
One minute per page?
There's no way to diagnose this problem without actually reading your pages. But "dpaterso" is correct: you need to read more pro screenplays. Read a bunch of them. Do this and you'll get used to the rhythm of what a professional screenplay should look like and read like.
There's no way to diagnose this problem without actually reading your pages. But "dpaterso" is correct: you need to read more pro screenplays. Read a bunch of them. Do this and you'll get used to the rhythm of what a professional screenplay should look like and read like.
Generally speaking, a page is about a minute.
So, if a script is 90 pages, it should come out to be about 1 hour and 30 minutes of screen time.
So, if a script is 90 pages, it should come out to be about 1 hour and 30 minutes of screen time.
Then that story isn't fleshed out enough. Or maybe it would be better as a short.
Very true.
I've always found writing screenplays to be much easier than novels.
I have screenplays out there that I literally wrote in one sitting...
That are now finished, distributed films.
Consider making it a short, drawing some attention to it, and going from there.
It's pretty common nowadays to do teaser trailers/shorts to raise money for the feature.
Each page should "average" about a minute. That being said, an individual page can vary. Dialogue reads faster than action, so a dialogue heavy script will be longer in length and shorter in time.
Many of Aaron Sorkin's scripts are 70-80 pages for a 50-60 minute show because of his long passages of rapid fire dialogue.
A good way to time your script would be to read it out loud, visualizing the action sequences in your head. That's if you really want to know approximately how long it is.
Generally speaking a feature length script should be between 90-110 pages ideally.
Many of Aaron Sorkin's scripts are 70-80 pages for a 50-60 minute show because of his long passages of rapid fire dialogue.
A good way to time your script would be to read it out loud, visualizing the action sequences in your head. That's if you really want to know approximately how long it is.
Generally speaking a feature length script should be between 90-110 pages ideally.