I was just wondering, in general, about how many pages are used for a half hour TV show versus an hour and a half movie? Again, generally speaking.
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Page count
- Thread starter RionMcCloud
- Start date
--> "The Syd Field paradigm". Figure one minute per page, thirty seconds for heavy dialog page and ninty seconds for an action heavy page.
Generally you assign a minute per page, so if you have a 110 page script you got an hour and 50 minutes screen time.
So given that a half hour TV show is 30 pages, and an hour and a half movie is 90 pages. It is generally more acceptable if your original script (for a feature film) is between 100 and 110 pages.
Poke
So given that a half hour TV show is 30 pages, and an hour and a half movie is 90 pages. It is generally more acceptable if your original script (for a feature film) is between 100 and 110 pages.
Poke
Wow. Seems like a lot to me at this point. Sometimes I struggle with a page at a time. Thank you. I had read something about the Syd Field Paradigm before, just didn't remember until you said it. For me right now I think pacing is the hardest thing to figure out. I'll go based on a page a minute. Thanks guys.
Page counts cont...
For features and Television movies, there's not a lot of difference. Some people are going to tell you UP TO 120 pages but that is no longer the standard.
The NEW general rule of thumb is between 100 and 110 pages with 110 being the absolutely the MOST. I know readers who NEVER even get to screenplays that are longer than 110 pages. LOL.
Hour long television shows generally fall right in at about 55 to 60 pages and are more or less the same format as a spec.
Half-hour long television shows run from 40 to 45 pages long with totally different format.
Pacing? Pacing should be relatively easy if you're structuring your story correctly.
Good luck with it...
filmy
More on page counts...RionMcCloud said:
For features and Television movies, there's not a lot of difference. Some people are going to tell you UP TO 120 pages but that is no longer the standard.
The NEW general rule of thumb is between 100 and 110 pages with 110 being the absolutely the MOST. I know readers who NEVER even get to screenplays that are longer than 110 pages. LOL.
Hour long television shows generally fall right in at about 55 to 60 pages and are more or less the same format as a spec.
Half-hour long television shows run from 40 to 45 pages long with totally different format.
Pacing? Pacing should be relatively easy if you're structuring your story correctly.
Good luck with it...
filmy
When I was in college, I think this may still be the case, but if you wanted to write for a specific TV show you didn't write an episode of that show, you wrote one like another show in the same genre. If you wanted to write a Will and Grace script you sent the Will and Grace people a script based on a different show like Scrubs.
Is that still true? ne1?
Is that still true? ne1?
Filmy touched on a key point in his post, page counts are relative to script format.
I remember interviewing for a script editing job with a TV series once and even though I'd requested sample scripts prior to interview they didn't send them.
During the interview the producer asked me how many pages I thought would constitute a script for one of their half hour programmes. I knew it was BBC output so no commercials so I said "Well, depending on how you format your scripts, industry standard is about a page a minute, so somewhere in the 27 to 32 range."
This numbnuts practically leapt out of his seat he was so excited that I'd given him a wrong answer "Aha, no you're wrong, our scripts come out a 50 pages."
So I replied "Well, I guess you must format your scripts differently from the way I do." This was true and also he was talking about the shooting scripts, which is what he saw and not the original scripts that the script editor saw. Strangley enough if you put a half page margin into a thirty page script it comes in at about 50 pages
After another couple of questions like that I decided I didn't want to work for them and walked out of the interview.
The truth is that script formats matter a lot in this industry for some strange reason and everyone appears to be wedded to their way of doing it.
I think this is why as professional writer I think that Final Draft is a must, simply because it has templates and examples of most of the industry layouts for scripts. That's a real must if you're pitching because it demonstrates a degree of professional knowledge.
If you're pitching for an established show, it's a good idea work out the formula, because most shows have identical patterns week in week out and it's just the details that change. If you ever need proof of this it's worth baring in mind that "Murder She Wrote' was one of the most sucessful franchises of all time and that show was practially the same script every week, just with different characters. People who hire writers are looking for someone who can be fresh and original within the confines of the formula.
Actually that's the trick to all sucessful writing, if you measure sucess in getting paid. A lesson that I've been taught over and over again by refusing to play by the rules and as a consequence of that not getting funded/commissioned/a sale. If I have any advice to offer any writer film maker it's if you don't want to deal with constant rejection, despite your abilites to write and direct good films, learn to work with the needs of the industry and not against them.
I remember interviewing for a script editing job with a TV series once and even though I'd requested sample scripts prior to interview they didn't send them.
During the interview the producer asked me how many pages I thought would constitute a script for one of their half hour programmes. I knew it was BBC output so no commercials so I said "Well, depending on how you format your scripts, industry standard is about a page a minute, so somewhere in the 27 to 32 range."
This numbnuts practically leapt out of his seat he was so excited that I'd given him a wrong answer "Aha, no you're wrong, our scripts come out a 50 pages."
So I replied "Well, I guess you must format your scripts differently from the way I do." This was true and also he was talking about the shooting scripts, which is what he saw and not the original scripts that the script editor saw. Strangley enough if you put a half page margin into a thirty page script it comes in at about 50 pages
After another couple of questions like that I decided I didn't want to work for them and walked out of the interview.
The truth is that script formats matter a lot in this industry for some strange reason and everyone appears to be wedded to their way of doing it.
I think this is why as professional writer I think that Final Draft is a must, simply because it has templates and examples of most of the industry layouts for scripts. That's a real must if you're pitching because it demonstrates a degree of professional knowledge.
If you're pitching for an established show, it's a good idea work out the formula, because most shows have identical patterns week in week out and it's just the details that change. If you ever need proof of this it's worth baring in mind that "Murder She Wrote' was one of the most sucessful franchises of all time and that show was practially the same script every week, just with different characters. People who hire writers are looking for someone who can be fresh and original within the confines of the formula.
Actually that's the trick to all sucessful writing, if you measure sucess in getting paid. A lesson that I've been taught over and over again by refusing to play by the rules and as a consequence of that not getting funded/commissioned/a sale. If I have any advice to offer any writer film maker it's if you don't want to deal with constant rejection, despite your abilites to write and direct good films, learn to work with the needs of the industry and not against them.