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Script too short and fast

G

gabrielarg

Hi, Im writing my first feature, but I can't write things that should take time...
I mean, I wrote 20 pages, and A LOT of things happens in those 20 pages. And I mean a LOT of things.
How can I make it last longer?
Its the first half of the story, and Im aiming for 35-40 pages... (or around 40minutes) but im writing very straight foward to the action and the important stuff, also I haven't wrote too much dialogue by now, but Im working on that.
I can add more "big" stuff into it, but I have a feeling that it would be very fast, and important things would happen all the time.

Any tips on what should or can possibly to fix this?

Excuse my poor english, not a english native.
thanks.
 
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The audience need a break from the action. To build tension, you can't have action all the time. You need to build tension and the drop tension to build it back up again. You need to have a lighter subplot to give the audience a little break from the action. How about explaining more of the characters back stories.

I'm not sure what advice to give you as I haven't read it, but you need to re read what you've written and add some lighter scenes that don't necessarily relate to the overall plot, but help build your characters.
 
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So, it sounds like the issue here is the number of pages isn't coming out to what you're expecting based on the general rule of thumb of 1 page of script = 1 minute of screen time.

That's not really a hard rule, it's more of a guideline of what things average out to with dialog and action. If you don't have much dialog in the script yet, that would be a good reason you're coming up short in your page count. Action text is considerably more dense than dialog in a screenplay.

Also worth noting, you generally don't need to explicitly define every moment of an action sequence. For example a fight scene or car chase might be one or two lines of text and actually take a minute or more on the screen.

Conversely, a page full of dialog could zip by in 20-30 seconds on the screen.


So, if you're estimating your short to clock in around 40 minutes and all you've written so far is the action text, you're probably right around where you should be.

But, as Nick said, it's really hard to comment definitely without having read the script. ;)
 
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gabrielarg said:
Hi, Im writing my first feature,
Being a virgin isn't going to make this any easier. :no:

but I can't write things that should take time...
Although I'll concede there are many ways to go about the same outcome your approach is messing up your product.
The events and dialog that you envision "take what they take", long or short.
Just write what should happen. Diagnose and address issues afterward.

I mean, I wrote 20 pages, and A LOT of things happens in those 20 pages. And I mean a LOT of things.
How can I make it last longer?
That approach, just free writing front to infinity, is what's causing problems.

Do you have an act structure? Or a story model you'd like for your story to emulate?
Most feature length films are 90 - 110 minutes long.
Shorter is preferable to longer so that theater programmers can show more shows during business hours.
Lettuce keep our math simple and start with a 90 minute model.
Break it down into three 30 minute sections, then stretch the middle out a little. Make it a 25/40/25 minute split.

Certain things should happen before that first 25 minute mark, primarily most of the main characters should be introduced, the general scenario of what's going on in the story to come, then concluding with "The Mission" of the characters.

During the middle section the characters will learn about each other and their situation, all of which will begin working toward a certain cumulative conflict to be resolved...

... in the third and final section.

Plot these out BY TIME first.
THEN plug in details of events and conversations between them.

Any tips on what should or can possibly to fix this?
Plan by a timing priority rather than events priority.
It's like a three day vacation: don't plan on doing everything in the first day, spread events out by time and distance, and plan some rest in between events.

Also, you might want to find a movie (or two or three) you like that kinda sorta matches your story, watch it while writing notes on what happens each minute of the story, then see how your story's events could be equated along that same time line.


Excuse my poor english, not a english native.
Your English is great.
Least of your concerns around here. ;)
Click to expand...

Good luck!



Ray
 
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gabrielarg said:
Hi, Im writing my first feature, but I can't write things that should take time...
I mean, I wrote 20 pages, and A LOT of things happens in those 20 pages. And I mean a LOT of things.
How can I make it last longer?
Its the first half of the story, and Im aiming for 35-40 pages... (or around 40minutes) but im writing very straight foward to the action and the important stuff, also I haven't wrote too much dialogue by now, but Im working on that.
I can add more "big" stuff into it, but I have a feeling that it would be very fast, and important things would happen all the time.

Any tips on what should or can possibly to fix this?

Excuse my poor english, not a english native.
thanks.
Click to expand...

How are you formatting action?
I suspect you're using long narratives?
 
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Hi, thanks you all for replying.
I understand that I cant leave action happening all the time, thats what I need, like NICK said.
Will Vincent, yes, im on that rule, Im aiming for 35-40 pages for the first half of the movie, based on 1page= +-1minute.
rayw, I've done a structure with all the events that should happen. I also add the ones that come up when writting. I think I have that pretty figured out.
Just the number of pages is worrying me, maybe I can get the running time that I need from less pages?

Thank you all, I'll be working on it.
 
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Sweetie, I know that, my only worry is not to get at least 1h20m of running time, thats my goal. I have 2 parts of 40 pages in mind (40min aprox) each, and they have they own structure.
I'll get into developing more some scenes and characters, also adding dialogue.
Thanks.
 
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