I've just finished my first draft of my script and it has come in at about 85 pages. I've tried to keep dialogue short and snappy. I've tried to enter scenes late and leave them early. I've tried to only include scenes that build up for an effective closing scene. Feedback I've received has usually noted that it's fast paced, mostly in a positive way. A playwright said I should draw the scenes out so they last longer -- I took that as positive feedback coming from a playwright. ;) Anyway, here is my question, is 85 pages just too short and should I find ways to add a few pages to bump it up to 90?
Screenwriting : Is 85 pages too short for a feature? by Steven Fussell
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Dwain Worrell sold his script (The Wall) recently to Amazon, and it landed in the top of The Blacklist of last year. Page count: 87 pages. I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as the reader finds himself at the edge of his/her seat, that's what really matters.
They say the sweet spot is 90 pages...close enough.
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I did rewrite work for a production company that does DVD and VOD, and limited release flicks. They insist on 85 pages. No more.
Put it away for weeks at a time? And then completely rewrite it? So his first draft was just to get some ideas out? He said he took his time to make his dialogue and scenes short and snappy and now he has to do it all again? I don't know if that's the best way to go about it. But it's an interesting method I have to say...
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80-90 pages is plenty for a low budget feature.
Since this is your first draft, just know that the page count is going to fluctuate as you do rewrites. The page count in the screenplays I have co-written have changed MANY times through rewrites. Overall, the scripts were from like 90 to 115 pages during the rewrites; we currently have them both close to 90 again.
@Peter- Christmas in July is a fun movie. Watched it many times with my family as a kid. Didn't realize it was that short!
I agree with everybody who has stated that 85 pages is enough. I assume you ask your question in regards to sending the script out to producers/agents/managers, wondering if the gatekeepers will flip to the last page and dismiss your work as amateurish if it's shorter than 90 pages. I've wondered the same thing. I'm sure there are gatekeepers who will, indeed, blow the script off if it is less than 90 pages, just like they would if it was longer than 120 pages. Such is the game. You could add some "fluff" to get the page count up, or you could trust your story instincts and leave it as-is. I'd hedge my bet on the latter. And we all need to remember that an 85-page script doesn't always translate to an 85-minute movie. It's a good baseline, but there are too many factors in play to blanket ourselves in the 1-page = 1-minute screenplay rule. If I remember correctly, the screenplay for "127 Hours" was around 85 pages and the movie was 90-some minutes. And we all know that if Aaron Sorkin wrote an 85 page script, the movie would be about 70 minutes, right? ;)
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It's fine as long as one of the pages says someone fights and a lot of shit blows up for the next 20-25 minutes.
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Also, most indie producers don't want a long script. It takes longer to shoot, and costs more money. Your page count is fine.
I've had this insecurity about the page count too. I think it's partially why I received such negative reviews from ScriptHop's Gauntlet (great service by the way, check it out if you haven't already). I felt like it needed to be 90 pages, so I stretched it out longer than it needed to be which threw off the pacing.