I got this question recently:
“I’m trying to determine what the appropriate length of a screen play should be. I’ve seen opinions that range from 120 pages to a few over that…to nothing over 110. Can you provide any feedback on this.”
What I’ve heard lately is that comedies should run around 105 pages and dramas can run a little longer, or around 110 pages. This isn’t an exact count so don’t worry too much about it, but try and use these counts as guidelines. The absolute minimum page count should be less then 90 pages and the absolute maximum page count should never be more than 120 pages. But shorter us almost always better.
You really want to make your script move and make the reader feel like it’s an “easy read.” And one way of doing this is going through each and every page and removing every single unnecessary sentence, word and even letter. The more you can cut without losing your story the better off you are and most people don’t spend as much time on this phase of the writing as they should.
You should also check out this post as it talks about the length of your screenplay in more depth.
Reformatted your script to get the page length down
What if you’re writing for TV and have a specific idea.
You write something longer then most things shown are tv –
if not a movie. Or Miniseries.
What then?
You would want to think long and hard about this. New writers usually can’t create their own tv series and you’d be much better off getting it down to 110 pages and trying to push it as a feature film.
Check out these posts, too, as they go into more depth on this issue.
http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/screenwriting-faq/should-i-write-my-idea-as-a-feature-film-or-television-show/
http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/screenwriting-faq/how-to-create-an-original-television-series-breaking-into-television-writing/
I have a script that is 160ish…So It’s nothing to short!