every page of script is equal to how many minutes of film...generally??? thanks!

Of course it all depends on how much action/dialouge there is, but generally a page is equal to one minute. That's what I've been told, and that's how my scripts usually work out, but I don't follow proper script format.

I'd say that in my 50 minute short, one page equals 4 minutes... give or take. Of course, that script was formatted poorly and havd an extremly small font (to conserve paper and damage our eyes).

Yeah, it all pretty much varies. But most peopel say that a feature movie equals 120 pages of script, and the average feature is about 2 (120 minutes) hours i think (can't remember where i read that). So pretty much with all the proper formating and size 12 Courier New font, a page equals a minutes (give or take). If you want proper formating check out http://exposure.co.uk/eejit/index.html and read their scriptwriting articles. If you want a free script-writing program (helps format) check out http://filmmaking.net/toolshed/software_details.asp?id=99&cid=1 it's called Rough Draft, and it has three different writing modes, a notepad off to the side, a dictionary/thesuarus (an extra download, but it's free too, and it comesi n very handy), and then a quick access to your files (not really all that usefull, but semin-nice to have), it seems like it has a few other things, but I can't remember. Good luck with your work.

I know this has been said but let me just make it clear: one page equals about one minute in standard screenplay format only.

To further emphasize JW:

Standard screenplay format is here:

http://simplyscripts.com/format.html


Anything you show anyone ever should be in that format, or else they'll just dismiss you as someone that doesn't know even the most basic of screenplay rules.

ONE MINUTE = ONE PAGE

no matter what. EVER. if it doesn't, your describing way too much than you should, or way to little than you should, it's that simple.

so start being your own worst critic, and editorialize yourself, make yourself cut your "babies" out (the stuff that really really really has to be in there, 90% of the time, really doesn't), or make yourself delve deeper into your story.

my teacher gave me this advice about dialogue: what they say doesn't matter, because we lie about everything anyway. what matters the most is the space between the words. and that, you can't have too little or too much of.

it's kind of hard to describe the "space" but once you get it, after reading and writing a lot, it completely makes sense. it's like what Eisenstein said: editing is about what is in-between the frames.



edit: ESPECIALLY if you want to be a writer/director, don't ever break the one minute = one page. read you script outloud and time yourself, seriously. the reason they have that rule is becasue producers don't have time to read the whole thing outloud timing things trying to figure out how long everything is going to take.

the reason producers are worried about how long everything is going to take is because time = money. and nothing annoys producers/executives/investors more than someone that is wasting time and money because they don't want to stick to the rule.

the reason a page has to be a minute long is becuase a page is broken up into 1/8ths by the producer, and then these 1/8ths are added up by the scene (how many pages or 1/8ths the scene takes) the total of 1/8ths decides how many days they are going to need to shoot that scene, and how many days they will need certain equipment, certain talent, blah blah blah.

if those 1/8ths are off beacause your pages were 4 minutes long instead of one minute, you just threw the whole production off schedule, and even worse, you now have less days to shoot all the material on the page. and it's not going to be the investor's or producer's problem, it's going to be the director's problem. and you end up with a sloppy movie, you've just screwed everyone over.

whats standard screenplay format?

click on the link i put up.

"Anything you show anyone ever should be in that format, or else they'll just dismiss you as someone that doesn't know even the most basic of screenplay rules."

Agreed. Screenplay format is not an area where you can get creative, especially if you are doing a project involving professionals or higher-level amateurs. There are good reasons why the standard format is standard, and it's very important to follow the rules for a legit production (may not apply if you are shooting a ninja flick in your backyard, but it's still good practice if you have ambition to move up in the industry).

I don't know about the standart screenplay format, but if 1 page would always be equal to 1 minute of feature film, Leon first version would have been 37 minutes instead of actual 250

Leone was Italian, making movies in Italy, back in the 60's.

Times are different. And why don't you people know about screenplay format? You guys know about 100 diffferent kind of editing programs and effects to use on your movies. Screenplay format isn't even something you have to pay for, you can find the info online.

Anyway, if you use a different font than Courier (like Times New Roman) it throws off the 1 page = 1 minute thing. Times New Roman is kerned for the letter to fit with one another, whereas Courier is not. Courier is kerned so that each later takes up the same amount of space.

So Times New Roman can fit more characters and words into a line than Courier can.


From about.com:

“Kerning”

Definition: Kerning is the adjustment of space between pairs of letters to make them more visually appealing. It is normally applied to individual letter pairs in headlines or other large type.

Also Known As: letterspacing | character spacing

Examples: The default spacing between some characters leaves gaps that can be adjusted by kerning the two letters to achieve a more visually balanced appearance. Decreasing space is negative kerning. Some commonly kerned pairs include Wa, To, and Ya. Sometimes kerning involves increasing the space between characters or positive kerning to keep them from running together, such as the l's in "Godzilla."



So you see, kerning with the wrong typeface can really throw off a screenplay. What might be only a few millimeters per line can turn into pages as the screenplay gets longer.

That was very educational!

. . . I can't imagine how long the Lord of the Rings script was . . .
Imagine the actors carrying that huge thing around studying their lines! They were packing muscle just trying to carry that thing. It was like pre training to using the swords.

Lol, 'Leon' the Professional. Luc Besson is French, btw all of his scripts are very short, due to the lack of dialogs.

Chris Marker never writes down dialogue, he only writes down shots, and has the actors make it up.

Chris Marker has also never made a movie outside of France, and not a lot of people know who he is.

with a SHOOTING script 1 page should equal one minute. It is a different story for camera, art department, and other versions of your script.

With my newest film, each page of my script is probably equal to about 3 minutes, mainly because I like to give myself more of a guidline and then get creative with it.

I really don't care about the minutes when I write my screenplays, shmoodles. If you write down 'W watchs the Simpsons for an hour; cut to Kerry entering the room with a shotgun' one page of such script would be slighly more than a minute .

in standard format, the format the pros use, it shuld be approx. equivalent to 1 minute. this is so u can get an approximation of how long ur movie will be. but unless u want to write proffesional scripts to actually sell, then u probably shuldn't worry too much about it.

i just cant see how one page=one minute when you're looking at sequences. A page of dialogue should equal a minute but I can't believe the opening Omaha beach scene from Saving Private Ryan was a minute a page. I mean, the screenwriter can't get to specific so I'm guessing it's a lot of "Rangers move up beach" "Artillery and gunfrie fall all around the men" and so on. But that sequence was thirty minutes long. I doubt it took up thirty pages.

"I doubt it took up thirty pages."

It probably did. There's a very specific reason why 1 page must equal one minute - because that's the yardstick by which they estimate how many setups they can do per day. The movie I interned on recently was averaging 4-5 pages per day, and it was very carefully laid out the night before: 3 5/8, or 4 3/8. The schedule must be adhered to very closely, or the budget spirals out of control.