How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

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  • #31
    How Many Scenes?

    Originally posted by J Linc View Post
    Just curious: has anyone ever figured out the average/median number of scenes a typical script has?
    Originally posted by Ronaldinho View Post
    Do this:

    Take three movies similar to your idea.

    Outline them.

    Count the scenes.
    Originally posted by odocoileus View Post
    Five movies, damn it, five!
    I'm still trying to figure out what a "typical script" is! And, I have to outline them, too?

    My current project is something original; and, one of the two speaking roles is the voice whose character is represented by subjective camera technique!

    There aren't that many films that do this. Can't think any three, (let alone five)!

    How many scenes? According to location and unity of time....

    Oh, no! No! No! NO...!

    I've got an opening sequence, which is actually one scene. Think of the opening scene in PSYCHO, (from 2:10 to 6:57, here).

    Then, there's the principal scene. That's two scenes, already.

    And, then, an end credits sequence, in one location. Think of the opening credits of ED WOOD, (from 1:59 to 3:18, here). That's three.

    Three scenes in the whole film, (technically speaking); and, only one actor, in two of those scenes, (in three, metaphorically)!

    1mper1um is going to call me an "auteur"! Like Hitchcock and Wood were auteurs....




    I think that I can deal with that.

    Mine is not a "typical script".
    JEKYLL & CANADA (free .mp4 download @ Vimeo.com)

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    • #32
      Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

      Originally posted by wcmartell View Post
      A scene is a dramatic unit. So that couple that argues in 3 different location? One scene. The scene where they argue. It's not about location, it's about story.

      - Bill
      ... Then how is a "sequence" different from a "scene?"

      Regardless, it seems most (if not all) screenwriters can't agree on a singular definition of what exactly makes or doesn't make a scene, which for someone like myself can make things frustrating.
      Last edited by J Linc; 07-18-2011, 11:21 PM.

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      • #33
        Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

        A sequence is a collection of scenes that form a larger dramatic unit - so in Richard Price's SEA OF LOVE there is a sequence where Al Pacino and John Goodman (cops) interview a handful of men who may have answered the killer's personal advert. Different kids of guys - some cooperate, some don't. Each guy eventually tells his story. There's the married guy who claims he's just doing it for fun - flirting - and would never actually cheat on his wife. Different guys, different stories. Ends with a new victim - the married guy. That sequence is questioning potential victims.

        That's not the same as an argument that begins in the car after a party, continues in the living room when they get home, and ends in the bedroom. Even with all of those different locations, it is one argument, one scene. Even if in the car they argue about "You were looking at Marge Henrickson's boobs all night" and in the livingroom it's "You never pay attention to me" and in the bedroom it's "When you say you love me, you just want sex" - that is all the same fight.

        Lucas said 60 (but count the sluglines in STAR WARS), Frankenheimer said 55 (cound the sluglines in RONIN), etc.

        But whatever the number, you want your script to *move*. It can be a drama and still be fast paced. I'm probably driving this example into the ground, but WIN WIN is a small drama about real people and *never* gets boring. There is always something happening, always some new problem that needs to be resolved. It's not long long scenes of nothing happening. If your script is always exciting, who cares how many scenes there are?

        - Bill
        Free Script Tips:
        http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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        • #34
          Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

          Originally posted by J Linc View Post
          Regardless, it seems most (if not all) screenwriters can't agree on a singular definition of what exactly makes or doesn't make a scene, which for someone like myself can make things frustrating.
          Really? Because every pro agrees on what a scene is.

          It's not frustrating, guys, if you listen to people who know what they're talking about.

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          • #35
            Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

            Originally posted by jcgary View Post
            Y'know the only place where conversations like this take place? The only location in the known universe where anyone actually questions the nomenclature of 'scene?'

            Here.

            Literally, right here, this message board.

            Nowhere else.
            Originally posted by Hamboogul View Post
            You need to join more message boards.
            Originally posted by jcgary View Post
            Nope, I don't think I do.
            Then maybe you need to know more of the universe? For example, about a galaxy very, very, very, very far away... where one can find the answer to an ever-so-much-more important question to the success of a movie than the mundane, "What is a scene?" Namely: "Merchandising, what's that?"

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            • #36
              Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

              Oh dear.
              "Friends make the worst enemies." Frank Underwood

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              • #37
                Re: How Many Scenes?

                Originally posted by Fortean View Post
                I'm still trying to figure out what a "typical script" is! And, I have to outline them, too?

                My current project is something original; and, one of the two speaking roles is the voice whose character is represented by subjective camera technique!

                There aren't that many films that do this. Can't think any three, (let alone five)!
                That's not what makes films similar to yours, or not.

                Ultimately, with one exception, a point-of-view shot is more about how things are SHOT than about the structure of the story. (The exception, of course, would be when the identity of the POV-character is being explicitly hidden for some reason).

                If you're writing a noirish mystery, outline three noirish mysteries. If you're doing an action thriller, outline three action thrillers.

                That one exception aside, shooting one character as a walking POV shot is no more a feature which determines what sort of story your script is than what sort of film stock you use to shoot in on. Think like a writer for this step.

                That being said, there was some film in the 50s that did this, I saw it and ... are you sure you want to do that? You ought to track down that film, because, well ... this may not be as great an idea as you think it is. I'm just sayin'. I'm thinking of "Lady in the Lake," I think.

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                • #38
                  Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                  Yeah, it was Lady in the Lake. Not too successful of an experiment.

                  But it also makes me think of those SNL sketches they always did when Christopher Walken guest hosted. He would play a suave pervert, and they shot it from the POV of the woman he was trying to seduce, so that you never actually see her, and she doesn't speak, he plays to the camera and her supposed reactions to him.
                  "The Hollywood film business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson

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                  • #39
                    Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                    THE LADY IN THE LAKE trailer: http://youtu.be/4AKDw2hwi5I

                    Also, the first chunk of DARK PASSAGE is an escape from San Quentin done POV... and that (great) film is odd in that the protagonist played by Humphrey Bogart goes half the film without us ever seeing his face!

                    http://sex-in-a-sub.blogspot.com/201...k-passage.html

                    - Bill
                    Free Script Tips:
                    http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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                    • #40
                      Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                      A more recent example of a POV movie would be Enter The Void. The character is a disembodied, voicless, spirit, that time travels for most of the film but it is still technically POV.

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                      • #41
                        Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                        Originally posted by jcgary View Post
                        Really? Because every pro agrees on what a scene is.

                        It's not frustrating, guys, if you listen to people who know what they're talking about.
                        Really? And how would you define what every pro apparently agrees on as to what exactly a scene constitutes?

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                        • #42
                          Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                          Originally posted by J Linc View Post
                          Really? And how would you define what every pro apparently agrees on as to what exactly a scene constitutes?
                          Originally posted by wcmartell View Post
                          A scene is a dramatic unit. So that couple that argues in 3 different location? One scene. The scene where they argue. It's not about location, it's about story.

                          - Bill
                          Originally posted by JeffLowell View Post
                          Here are two great threads where dozens of people attempt to explain for you what a scene is, complete with examples!

                          http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...ad.php?t=49260

                          http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...ad.php?t=49754
                          Here's something I don't get -- why does it matter to you guys? Will it change how you write a script?

                          One more question -- what do you think a scene is? Ignore the conversation above. What makes sense to you? If you were inventing the word 'scene' right now, what would you decide it means?

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                          • #43
                            Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                            Good posts Martell. Very clear.

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                              Originally posted by Ron Aberdeen View Post
                              Only average writers look for averages.

                              Write what you need to, if you are a good writer then it will be right.
                              Originally posted by Ron Aberdeen View Post
                              240 plus as an average per page suggests not enough white space.

                              Around 180 words per page indicates tight writing and an economy of words, a good sign of a clever screenwriter.

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                              • #45
                                Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                                Originally posted by jcgary View Post
                                Here's something I don't get -- why does it matter to you guys? Will it change how you write a script?

                                One more question -- what do you think a scene is? Ignore the conversation above. What makes sense to you? If you were inventing the word 'scene' right now, what would you decide it means?
                                First, thanks for taking the time and energy to engage us (i.e., the "confused") on this and for keeping your good humor. It's appreciated.

                                As to your last question, "If you were inventing...?" I'd invent one word for those things in a script that start with a "scene heading" and a different word for "a dramatic unit".

                                As to your first question, "Why does it matter [to know how many scenes]...?" To me, it doesn't. I just want to get a good grasp on the lingo.

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