Length can actually affect the option or not?

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Length can actually affect the option or not?

    I posted a video on my YouTube channel and in it I mentioned that it's important to try to keep your screenplay within the 90-100 mark so producers will be more likely to read it. This is more of a preferential thing for me as I tend to write as tersely as possible.

    Then someone claiming to have sold scripts to Ben Affleck comments saying that your script should be AT LEAST 110 pages or no one will look at it. Even going as far to say that if it's 109 pages you should find a way to make it 110, otherwise it will be a pass as it's harder to find distribution apparently.

    Quote:
    "90-100 pages will be rejected out of hand by any studio, producer, agent, manager. It's considered far too short. Gotta hit that 110 mark. If I was at 109 I'd do some spacing cheats to get to 110."

    I find this a little hard to believe, but now I'm curious if there's any truth to it at all. Anyone have any facts to back this up? Thanks.
    Professional Screenwriting Services

  • #2
    Re: Length can actually affect the option or not?

    The commentator doesn't know what they hell they're talking about.

    On the other hand, neither do you. Maybe refrain from giving advice on subjects about which you know very little. It's *not* very important to keep your script within 90-100 pages.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Length can actually affect the option or not?

      Not many comedies hit 110. I've seen comedies under 100 pages. Dramas tend to run long, Action can run in 100 min mark for sure, thrillers tend to be longer. I would think any reader or agent or manager knows that all they have to do is read that first ten and see if the writer can draw them in. In ten pages you know if you are in the hands of a good writer or not.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Length can actually affect the option or not?

        "90-100 pages will be rejected out of hand by any studio, producer, agent, manager. It's considered far too short. Gotta hit that 110 mark. If I was at 109 I'd do some spacing cheats to get to 110."
        I don't work in the film industry, and even I know that this is utter crap.

        On a tangential issue, and I mean this in the friendliest way ... Please, everyone, please avoid being harsh toward fellow DDP posters. A lot of the time people are just posting or "YouTubeing" things that they have heard repeated again and again.

        A happy face to everyone ...

        "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Length can actually affect the option or not?

          There is no rule. 95-99 is short but acceptable, an exec might even read it sooner because of the short length. 110 is fine, 115 is fine. It's when you cross 120 that a reader will have that "Guh, it's a long one" reaction before even opening it. I've never written anything over 109 in my entire career. Not because of any rule, they just turn out that way. My best friend is an A-List writer who's never written anything under 125 in his life. To each his/her own. The story should be exactly as long as it takes to tell it the way you want it.
          https://twitter.com/DavidCoggeshall
          http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1548597/

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Length can actually affect the option or not?

            Years ago, my screenwriting professor, in response to me worrying that my script was too short at 80 pages said -- "No, it's as long as it needs to be."

            I pretty much live by this. After numerous drafts, the script in question ended up being 93 pages (a little longer than the original)...
            and I am currently finishing up a feature that's only 80 pages... although a transitional scene is missing so let's say it'll probably end up being about 82-85 pages in the end. That's it. And I am NOT stressin'!

            Comment

            Working...
            X