How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

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  • How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

    Just curious: has anyone ever figured out the average/median number of scenes a typical script has?

    I'm having some trouble trying to figure out just how many scenes I'm going to include in something and I was wondering if anyone has found a general ballpark-average that is decent to shoot for.

    I know every script and every writer is different, but I still (perhaps stupidly) wanted to ask, regardless... ?

  • #2
    Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

    Only average writers look for averages.

    Write what you need to, if you are a good writer then it will be right.
    Ron Aberdeen
    http://www.ronaberdeen.com/
    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3609083/

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    • #3
      Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

      Somewhere in the 50-60 range. Depends on the script.

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

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      • #4
        Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

        Most screenplay books I've read recommend against scenes longer than 2 pages. If you are aiming for a 110 pages, as per usual, that's a minimum of 55 scenes.

        But as others said, it depends on your story. Write the page and scene count you think you need. If you are over the page count and/or your scenes are overly long, then that's what a second draft is there to fix.
        Ken Kerns
        Novelist & Aspiring Screenwriter

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        • #5
          Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

          Originally posted by kendg8r View Post
          Most screenplay books I've read recommend against scenes longer than 2 pages.
          Uh, if a book recommends against scenes longer than 2 pages, it's a pile of sht.

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          • #6
            Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

            Google this
            "sixty scenes" +screenplay

            Mckee says 40 to 60 scenes. Blake Snyder says no more than 60. But great movies have been written with more than 60, and less.


            http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...ad.php?t=54632


            If you really want figure this out, read and watch 5 successful movies in the genre of your screenplay. Chart the scenes with a few lines of description for each scene. Then use your best judgment.
            If you really like it you can have the rights
            It could make a million for you overnight

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            • #7
              Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

              Anywhere from 1 (Rope) to 80, whatever it takes.
              "Friends make the worst enemies." Frank Underwood

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              • #8
                Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                A sampling of my stack of scripts:
                Superbad - 151 (115 pages)
                Kickass 186 (104 pages)
                Midnight Run - 270 (114 pages)

                These are counts of full scene headings, not shots.

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                • #9
                  Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                  Production scene numbers DO NOT EQUAL scenes.

                  For instance, there is NO CONCEIVABLE WAY that Midnight Run, which is actually a rather languid movie by today's standards, has 270 scenes.

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                  • #10
                    Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                    Originally posted by DavidK View Post
                    Anywhere from 1 (Rope) to 80, whatever it takes.
                    For a movie like rope, you would probably use something like playwriting's French Scenes to outline it.
                    what the head makes cloudy the heart makes very clear

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                    • #11
                      Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                      Originally posted by jcgary View Post
                      Production scene numbers DO NOT EQUAL scenes.

                      For instance, there is NO CONCEIVABLE WAY that Midnight Run, which is actually a rather languid movie by today's standards, has 270 scenes.
                      Languid? I do recall there were four (or five, depending) stories going on at the same time and they kept jumping amongst them. I wouldn't say languid, but in any event 270 struck me as right. (I have the 7/31/87 "Revised Draft".)

                      So, this raises the fundamental question: What is "a scene" in this context?

                      I figure, if you change locations, then that is a new scene. If that's not the measure (again, in this context), then what is?

                      (NB: I am out of coffee today. If any of the above seems sarcastic, etc., I apologize, in advance. It's all intended to be conversational and the questions are sincere.)
                      Last edited by Manchester; 07-18-2011, 09:00 AM. Reason: added link

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                      • #12
                        Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                        What about films like Buried or Panic Room -- where the location doesn't change?

                        I ask because I have an Act 1 sequence in my script where the location doesn't change but I see it as different scenes.
                        Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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                        • #13
                          Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                          A new scene is not a new slugline. In that draft you mentioned, the first page has six 'scenes,' but they're all part of the same scene -- Walsh catching Bouchet. That scene runs for four pages and then there's a smaller scene with Walsh dropping Bouchet off at the jail (which I might consider part of the first scene, because it completes the thought), and then it ends at the bottom of page 5. One or two scenes, 5 pages. We're at "16" on the 'scene count' of the script. There have not been 16 separate scenes in the script.

                          Again, production scene numbers are entirely different than scenes.

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                          • #14
                            Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                            Originally posted by jcgary View Post
                            A new scene is not a new slugline. In that draft you mentioned, the first page has six 'scenes,' but they're all part of the same scene -- Walsh catching Bouchet. That scene runs for four pages and then there's a smaller scene with Walsh dropping Bouchet off at the jail (which I might consider part of the first scene, because it completes the thought), and then it ends at the bottom of page 5. One or two scenes, 5 pages. We're at "16" on the 'scene count' of the script. There have not been 16 separate scenes in the script.

                            Again, production scene numbers are entirely different than scenes.
                            Thanks. This reminds me of a Steve Martin stand-up line about how hard it is to learn French because, "They have a different word for everything!" If only screenwriting had a different word for everything.

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                            • #15
                              Re: How Many Scenes Does a Screenplay Usually Have?

                              I wish someone would define "scene" for me. (not the production number type)

                              If a couple argues about sex in the bedroom, then walks through the dining room while arguing about money, and finally winds up in the kitchen and argues about who is supposed to do the cooking ... is that three scenes or one "arguing" scene?
                              "I am the story itself; its source, its voice, its music."
                              - Clive Barker, Galilee

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