is this too short

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  • is this too short

    am done with the first draft of my script, i will start rewriting tomorrow, but its only 90 pages, am not worried about its lenght because during the process of rewriting i will add more scenes, but is 90 pages too short? and is this common not to have 110plus pages after the first write?

  • #2
    Re: is this too short

    Is it a comedy? 90 is good. Is it a drama? you might be in trouble.

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    • #3
      Re: is this too short

      its a drama.

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      • #4
        Re: is this too short

        Congrats on finishing your script, 90 pages isn't bad for a first draft that's subject to change, tho' I can't help but wonder why you didn't add those extra scenes you're talking about as you wrote it. Are they part of the story or are you just inserting filler to up the pagecount?

        -Derek
        Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity.

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        • #5
          Re: is this too short

          I haven't even written my first script yet so I'm hardly qualified to comment, but here's what I think anyway.

          You have 90 pages, congratulations! There are two aspects here, you could look at it this way, if you had 110+ pages that would be cool, because you'd have a lot of material to work with and if you needed to shorten it for whatever reason or extend it, you have a lot to work with. But then again, right now you have the option to write more, which can only be a good thing - because rather than having to cut scenes you don't want to lose - you have the opportunity to ADD more ideas when they come to you! Seems to me like you have the perfect length script, because adding more would be much easier than having to cut away chunks.

          Also, like magicman35 said, leaving this for a couple of weeks would be a good idea - because then you can come back to the story and have a fresh perspective, which is more likely to get your creative mind working again.

          Mainly though, congratulations on finishing your script! I have a lot of catching up to do!

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          • #6
            Re: is this too short

            I can only wish (and resent you, on a deeply personal level, and begin plotting my eternal revenge against you, if not now, then soon, or in some future lifetime, etc) ... that I wrote SHORT instead of LONG.

            Congrats. And yes, what they said: set it aside a while and see it anew with fresh eyes and fresh energies. That can do wonders.
            sigpic
            "As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world -
            that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves."
            -Mahatma Gandhi.

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            • #7
              Re: is this too short

              Drama, eh? Well then, my advice would be to put it aside and start a new project. After you've completed a first draft of the new project, go back and pick up the first one. Read through it and see what needs to be changed.



              You've written a drama that's come in far below the normal page count for the genre. Best thing you can do is get some emotional distance from it and come back after some time. You'll have better "eyes" for what needs to be done to whip the story into shape.

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              • #8
                Re: is this too short

                Interesting.

                I have read in various places on this board that between 90 and 110 pages is your target length. Syd Field (whose book is admittedly dated now) says 120 pages for domestic films, 90 pages for foreign films.

                My own historical drama is at 104 pages, and I'm leaving it alone at the moment. I do have changes I need to make, but I need to be sure I'm improving it when I make them, and not just diddling with it to no purpose. I do confess...I was writing to a target length of 100 pages during the draft stages. First draft came in just over 90, so I went back and added some action to the second act (where it was badly needed anyway) and wrote a fuller resolution in the third act.

                I don't know how long is too long, or how short is too short; but I have tried to write a screenplay that is neither, and I think I've done it.

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                • #9
                  Re: is this too short

                  Is there a reason why its not good to rewrite a script couple of days after the first draft was done?

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                  • #10
                    Re: is this too short

                    Originally posted by Jamesfox
                    Is there a reason why its not good to rewrite a script couple of days after the first draft was done?
                    No, that's a great time to do rewriting.

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                    • #11
                      Re: is this too short

                      I recomend it because I think that was your first script. It's your first born, your baby. You're going to think that there's very little, if anything, wrong with it. To be honest with the piece, to be able to see where you went wrong and right, you'll need to have some emotional space from it.


                      Take some time to write a second piece. Use the lessons you learned writing the first one and apply them to the second one.

                      Once you're finished, come back and take a look at it. Idealy you'll have less attachtment to it and be able to see it more objectivly.

                      then you'll be able to do to it what you need to do.

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                      • #12
                        Re: is this too short

                        The comment made about adding new scenes to lengthen the first draft has me moving to DEFCON 9!

                        These scenes are not in the first draft because they obviously do not move the story forward, and therefore should NOT be added into a second draft.

                        Does the problem exist in the second Act where there is not enough time spent on tackling the conflict(s) asked at the end of Act 1? Or is it due to a short final act because there is not enough conflict to resolve?

                        I have just completed a first draft at 94 pages, but it is a fast paced thriller, where 90 minutes, if written properly is considered by me to be the perfect length for that genre.

                        TT
                        I wanna tell you about the time I almost died....

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                        • #13
                          Re: is this too short

                          Don't the DEFCON numbers go up? And aren't there only five of them?

                          So, like, DEFCON 9 would be when we send out cookie bouquets or something...

                          Anyway, perhaps you can deepen a subplot, so that the extra scenes mean something in that context. Or maybe add a minor difficulty somewhere that your characters must overcome, in a way that maybe sheds some extra light on the characters. Sometimes writing a story is taking a straight line and denting the hell out of it.
                          Quantum Mechanics is God's way of making sure we never really know what's going on.

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