My original thought on this is there is no established length for a short. It's a film that is shorter than a feature length film or around 90 pages. But length is not exactly what defines a short; it's the way the story is told. I have two shorts posted. One is 18 pages and the other is 52. Is 52 pages too long? Not necessarily because 1)it took that long to tell the whole story and 2)it ONLY took that long to tell the story.

I decided to check around on the net to see if there was an established offical short length and I found this: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~shortflm/drafting/writing_short.html  

The short answer is that there is no established length; it's just shorter than a feature film and cannot be marketed as such. Everyone has their own opinion about what length they like, but I think you just write until you end the story.

According to imdb and their submission forms, a short is 45 minutes or less.

Awesome, then. I got this 30+ page script, and I intended it to be a short, which I will film eventually. But this dude I know told be a short has to be 15 pages only. Now, obviously, I know that's bullshizzle.  

.... Sorry I said "shizzle."  

I have to ask three questions:

How long is a 30 Min. episode?

How long is a Hour episode?

How long is a full Movie?

sorry to be a smart arse but....


1. approx 30 minutes.

2. approx 60 minutes

3. approx 90 minutes...

no how many pages should the scripts be. for each questions. Like How long would a 30 minute episode be for a script. and same with the other questions. So basically how long would each script be/

Well, i was told that a script page is equal to a minute, making 30 mins=30 pages, etc. But most episodes of a TV show would be 25 pages, (commericals fill the last five mins)

Hope this helps more han my last post!

A 30 minute Sitcom: 42 - 52 pages.
A 30 minute Drama: 28 - 34 pages.

A 60 minute Drama: 45 - 55 pages.

A 90 minute Movie, Comedy: 90 + pages.
A 90 minute Movie, Drama:   110 + pages.

I'm basing this on the Script Templates they have in Final Draft where they give the average page numbers for a lot of different shows.

Edward

How come the pages change for different genres?

In my opinion:

I think that the nature of the movies change the length of their scripts.  In a drama, they're would be more dialogue explaining the story, where as in a comedy, it would take more action or less dialogue to move the story along.  Obviously, this doesn't count for every drama or every comedy, but in the most general way this is how they play out.

But, each different script has to go by its own standards.  These are only guidelines of industry standards so people don’t give them 412 page scripts.  You have to decide based on your story you want to tell and how you want to tell it, how long your script should be.

Edward

A 30 minute sitcom is that long because the entire script is double space creating what amounts to 30 second per page rather than the standard minute. They are written this way so that the actors can make notes on the script and have plenty of room to do so.

And in bigwhoop's defense for his first answer...I thought exactly the same thing...also just to be an arse.

I don’t know much about the format of television scripts but I do know something about the time lengths of television programs. You need to take into account any interruptions in programming when you consider the script length.

On television:

A half hour program with commercial avails is generally 21 ½ to 22 minutes long.

An hour program with commercial avails is generally double that.

Infomercials and other paid programs which have no commercial avails are usually 28 minutes and thirty seconds or 58 minutes and thirty seconds.

This question may have been asked before, or maybe not.  When figuring script length and running time, does running time (like on the back of the movie box) include the credits?

For example, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days box lists 115 minutes.  I take that to be 115 pages of script/ 115 minutes from fade in to fade out.  Am I correct?

I ask this because after a several month hiatus, I have come back out of the closet (not the gay one) and resumed writing.  I have added several scenes that I feel add more punch and give minor characters a larger role.  I want to make sure that I don't go over that 120 minute mark since this is a romantic comedy I'm working on.

I appreciate any and all comments.

To answer the question, the run time on the back of the box starts with the beginning of the main titles (i.e. New Line Cinema presents) to the end of the credits, which is why Return of the King's 200 minute running time only runs for about 185-190 minutes...it's that marathon credit list that takes the time up. If you are trying to think main and end titles in order to keep the film under 120 minutes, you would go for around 110 pages.

Frankly, however, it is best to just write your script first and worry about length later.

George,

Thanks for the input.  I haven't found myself worrying about length until now.  I'm sitting at 195 pages and feel that I need about another 10-15.  I'm sure that once I've added a few things I can go back and delete some of the once must have scenes.