You should just post it as a short.

Let your peers decide if it should be fleshed out.

Compare your script to what you feel is a similar existing feature length film.

Read your script aloud.

Jot down notes about "the what" each page is about.

Ask yourself lots of questions like:

How much time have I devoted to this and that character?

Have I shown them in normal situations?

Have I shown them in stressful situations?

Have I shown them in boring situations?

Why is this scene this short?

Why is this scene this long?

Do I have enough dialogue for the kind of film I want to build?

How long does it take me to thrust the initiating incident into the action of the plot that demands action of the protagonist?

Have I sufficiently cued things up so that we can see the character's personality working with/against the causal factors?

...just keep asking yourself questions.

In the meantime, you can post it as a WIP and we can have a look to try and help figure out the problem. As others have said, it's hard to tell without reading it.

I often have the opposite problem as you. My stories go all over the map and characters take over and screw with things. It sounds to me like you do have a clear precision here and that's really good.

I'm off to the woods in BC soon and won't have online connection where I'm going, but I'll check in every so often. If you need help, feel free to message me and I'll give it a read.

Good luck!

Sandra

Three words:

Huge Friggin' Font

HAHA

I agree with Dressel here, just post it as a short and get some feedback.  There's plenty of people here that will tell you whether you have a story good enough to expand or whether it's a only ever going to be a short.

What happened to Bre's post?  I agree with her 100%.

It's funny all these different pieces of advice...all on something that we have absolutely no clue what it looks like, what it's about, etc.

I think the writer needs to post a few pages on the Work in Progress thread, so we can see what we're dealing with.

DS,

I wasn’t sure if the original post was serious. It just doesn’t add up for me. Anyone who’s ever read a screenwriting book, read a feature screenplay, or seen a movie, should be able to see major problems in a 37 page feature. It would have to be missing crucial - and in my mind obvious - elements.

I suggested he should post a few pages in the Work in Progress section but the more I thought about it, the more it nagged me as to whether or not the op is serious.


Breanne

That's exactly what I thought, and why I said that I had been laughing about this post whenever I thought about it, cause it's basically mind boggling.  And to think that he wrote an additional 15 pages...I mean, those 15 additional pages were basically the length of the entire original script!

I don't get it.  

Quoted from Dreamscale I'll 4th it, but it's not going to increase the script by 50-60 pages...and if it does, we're talking about a script that is 2/3 fleshed out characterization.

Oh, but you'd be surprised. The reason I suggested fleshing out the characters is by fleshing them out, you'll inevitably create pieces of plots based on how they met, why they're there, etc, and by doing so, you'll discover missing plot points, sub plots, and that sort of thing that can add 50 or 60 pages or more.

Also, by knowing who your characters are, many times they'll "tell" you which way they need to go in order to progress in the story or even what they should have done to get where they are. I've found that I'm nearly unable to write much without knowing the characters since who they are plays into every aspect of the story. How do you know how to write their dialogue without knowing them? How do you know how they'll react without knowing them?

If you learn who your people are, they will lead you through the story because their actions and reactions will be natural and they might reveal the nature of the story you're trying to tell.

What you also might look at is considering your original 20-odd pages to be the first part of the story and you just have to go from there. In screenwriting-speak, consider it act one. Maybe that piece of the story is done, and if it's a complete story, don't mess with it. Instead, take it further and see where that experience takes your character.

And to DS and Bre, it's possible that the original poster is learning to write this form and hasn't read those books. He just woke up one morning and felt that he had a movie idea and is now stuck on what to do. I'm flattered he turned to us.

Quoted from George Willson And to DS and Bre, it's possible that the original poster is learning to write this form and hasn't read those books. He just woke up one morning and felt that he had a movie idea and is now stuck on what to do.

Yeah, I thought of that. If that’s the case, I think this person needs to start with basic research.


Breanne

I think this person needs to repsond to all the various ideas that have been thrown out.  This did start as a callout for help, right?

Hey guys. Sorry I haven't been on in awhile. I have been reading all of your suggestions everyday, but haven't responded because I am working on my script still. Before I was at 37 pages and now I am up to about 50 pages. DS and Bre, I have never read a book about writing a script or screenplay. I just thought of a story and looked how to to format a script and all, then wrote it. I know for sure that this is not supposed to be a short, in fact, it is impossible for this story to be told a as short. I know some of the elements I am missing to the story, but the biggest would probably be the middle. The beginning and end are just what I wanted.

To answer DS's earlier reply, I am one of the few people who doesn't like outlines at all. They mess me up whenever I am trying to get a story finished or revised. I don't plan to ever write an outline, it is just easier for me that way. I have quite a lot of scenes, but not too much. Probably about 30 scenes are what I have. I have 25 characters who are all antagonist, except for one. I do have a conflict and a resolution. Something that maybe the problem with the script is that I thought of the ending before the middle and beginning. I have done this with past stories (shorts) and they ended up well. It is a habit of mine to think of the ending before anything else.

Anyway, I will try to be on more often and reply. I just get frustrated with my scripts sometimes and don't want to come here because I don't want to lash out at you guys and punish you for me being angry.

Quoted from usaking It is a habit of mine to think of the ending before anything else.

I always use to think of the end before anything else, and also the middle would be the hardest part to do... But you do have to outline your story, even if you don't like it. It will help you assess your scenes and the flow of the story.

What I do is number my scenes, the beginning being 1. and the end being something like 20 if I haven't written the middle, then I think how can I move these characters forward, who deserves a backstory and subplot shown, who deserves to be put in danger and what are the best ways to do this?


What genre are you writing?


You should definitly get a screenwriting book from the library and give it a good read, you'll be surprised on the questions and example answers it will show you on how to write your script.

I'm not an established writer on here, so my advice should be taking as a pinch of salt as I'm still learning the craft myself, just thought I'd offer my opinion.

If you are very sure that I should outline my script, I will try to, but really don't want to. I know that the middle is the trouble I am having writing. I don't plan to change my beginning or ending in the future.

I already have numbered my script in the past, so that isn't really anything I am worried or concerned about at the moment.

The genre I am writing is a Fantasy/Drama. All of the scripts I have written in the past were short dramas. This is the first full length script and Fantasy genre I have ever done.

I will try and get a screenwriting book from a library, but again, I really don't like using materials to help me out. I like figuring stuff out on my own, I always have been like this since I was a kid.

I thank you for the advice and even though I really do want to not use outlines or books, I will give it a try and see what happens.

Hey USA, I’m Jeff, BTW.  Listen, about outlines…you don’t HAVE to use them, but this is a perfect example of how they can help…and you should most likely really try and do one.

So, I’m still quite confused with some things you’re saying.  You started out with a 22 page script that you say is definitely not a short, and can’t be written as a short.  Weird thing is that at 22 pages, you did indeed write it as a short!  Then, you added 15 pages (almost 70% of your additional entire script!), and got to 37 pages (still a short).  Now you’re at 50 pages, and are more than double your original length, but still at least 40 pages from a feature.

It’s all very hard to comprehend.

OK, let’s delve a bit deeper…you say you have quite a lot of scenes, but not too much…about 30 in total.  OK, so your average scene length is just over 1 ½ pages long, or 1 ½ minutes of screentime.  As a quick comparison, I have a script with 136 scenes over 116 pages (1.2 pages/scene). I have numerous scenes that run over 4 pages in length, but the majority are short, at ½ - 1 pages total.  Hard to really gauge much off this comparison, because I break my scenes down quite a bit (different rooms of a house, different areas of a setting, etc.).  I’d say off the top of my head, though, that you need a lot more scenes!

You say you’ve got 25 characters…that’s an awful lot!  I assume that many of these are secondary characters that don’t have much screen time.   But, it’s still a shitload for 22-50 pages of story.  If you’re indeed writing some kind of epic fantasy based story, I’d imagine that you haven’t given nearly enough detail or back-story to your characters, your story, or even your setting.

Finally, I want to say this…I agree with you about using screenwriting books.  I don’t like to do it and never have.  I have read many, many articles and spent hours on various screenwriting websites to get the jist of how to write a script.  So, I commend you for wanting to do it yourself, but if you’re indeed stuck and having issues like you’re obviously having, you need to do something to help.

Why don’t you E-Mail me a few pages of your script, and I’ll tell you what I think your problems are.  I have a few hours of availability today, so I could literally do it now, if you’re interested.

E-Mail is jeffbush3@cox.net.

Hope this helps a bit, and best of luck to ya!