With the increased use of video-on-demand and other pay-per-view services, do we need to worry about writing 90 to 120 page features?

More and more movies are skipping the theatrical debut, making it unnecessary to have a film that fits into even blocks of time that allow theaters to maximize showings while still providing moviegoers a valuable experience.

If you're at home watching a movie with the ability to pause, rewind, and stop, do bladder limitations need to be taken into account?  Would a 5 hour movie be out of the question?  I'm sure there are plenty of Lord of the Rings fans who would happily sit through a 9 hour showing at home.

With the film industry slowly utilizing on-demand services, should producers even consider a scripts length anymore, or are we not there yet?  Will we ever be there?

Thoughts?

Jordan

I was told by my producers that Showtime wanted Dead Ringer edited down from 90 minutes to 80. I don't know why.

I also remember another film of mine where the producers were told the movie had to be at least 72 minutes long. Also,  lot of foreign films tend to be on the shorter side.

I still wouldn't write anything shorter than 90 pages. I want to be sure that the filmmakers get enough media once they go into post. Nothing worse than going into post with not enough material...

I actually think the opposite is happening. We live in the youtube generation, short attention spans and instant gratification.

I think over the next 5-10 years we will see fewer and fewer mainstream films reaching 120+ minutes.

I have a drama script I plan to shoot one day that is 140 pages I want to post it up for some feedback on the story but I am hesitant because so few people will even read a screenplay anymore that is over 120 pages.

Angry Bear makes a great point however that you should not write anything under 90 pages. Even if your script plays true to the 1 minute per page rule you still need to give the director/editor some room to play with in the editing room.

The sweet spot for feature scripts is and is going to continue to be 90-120 pages in my opinion.

It’s an interesting subject and leads on to the discussion of films in general and their prominence within today's popular culture.

Bret Easton Ellis talks about it a lot on his podcast and he is someone who would have firsthand experience of this being a regular cinema-goer from L.A. who is also involved in the industry.

This perceived golden age of TV, the whittling attention spans of the populace who'd rather spend an evening watching clips on Youtube then go out to the cinema has a lot to do with it. Plus, as you say, the streaming VOD services that are available lessens the motivations to go out and see something which has a knock on effect to how films are being made, the subjects being dealt with, their intent, their risk taking, and even something as specific as their length.

With VOD the consumer has control over what they are watching, they can stop, rewind, fast forward as you mentioned, go make a sandwich, take a dump and the program will be there waiting for them when they come back. Unlike a cinema experience where you are very much at the mercy of the film, it starts at a certain time, you have to be there or you’ll miss it. I hear people say all the time now that they don’t like going to the cinema because it means they’ll have to sit in the one place for 90-120 minutes, they get restless, fidgety. TV doesn’t have that problem because it’s all watched at home where you have control.

It does seem that the long form narrative of cinema is no longer at the centre of the discourse, at least not to the same degree. I increasingly find myself in conversations with friends where we start off talking about film but it quickly switches to the TV. Personally, I'm much more a film watcher than TV so naturally I would prefer to talk about the former but it does seem people are watching or talking about them less and less. I'm not complaining, that's just the way it is, gotta deal with it. Is it the people's fault or the films themselves? I dunno

Ellis also talks about the fawning critical praise of last year's output, the comparisons  to classic years like 1939 or 1976 and how it screams of insecurity on the critic’s part because films have taken the back seat in recent times. And while last year did have some great films I do take his point and agree there is an element of truth to it.

Films will always be there of course but with the constantly changing sensibilities of the culture and the technological advances which alter how we view content we are definitely seeing a moving away from feature length film as the primary format.

It’s interesting in that film started out as short pieces; newsreels, nickelodeons, bite sized chunks of entertainment. Then as the medium evolved it developed into the structure we see today, 3 acts, 2 hours. And now, over a hundred years down the line we could be reverting back to the old format of short form narratives, clips, sketches, web series, etc. It’s coming full circle.

Pia,

I had you in mind when I was thinking about this.  I was wondering how your experience with Blackout went with the whole "VOD" thing?


Topher,

I agree with you about most films/videos becoming shorter and more episodic.



I'm hopeful that one of the indie film sites, such as indieflix, will figure out the secret and create something where people can watch quality films for a fair price, opening the door for average filmmakers to make a living without having to go through a site like Amazon.

Perhaps it's the moviegoers who need to evolve and see that there's great content already out there, and it doesn't contain superheroes or robot aliens.

Jordan