Hey,

My screenplay is working out but i'm not sure on how much dialogue i should have. I add in a lot becuase i do not want everything to happen to fast. Is it oaky if you have a little bit more than enoug dialogue so that everything doesn't happen to fast. I have quite a lot dialogue and it seems to be working out but this is my first screenplay so I just want to check in with some people.

It also depends on the genre of your film. A drama will have more dialogue than an action film, but one thing you'll want to look into is what you're havin the characters say. Consider whether you can better show something that the characters are telling. Do you need to say "Hello" or will a handshake suffice and you move on? Do you need to spout a bunch of exposition or would a flashback work better? Sometimes we tend to say too much when the camera will show what we're having the characters tell.

There's no defining rule here though. Just make sure they tell enough to communicate the story while not so much that we're overburdened with it.

I always say it's better to have too much than not enough. You can always edit later if it's too long, and cut out what you feel is unnecessary. I'd leave in the dialogue, and if you  get a lot of bad feedback about it, or later decide you think some isn't necessary then just trim it down. I've gotten a lot of negatives about the way I choose to structure my dialogue.

I try to keep dialog and action at 50/50. No one can complain.

It depends, IMO, more on style than genre.  Tarantino writes great humorous dialogue, so he can have action movies that are mostly dialogue (to the degree that RD is practically a play, and is more of a drama than an action movie, showing that the amount of dialogue defines the genre and not visa versa).  You could have a whole movie with very little dialogue, if your protagonist is a quiet, brooding type.  I agree, however, that generally it's better to have too much than too little.  The reason is that the more common beginning writer difficulty is in putting in dialogue.  However, my currect project has way too much dialogue, I think.  I'm going to have to add more action later, or start writing plays instead :)

Reservoir Dogs was actually done as a stageplay by a group of amateur actors in this city's university campus a few years ago, so I agree with Jerdol.  

Dialogue proportions also depend on the "feel" you want to get across, and on the message you want to communicate through the script.  Characters should speak because you want your audience -- or a segment of your audience -- to know a message.  The script SIMPLY THE GODFATHER by George Willson makes a bold statement about power corrupting.  Every scene in that script adds to the overall message, and there is rarely any dialogue that doesn't contribute to the big picture.  

Thanks guys you've helped a lot.

Of course there are exceptions, like Once Upon a Time in the West, where there's hardly any dialogue, yet the movie's very communicative. Of course this is because Sergio Leone's editing techniques speak volumes.