So, just to keep you abreast of some of things going on at Christopher F. Reidy .com:
My screenplay, HEARTFIGHT is 90% done; and I have to say, I'm a little shocked. It's already pushing the 190 page mark. I had no idea I had written that much. I mean, I could sense that it was going to be on the longer side (that's what she/he/they said!); but I would never have thought that long. Which actually, brings us to an issue I think that, lately, needs some addressing. The rule for scriptwriters is generally thus (regarding length). No more than 90 to 120 pages. Now who made this rule? I don't know. But, the thinking is that one script page, written in the standard screenplay format (Courier font, 12pt. type size) equals one minute of screen time. So, 90 pages gives you a movie that's an hour and a half long. 120 pages: a two hour movie. Generally comedies are going to be shorter, dramas longer. But nowadays, movies are clocking in at two hours. Two and a half hours. Three hours. Three hours plus. It's common for everything from action to fantasy to drama. Comedies still seem to run at more reasonable times. All this to say that films are longer now. So does that 90 to 120 rule still stand? Apparently it does; for newbies and nobodies; because script readers don't want to read looooonnnng scripts. But long scripts are still written. For example, the latest Mission: Impossible. I read somewhere that the first cut of "Part 1" ran like four hours. It's current run time is 2 hours and 43 minutes. For the first half. How long is the second half? How many pages was the script for parts one and two together?
HEARTFIGHT is pushing into three-hour territory at this point. But as I said, not unusual for 2023. Perhaps HEARTFIGHT, if it ever were to be produced could be split into a Part 1 and Part 2. Or, perhaps it would be better suited to a limited run TV series. Perhaps I could publish it in its current form. How about a new form? The Screenovel? Gotta have a gimmick! In any event, I will post the screenplay on a blog here, in its entirety after the WGA strike is settled (and I get it registered with them).
My thinking is that yes, a screenplay should probably not be longer than 120 pages. As I was writing it in a different format, font and type-size and giving side notes and visual material, it was difficult to gauge how much I was producing. If you're doing it directly into a Word document in the proper format, you get more of a sense of the length. How to gauge it and so on. Interestingly, I wrote my sitcom pilot CHEESEHEADS the same way and that came out much closer to the typical parameters of that format.
As to the blogs...
I owe you one about Flashdance, the movie. One I started and never finished. Also, the conclusion of my Art Therapy blog where I transformed a piece of mass produced piece of art into a post-modern update. That painting is also 90 percent finished. I promise I'll get to those next!
My screenplay, HEARTFIGHT is 90% done; and I have to say, I'm a little shocked. It's already pushing the 190 page mark. I had no idea I had written that much. I mean, I could sense that it was going to be on the longer side (that's what she/he/they said!); but I would never have thought that long. Which actually, brings us to an issue I think that, lately, needs some addressing. The rule for scriptwriters is generally thus (regarding length). No more than 90 to 120 pages. Now who made this rule? I don't know. But, the thinking is that one script page, written in the standard screenplay format (Courier font, 12pt. type size) equals one minute of screen time. So, 90 pages gives you a movie that's an hour and a half long. 120 pages: a two hour movie. Generally comedies are going to be shorter, dramas longer. But nowadays, movies are clocking in at two hours. Two and a half hours. Three hours. Three hours plus. It's common for everything from action to fantasy to drama. Comedies still seem to run at more reasonable times. All this to say that films are longer now. So does that 90 to 120 rule still stand? Apparently it does; for newbies and nobodies; because script readers don't want to read looooonnnng scripts. But long scripts are still written. For example, the latest Mission: Impossible. I read somewhere that the first cut of "Part 1" ran like four hours. It's current run time is 2 hours and 43 minutes. For the first half. How long is the second half? How many pages was the script for parts one and two together?
HEARTFIGHT is pushing into three-hour territory at this point. But as I said, not unusual for 2023. Perhaps HEARTFIGHT, if it ever were to be produced could be split into a Part 1 and Part 2. Or, perhaps it would be better suited to a limited run TV series. Perhaps I could publish it in its current form. How about a new form? The Screenovel? Gotta have a gimmick! In any event, I will post the screenplay on a blog here, in its entirety after the WGA strike is settled (and I get it registered with them).
My thinking is that yes, a screenplay should probably not be longer than 120 pages. As I was writing it in a different format, font and type-size and giving side notes and visual material, it was difficult to gauge how much I was producing. If you're doing it directly into a Word document in the proper format, you get more of a sense of the length. How to gauge it and so on. Interestingly, I wrote my sitcom pilot CHEESEHEADS the same way and that came out much closer to the typical parameters of that format.
As to the blogs...
I owe you one about Flashdance, the movie. One I started and never finished. Also, the conclusion of my Art Therapy blog where I transformed a piece of mass produced piece of art into a post-modern update. That painting is also 90 percent finished. I promise I'll get to those next!
CFR 7/21/23
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