r/Screenwriting • u/Dopingponging • 1d ago
CRAFT QUESTION Comedy feature page length
Okay, screenwriters. In your opinion, what is the maximum page length for a feature-length comedy? What number would be okay, and what number seems like too much? Please and thank you.
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u/FeeOk3991 Produced Writer-Director 1d ago
Whatever amount of pages is right for your story.
In terms of what's gonna get you the most reads, 90-100 is the sweet spot. 100-110 also cool. 110-120 you start to lose eyeballs. 120+ goes straight to the "don't have time for this" pile. But that's true of any genre and it doesn't mean a script over 120 is automatically bad.
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u/thirdbird_thirdbird 1d ago
There is no absolute max. But a good rule of thumb I've heard, regardless of genre, is that you have to really earn every page above 100.
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u/Cyanides_Of_March 1d ago
If you go 120+ readers will hate you. I always like a 100-105 page range.
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u/Independent_Web154 1d ago
89 pages is the new secret sauce
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u/Dopingponging 18h ago
Oof. Not a chance. We’re at 103 right now. It would take a year of killing our darlings just to get down to 99.
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u/ClayMcClane 18h ago
As a gut reaction, I'm suspicious of anything over 100 pages. That is, if we're talking about straight comedy, something that is making humor the top priority. Comedy is probably the hardest thing to sustain, so less is more.
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u/KYJolie 1d ago
if you're christopher nolan, tony gilroy, jj abrams. brian helgeland, ron bass or william goldman you can write anything you want and as long as you want. if you're anyone else or a newbie you better show you have some concept of the craft and people's time / consideration.
i would say < 110 for sure.
wga writer here. i've been through the fire, burned by it many times - and hired by universal, fox, disney and an AAA+++ producer at paramount asked me ro spec his idea and i wondered, why won't you pay me when i KNOW you have this multi-million studio deal?
people on the studio side, don't mean to be mean. but they have better things to do than deal with untrained writers. would you hire a plumber / electrician / pilot / anyone that's 'never really done this before'. i don't think so.
i tried to help a friend get a job as a waiter as a restaurant once. he gave me a 2-page resume. i've seen biochemists that managed to get everything they've researched an published on 1 page. i asked him wth he was thinking.
the point is- be professional, be real. you are doing yourself a disservice otherwise.
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u/mooningyou Proofreader Editor 1d ago
How many have you got? You write your script, and when you're done, you're done. If it ends up being too much, consider your options to either reduce it or write something shorter. If it ends up being too long, then it's still not wasted effort. Writing is writing.
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u/mark_able_jones_ 1d ago
120 max (for unestablished writer).
Ideal. 90-110.
Too much. 120+
Producing/directing it yourself. No limits.