How Long should a Screenplay take?

Dr. Hannibal Lecter · May 2, 2006

Hey I was woudering how long a first draft sould take to complete? I mean a 120pg rough draft, I know its probably diffrent for everyone. But if your gonna do this for a living how fast should you expect to pump out that first draft. Any feedback so i can try and get an idea would be awsome thanks.

MarkG · May 3, 2006

Ideally it would take a week or so, after you've spent a few months working out the characters and story.

Most of us aren't that well-organised though.

I believe TV show writers (at least in the UK) generally get two or three months from idea to finished scripts, or if you were writing low-budget features for Roger Corman in the 80s, you might only get a couple of days

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Dan Selakovich · May 18, 2006

I write a page a day, even if I want to go farther. It's something that works great for me. By stopping at a page, you give yourself time to gestate what you've written. I almost always come up with something better than I wanted to write by waiting until the next day. Given that, I have a pretty solid screenplay in 4 months.

Dan

thefirm · May 24, 2006

^^The method above sounds very good. I have yet to write one, but I am starting one shortly.

Gyro · May 24, 2006

On the Unbreakable DVD, M. Night Shyamalan says how he likes to put out 6 pages a day, but that's under the assumption he gets paid very nicely for those six pages a day.

Staypuft · Jun 25, 2006

I finished the first draft of my script "Making It" in about two weeks (it was only 79 pages though). I think as long as you dont have some sort of a deadline, a page or two a day is a good pace. But really whatever feels comfortable to you.

Kim Welch · Jun 25, 2006

Not Set Rule

Not Set Rule

i don't think there is any set rule on how long it should take. my suggestion is to do a good job of it, do it quickly if you can and most important get it done.

Lazlo · Jun 25, 2006

Not only is ther no rule, it just really is a non-sequitor. Don't mold the time it takes you to write to what worked for someone else. I would say more importantly is having a good story to tell than how long it takes you to do it. How long does it take to come up with a good story? I will say, that things go faster as you go along, when the characters take on a life of their own. Its always starting that's the most difficult.