Feature film
Also known as feature-length film
A full-length movie, defined by the Academy, the AFI and the BFI as running more than 40 minutes; most run 90 to 120 minutes, from screenplays of about 90 to 120 pages.
In practice
A feature film is a full-length movie, the kind released in theaters or as the main title on a streaming service. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Film Institute and the British Film Institute all draw the line at more than 40 minutes; in practice most features run between about 90 and 120 minutes.
For screenwriters, feature film is also a format. A feature screenplay usually runs about 90 to 120 pages, on the rule of thumb that one formatted page plays as roughly one minute of screen time. Comedies and horror films tend to come in shorter; dramas, epics and prestige films often run longer.
The feature is the form most spec screenplays are written in and the one most screenwriting competitions, fellowships and agencies read. Its length shapes the craft: a feature has room for a full protagonist arc, subplots and a three-act or similar structure, but no room for scenes that do not earn their pages.
Page one of a feature: a world and a want
FADE IN:
EXT. HIGHWAY DINER - NIGHT
A neon sign, half its letters dead: EAT. Rain on an empty parking lot.
INT. HIGHWAY DINER - CONTINUOUS
DOT (40s) wipes the counter in slow circles. A bus ticket to Chicago is tucked under the register. She checks it the way some people check a watch.
DOT
One more week. Then I'm gone.
Headlights sweep the window. A car pulls in. She sighs, and picks up the coffee pot.
A feature script has about 100 pages to spend, so page one has to start the story. In eight lines the audience gets a place, a tone, a protagonist and her want, and the car pulling in is the first thing to get in her way. The rest of the feature can follow that want for two hours.
What a feature film is
Merriam-Webster defines a feature as a full-length motion picture, the main attraction on a program. The term dates from the early days of cinema, when theaters showed several short subjects and one longer film was billed as the feature presentation. Today it simply means a film long enough to be the main event.
Official definitions use running time. The Academy's rules for most Oscar categories define a feature as a film of more than 40 minutes, and the American Film Institute and the British Film Institute use the same threshold. Anything 40 minutes or shorter counts as a short film for those purposes.
Running time is the defining rule, but distribution, budget and audience expectations shape the form just as much. Theaters schedule around a two-hour slot, streaming services build their catalogs around feature-length titles, and audiences expect a feature to deliver a complete story with a beginning, a middle and an end.
How long is a feature film?
Most features run between 90 and 120 minutes. Animated films and comedies often land around 90 minutes, dramas and thrillers between 100 and 130, and epics, historical films and many franchise films run well past two and a half hours. There is no upper limit: the Academy's rules set only a minimum.
A feature screenplay usually runs between about 90 and 120 pages. The one-page-per-minute rule depends on standard formatting, 12-point Courier with set margins, and it is an average rather than a promise: a page of fast dialogue plays in less than a minute, and a page of dense action can take two or three.
Readers and buyers notice length. A first spec script well over 120 pages signals that the writer may not know what to cut, and one far under 90 may feel thin. Writers who come in between about 95 and 115 pages for a contemporary drama or comedy are rarely asked about length at all.
A short history of the feature
Early films were a single reel, about 10 to 15 minutes. The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), an Australian film running more than an hour, is often called the first feature-length narrative film. In the 1910s, longer European films and American productions such as The Birth of a Nation (1915) made features the center of the business.
By the 1920s and 1930s the Hollywood studios built their output around features, often played in double bills with a newsreel, a cartoon and a shorter second feature, the B movie. The two-hour slot that theaters schedule around today descends from that program.
Television, home video and streaming changed how features are seen without changing what they are. Many films now premiere on streaming services, and feature-length documentaries and animated films have their own Oscar categories, but the full-length story told in one sitting remains the model.
Feature film vs. short film and series
A short film runs 40 minutes or less under the Academy's definition, and most shorts are well under 20. Shorts are a common way for new writers and directors to show their voice, but their scripts reward a single idea or moment rather than a full arc with subplots.
A television series tells a story across many episodes, often with an open ending that leaves room for more seasons. A limited series is closer to a feature split into parts, but it still has episode structure, act breaks timed for commercials or cliffhangers, and many hours to fill.
A feature tells one complete story in one sitting. That constraint is its strength: every subplot and secondary character has to serve the main line, and the story builds to a single climax and resolution rather than a season finale.
How to write a feature screenplay
Start from structure. Most features follow a three-act shape or one of its variations: setup in roughly the first quarter, a long middle of escalating conflict, and a final act that brings the story to its climax. Knowing where the act breaks fall helps keep a 100-page script from sagging in the middle.
Make the first pages count. Many readers decide within the first ten pages whether to keep reading, so introduce the protagonist, their world and what they want early, as in the excerpt above. The inciting incident usually arrives somewhere in the first 10 to 15 pages.
Revise for length and pace. After a first draft, look for scenes that repeat information, characters who do the same job and dialogue that explains what the action already shows. Cutting them is usually the fastest way to bring a long draft into the feature range without losing anything a reader would miss.
Common questions
What is a feature film?
A feature film is a full-length movie, generally longer than 40 minutes, made for release in theaters or as a main title on streaming services. Most features run between 90 and 120 minutes.
How long is a feature film?
The Academy, the American Film Institute and the British Film Institute define a feature as longer than 40 minutes. In practice most run about 90 to 120 minutes, and there is no maximum.
How many acts does a feature film have?
Most features are built in three acts: a setup that runs about the first quarter, a long middle of rising conflict, and a final act that brings the story to its climax. Some writers break the middle into two halves around a midpoint.
What was the first feature film?
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), an Australian film running more than an hour, is often cited as the first feature-length narrative film. Longer films became standard in the 1910s.
Why is it called a feature film?
In early cinema programs, theaters showed several short subjects and one longer film billed as the feature, the main attraction. The name stuck as longer films became standard.
What is the difference between a feature film and a short film?
Running time. Under the Academy's rules, a short film is 40 minutes or less and a feature is longer. Shorts usually explore a single idea or moment; features tell a full story with an arc and subplots.
Is a documentary a feature film?
It can be. A documentary longer than 40 minutes is a documentary feature, and the Academy gives a separate Oscar for documentary feature film. Shorter documentaries compete as short subjects.