Also known as screenplay length · script length · page length
The number of story pages a reader sees in a laid-out screenplay PDF. It is an early estimate of runtime and writer discipline — a pacing signal, not a stopwatch and not a quality score.
Readers treat page count as a first clock. A feature spec that a stranger will pick up usually lands between 90 and 120 pages, with 100–110 as the common comfort band. Comedy and horror often sit shorter; sprawling action and sci-fi can run longer when the scale is actually on the page. Extreme length without cause is a common pass reason because the reader already suspects the draft will overstay. Extreme shortness can read as unfinished unless the story is actually over.
One page per minute is a planning convention, not a measurement. Dialogue-heavy pages run faster on screen; action-heavy pages run slower. Use the count to estimate whether a cold read will feel like a feature, a pilot, or a short, then confirm runtime from a table read or a cut. Title pages, flyers, and cheated margins do not count as story pages. Confirm the visible PDF before a contest, lab, or manager asks for a number.
Official contest windows are contracts for a named cycle, not a second opinion on craft. The reviewed Academy Nicholl window is 80–125 pages in standard industry format. Sample-only caps — first five pages, first ten — are not full-draft length rules. When you are submitting, confirm the official opportunity page before you send. When you are writing, the reader band is the useful distribution.
Story words from a Final Draft file are a second clock, not a substitute page count. The Screenplay Anatomy Atlas measures MovieSum in aggregate and does not preserve stable pagination. The Screenplay Length desk can open a local .fdx, place those words on the published distribution, and imply planning pages from median density. That is useful when you do not have a laid-out PDF yet. It is not the number you write on a cover letter.
Most contemporary feature specs land between 90 and 120 pages, with 100–110 as the common reader comfort band. Comedy and horror often sit shorter. Page count is a pacing signal, not a runtime measurement.
It is a planning convention, not a measurement. Dialogue-heavy pages run faster; action-heavy pages run slower. Confirm runtime from a table read or a cut, not from the PDF footer.
Only as a planning proxy. Open a local .fdx and the desk places story words on the MovieSum distribution. Confirm the laid-out PDF before you submit or quote a count.
