Screenplays: Number of scenes in a film?

The only real rule for scenes I think are that around the one-hour mark you need an action scene. No matter what kind of movie, there has to be something happening at the hour mark, give or take five minutes. Just for examples.

The Godfather: It's the scene where Michael kills McCluskey and Solozzo.

The Book of Eli: When Eli saves Solara from being raped.

Die Hard: The cops come rolling into the parking lot as Hans Gruber's henchmen shoot at them.

The Dark Knight: The Joker tries to assassinate the mayor and "kills" Gordon instead.

Aliens: The marines are attacked by aliens and most of the good guys are wiped out.

duh! 22 that is the dumbest question evr evryone should no that!

they are rule on how to write screenplays, the 1 page = to 1 minute is best, number of scenes depened on the story. According to the way i know this screenwriting things, a movies must have 24 mojar scene with 2 to 4 scenes in between each major scene and have 100 to 130 pages in your drafts, some minutes and pages are iliminated during the course of editing.

There is a question above about what makes up a scene.

A scene is defined by the actions of your characters within a specific timeframe and location. For example: If a character walks in a schoolcorridor and then enters a room. Those two different locations are still within the same scene because we are at the same location (the school) within the same timeframe. Should the character, in the following clip, return to that same corridor at night, several hours later. That would be a new scene because of the timechange.

- So what if the character chases someone throughout a city? That would not be in just one location?
- Yes it would. The city is the location and the chase is the action within the same timeframe.

I hope this was useful and I am sorry for any typos, English is not my first language.

I am a writer too, i usually forget the Hollywood version i say it like this. THE MORE LINES YOU HAVE IN ONE SCENE MAKES THAT SCENE LONGER SO THAT WAY YOU CAN HAVE LESS SCENE NUMBERS. if that doesn't help go to about 30 scenes to about 50.

Thank you for solid thoughtful answer. Communication is an important means of expression but having it be constructive and helpful makes if valuable. This is exactly the information I was looking for.

An industry standard screenplay is 1 page = 1 minute of script......there is no limit to scenes, reservoir dogs was shot with hardly any scenes mainly in the warehouse.

A film does have a screenplay format.......it consists of Beginning, middle and end, a 90 minute film, is 90 pages roughly, editing can reduce length at the end.

The first 10 minutes are aimed at capturing the audience, after that the next 20 minutes leads up to Plot Point 1, the part that drags the story in a different direction, and into the middle...then the next 30minutes, 30 pages is the conflict that the main characture has to go through to get to Plot Point 2.

Yet again PP2 drags the story in a different direction again, into the end....also know as resolution.

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Some films even have over 300 scenes. Say you had a montage with 40 different scenes...get it? Minutes don't matter. A scene could be 2mins or 2seconds. But there should be 40-60 key scenes. Meaning they are the scenes you build your story with. Everything else is secondary.

Sorry for jimming in after over a year, awkward. But I have been facing the same dilemma, getting a bit worked up over scene lengths and amount of scenes, etc. I have been reading a few books including (a good one, everyone should read!) Your Screenplay Sucks by William M Akers.

It totally depends on what you define as a scene. Like Adam says above.
However, if you think about it as major scenes (scenes that contribute necessary information, influence a turn of events, revelations, or contribute greatly to the story) then Kaylynn offers fantastic advice and opinion.

I was watching The Lovely Bones (again!) and decided to count scenes. I counted every small scene. I even counted establishing shots that ran for like 4 seconds! I ended up with 14 scenes in the first 11-12 minutes! So it really depends on what you count as a full scene.

Or, I am totally wrong, and my 15 year old mind is totally boggled!!!!! haha)))

Technically speaking they're 2 scenes, but if you count the CORRIDOR as a scene chances are you'll have about 120-160 "scenes" in your film. It's more likely, however, that what goes on in the STUDY is the only important aspect of the screenplay at this moment and therefore that counts as the scene.

High School Diploma

Hello, i am a fresh man.

Go by 14 scenes per thirty mins.

My best advise is to go to www.simplyscripts.com, or www.scripts-o-rama.com and find a script that catches your eye and count the number of scenes in that particular script. Each author will be different. Some will have more scenes, while others will have less. One page of script, according to Hollywood standards, is to eaqual one minute of film time, but you can have more than one scene on a page. I read Screenwriting For Dummies and The Complete Idiots Guide To Screenwriting an it helped immensely. I recommend either of those titles. Hope this helps.

Jeremy

I write screen plays for movies and anything over is good.

What ever you need you can make adjustments depending on the budget and time frame.

50 is good
70 is better
90 is Hollywood standard






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