Quote: bigfella @ August 23 2009, 11:31 PM BST7000 words?
At least! 
Nice Surprise - What Now? Page 6
Quote: Marc P @ August 23 2009, 11:06 PM BSTGood it's fantastic... but it's short!!! By a third!!
Big it up!
Really?
I've recently submitted a script that's about 4700 words and 52 pages, and I've read another that's about 6700 words and 54 pages. Both were aiming for 28-minute BBC slots.
The sitcom scripts (TV and radio) I've written have always been between 28 - 30 pages (using ScriptSmart) with wordcounts averaging around 4000 - 4400.
Even the childrens' half hour drama I recently wrote in screenplay format was only just over 4600 words.
I always time mine by acting them out/reading aloud.
So opinion is divided here.
Isn't it always? I'd read the scripts in writer's room (as I'm sure you have). If that's what they produce, that's what they want.
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 24 2009, 1:39 AM BSTThe sitcom scripts (TV and radio) I've written have always been between 28 - 30 pages (using ScriptSmart) with wordcounts averaging around 4000 - 4400.
Even the childrens' half hour drama I recently wrote in screenplay format was only just over 4600 words.
I always time mine by acting them out/reading aloud.
As far as I am aware Mikey, time in the very real sense of the word takes as long to elapse for children as it does for adults. I know the summer school holidays seemed to go on forever but not any more under strict regulations from Brussels. 4000 - 4400 words is way short.
Half an hour drama for BBC = 6,500 words. Sitcom a bit more flexible but...
Bump it up to five and a half and you should be fine. I would say,
with a sitcom, if you're at 7000 words, then you're probably running too long.
Andrew Collins, in an interview on this site a while ago talking about the first series of Not Going Out, stated: "We went for around 7,000 words a script".
(If you introduce a garrulous Sir Thomas More (see A Man for All Seasons), you should be OK. 
)
Quote: JohnnyD @ August 24 2009, 9:25 AM BST(If you introduce a garrulous Sir Thomas More (see A Man for All Seasons), you should be OK.
Maybe he could get a guest apperance in as we chop his head off.
Look, just read it out to yourself, time it. The fact is word counts can vary anyway as some are more verbose in their descriptions than others. It doesn't matter the amount of words someone else wrote; just read and time it and you should get a good idea of how short or long it's running.
Nah. Length is important if it looks short and is short it's a bad first impression. 4 to 4.5k is too short.
Quote: Marc P @ August 24 2009, 10:51 AM BSTNah. Length is important if it looks short and is short it's a bad first impression. 4 to 4.5k is too short.
Yes, I know that's too short. I was just pointing out that the whole 'it should be six thousand, no seven thousand words' thing is a bit pointless. But yes, four and a half is too short.
Yup six to seven is cool.
But when you are commissioned to write something it is to a specific word count in drama anyway. So it's not a bad discipline to get your head round.
I do it to a specific word count for a story pitch, a SxS and the scripts. It's for my benefit because I know exactly how much story I have got and can factor in for action or emotional scenes etc.
Its 5800 now. With another small scene to add.
Well I never. I'm surprised I've never heard all this before. I'm accustomed to writing to wordcout (I get paid by the word) but that's for prose.
Presumably, in screenplays the wordcount should apply just to dialogue and action words.
No point padding out "DAVE (29)" to "DAVE (29), a flabby sort of a chap with an unkempt beard and a black Metallica T-shirt", I expect. Both take a second of screen time.