Script Intelligence · Benchmark
How many characters does a screenplay have?
45 characters speak in the median produced feature, far more than most craft advice imagines, and one dominant voice carries 27.5% of every spoken word.
Published 12 August 2026 · n=268 produced features, 2000-2026 · Snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-08-v1 · Methodology
Half of produced features give lines to between 33 and 59 characters.
Speaking characters, n=268 produced features; scripts above 110 grouped at the right · snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-08-v1
27.5%
of all dialogue belongs to the largest part on the median script
Middle half: 21% to 35.4%
923
speeches in the median feature
Middle half: 761 to 1,090
A long cast list is not a crowded film.
Most of those 45voices are small: waiters, officers, one-scene functionaries who speak and vanish. The craft advice to keep casts tight is really advice about principal characters, and the measured counterweight is concentration: one part in the median feature owns better than a quarter of everything said. Produced scripts are generous with small voices and ruthless about where the audience’s listening time actually goes.
Speaking parts by genre.
Median speaking-character count by genre.
n per genre beside each label · snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-08-v1 · dot: median, band: middle 50%
About these figures
Every number is counted deterministically from the screenplay text of 268 professionally produced features, released 2000-2026. Figures are medians with the middle 50% stated; genre cells below n=20 are counted but not described. Benchmarks describe the cohort, not rules: the full caveats live in the methodology. These figures come from The Anatomy of a Produced Screenplay, where they sit in context.
Use this research
The PreList Industry Intelligence (2026). "Speaking Characters: Produced Feature Benchmarks." n=268 produced feature screenplays, 2000-2026. https://www.theprelist.io/research/screenplay-characters
Licensed CC BY 4.0: reuse the figures, charts and dataset with attribution and a link back to this page. Snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-08-v1; every number above traces to it.