Script Intelligence · Benchmark
How long is a screenplay?
The median produced feature runs 118 pages, and half of the cohort lands between 106 and 133. The hundred-and-twenty-page rule of thumb sits above the measured middle.
Published 12 August 2026 · n=268 produced features, 2000-2026 · Snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-08-v1 · Methodology
Most produced features land between 106 and 133 pages.
Page count, n=268 produced features · snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-08-v1
118pages
The median produced feature screenplay
Middle half: 106 to 133 pages
117min
Estimated runtime of the median script
Fitted from its dialogue and action mix, not a flat page a minute
Length by genre.
The spread between genres is smaller than most advice implies, and the ordering is the expected one: talk-heavy genres run long, animation runs short.
Median page count by genre.
n per genre beside each label · snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-08-v1 · dot: median, band: middle 50%
How to read this against your script.
Inside the middle band, length will not be the thing a reader notices. Outside it, be outside it on purpose: a 150-page draft is not wrong, but it is longer than roughly nine in ten produced features, and that is worth knowing before a reader points it out.
The old page-a-minute arithmetic also runs short of the truth: dialogue plays faster than action on screen, which is why the median script here estimates at 117 minutes rather than its raw page count.
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). "Screenplay Length: Produced Feature Benchmarks." n=268 produced feature screenplays, 2000-2026. https://www.theprelist.io/research/screenplay-length
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.