Script Intelligence · Benchmark
How many locations does a screenplay use?
The median produced feature moves through 62 distinct places. Rooms within one building count as one place, so this is a measure of worlds, not slugline variants.
Published 13 August 2026 · n=428 produced features, 2000-2026 · Snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-09-v5 · Methodology
View data table
| Interval | Scripts |
|---|---|
| 0 to <15 | 7 |
| 15 to <30 | 35 |
| 30 to <45 | 56 |
| 45 to <60 | 85 |
| 60 to <75 | 88 |
| 75 to <90 | 42 |
| 90 to <105 | 28 |
| 105 to <120 | 27 |
| 120 to <135 | 14 |
| 135 to <150 | 10 |
| 150 to <165 | 2 |
| 165 or more | 7 |
| Total eligible scripts | 401 |
median 62; eligible n=401. Intervals include the lower bound and exclude the upper bound. The final “or more” interval, where shown, includes the grouped tail.
Unique locations, n=401 produced features; scripts above 165 grouped at the right · snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-09-v5
62%
of scenes play interior on the median script
Middle half: 53% to 72%
n=401 eligible features
60%
of time-stamped scenes play in daylight
Middle half: 45% to 72%
n=354 eligible features
Locations by genre.
Location counts use normalised base names from scene headings. Rooms sharing a recognised base location are grouped. Naming variants can still split or merge places, so these are extracted script locations, not a count of sets or shooting sites.
View data table
| Genre | Eligible n | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action | 50 | 55 | 75.5 | 110.25 |
| Sci-Fi | 31 | 57.5 | 71 | 102.5 |
| Romance | 23 | 52.5 | 69 | 73 |
| Drama | 101 | 47 | 63 | 91 |
| Thriller | 26 | 35.5 | 59.5 | 97.5 |
| Horror | 43 | 34.5 | 54 | 67.5 |
| Comedy | 61 | 44 | 53 | 73 |
| Animation/Family | 37 | 39 | 52 | 60 |
| Fantasy | 17 | Not shown | Not shown | Not shown |
| Crime | 12 | Not shown | Not shown | Not shown |
The middle half lies between the lower and upper quartiles. Results below n=20 are not shown. These ranges describe this corpus, not a target or quality score.
n per genre beside each label · snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-09-v5 · dot: median, band: middle 50%
These counts cannot establish a production budget or financing prospects. A contained story may use fewer places for deliberate reasons; the distribution provides context, not a minimum to meet.
About these figures
Structural counts are extracted deterministically from the screenplay text of 428 professionally produced features, released 2000-2026. Runtime estimates, where discussed, use a fitted model. Repeatability does not prove extraction accuracy. Each measure excludes flagged or missing measurements and reports its own n. Figures are medians with the middle 50% stated; genre cells below n=20 are counted but not described. The middle 50% describes this corpus, not a target or quality score for a draft. The full caveats live in the methodology. These figures come from The Anatomy of a Produced Screenplay, where they sit in context.
What is on your pages?
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Publication history
Source review of all 448 in-range held files corrects draft writing credits and public provenance. Nine previously included files are removed after source-identity or screenplay-extent checks, leaving 428 features. Shared cue-quality checks and 68 targeted source-page reviews withhold suspect measurement families; the No One Will Save You exception is withdrawn. Median PDF pages is 117 (n=428), scenes 124 (n=401), locations 62 (n=401), and speaking characters 42 (n=233). Page counts include cover and front matter. This is a targeted review, not a whole-corpus accuracy estimate. Prior releases remain unchanged.
437 features; Nell excluded, Memory identified as the 2023 drama, and figures use eligible samples. Median 117.5 pages (n=436).
Introduced measurement-family exclusions. Nell and Memory metadata were later corrected in v4; original histograms did not apply these exclusions.
Expanded to 438 scripts. This version predates measurement-family guards.
268 produced feature scripts.
Use this research
The PreList Industry Intelligence (2026). "Location Counts: Produced Feature Benchmarks." Cohort: 428 produced feature screenplays, 2000-2026; eligible n varies by measure. Snapshot anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-09-v5. https://www.theprelist.io/research/screenplay-locations (version: https://www.theprelist.io/research/versions/anatomy-of-a-produced-screenplay-2026-09-v5)
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-2026-09-v5; every number above traces to it.