# How many lines of dialog in a typical feature film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lines-of-dialog-in-a-typical-feature-film/398784 "2007-04-04T22:53:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lines-of-dialog-in-a-typical-feature-film/398784/1 "2007-04-04T22:53:24Z")
Just a ballpark figure will be fine. 500? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lines-of-dialog-in-a-typical-feature-film/398784/2 "2007-04-05T00:22:12Z")
They say 1 page of a screenplay usually translates into 1 minute of screentime. If you want to take a general stab at it (purely unscientifically), find a few different screenplay pages (you can dig them up on the internet), count the number of lines on a random page, average that out and do the math from there. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lines-of-dialog-in-a-typical-feature-film/398784/3 "2007-04-05T00:47:53Z")
There are lots of scripts out there. [Here are some from rather typical movies.](http://corky.net/scripts/) I was going to try to do some counting via computer but not everything is real dialogue and the definition of a line is up for debate. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lines-of-dialog-in-a-typical-feature-film/398784/4 "2007-04-05T03:25:17Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] They say 1 page of a screenplay usually translates into 1 minute of screentime. If you want to take a general stab at it (purely unscientifically), find a few different screenplay pages (you can dig them up on the internet), count the number of lines on a random page, average that out and do the math from there. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that’s where I got the 500 number. I was figuring about 5 lines per page in a typical 100 page script. I was hoping for a more official number from a movie buff or someone in the biz. I’m working with a game developer who (I think) is going overboard in the dialog department and I wanted to compare what they’re proposing with the amount of writing that goes into a typical screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lines-of-dialog-in-a-typical-feature-film/398784/5 "2007-04-05T07:13:45Z")
I work in subtitling. I’d say the average feature film has between 900 and 1400 subtitles. This doesn’t directly translate into 900-1400 sentences of dialogue, since some sentences might be too long for a single subtitle and sentences from two speakers might share a subtitle. For ballpark figure, I’d say about 1100. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lines-of-dialog-in-a-typical-feature-film/398784/6 "2007-04-05T08:04:41Z")
What are we talking about when we say a “line?” A single dialogue element (which can vary from one word to a ginourmous speech) or a sentence, or an actual line on the page? Let’s say the first. We’ll work with the notion that really long speeches and single-words average out to a “line.” In that case, screenplays I read usually have around 1000 dialogue elements total. On average, between 7 and 9 dialogue elements per page. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lines-of-dialog-in-a-typical-feature-film/398784/7 "2007-04-05T16:41:42Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] What are we talking about when we say a “line?” A single dialogue element (which can vary from one word to a ginourmous speech) or a sentence, or an actual line on the page? [/QUOTE] The first. That’s how the developer in question is counting. Apples to apples. Thanks, guys. From what **AudreyK** and \*\*friedo \*\* are saying 1000 lines is about the right order of magnitude.