# Playwriting 101 - How Many Pages is a 1 hr Play? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playwriting-101-how-many-pages-is-a-1-hr-play/381370 "2006-11-22T01:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playwriting-101-how-many-pages-is-a-1-hr-play/381370/1 "2006-11-22T01:16:35Z")
I’m toying with the idea of tossing my hat in the ring for a local fringe festival lottery (to potentially get a play produced). For those of you unfamiliar with fringe festivals, in essence they get together a bunch of playwrites and provide venues, tech-crew & promotion for a one or two week run. The public can see the plays for relitively little money. Much More Info [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_festival) So while I have a passion for theatre, I have little to no experience as a playwrite. I’m curious as to what sort of time comitment would be involved in just the writing aspect of a 1-hour script. How many pages of content might that be? I’m sooo over my head on this project but it really sounds worth a try. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playwriting-101-how-many-pages-is-a-1-hr-play/381370/2 "2006-11-22T02:08:11Z")
I dunno much about stage plays, but screenplays in proper format average about one page per minute. So if you were writing a movie or TV show you’d be looking at roughly 60 pages. ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playwriting-101-how-many-pages-is-a-1-hr-play/381370/3 "2006-11-22T04:04:03Z")
thats a useful start, thanks! I can’t imagine any reason why a stage page would be any more or less dense than a tv-page, technical directions aside. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playwriting-101-how-many-pages-is-a-1-hr-play/381370/4 "2006-11-22T04:17:04Z")
[QUOTE=xiix] thats a useful start, thanks! I can’t imagine any reason why a stage page would be any more or less dense than a tv-page, technical directions aside. [/QUOTE] Except that an hour TV show is only about 45-50 minutes of actual show to account for commercials. Then there’s the time…wait…_dense_ nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playwriting-101-how-many-pages-is-a-1-hr-play/381370/5 "2006-11-22T04:36:28Z")
Hey a side question but somewhat related: Are there terms for the two styles of playwriting: a) The kind where stage directions, descriptions, actions etc. are written explicitly inbetween dialogue as such. (Most screenplays, Hamlet, etc.) b) The kind that a presented as a very dialogue-heavy piece of prose or poetry - as in, the stage directions and character descriptions are built into descriptions of actions and setting that are done in the same tone and form as the dialogue, but ar e not directly performed. (Can’t think of any off the top of my head by Death of a Salesman and Waiting for Godot come pretty close) Of course there are things that are somewhere in between, most things are, in fact, but some tend to lean heavily one way or another. So, any terms? ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playwriting-101-how-many-pages-is-a-1-hr-play/381370/6 "2006-11-22T05:23:47Z")
Joey P: What about the Sopranos? I think those episodes are 60 minutes. I should google for a couple old plays that are on the Gutenburg project and see how long they are. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playwriting-101-how-many-pages-is-a-1-hr-play/381370/7 "2006-11-22T13:40:23Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] Except that an hour TV show is only about 45-50 minutes of actual show to account for commercials. Then there’s the time…wait…_dense_ nevermind. [/QUOTE] Right, and a script for a network TV show (with commercials) is generally about 45 pages long. On the other hand, something like _Dexter_ or _The Sopranos_ which usually fills the whole hour will have a longer script.