Script timing calculator: how long will the film run?

By James Jones, founder of Granary Digital · Updated 5 November 2026

A script page is a rough guide to screen time. Stephen Follows, who looked at 2,520 US Letter scripts, found a page runs about 55 seconds on screen, and the spread around that average is wide. Timing each scene by its dialogue and action gets you much closer.

What the calculator does

Paste the spoken words of a scene into the box. The calculator times each paragraph at the pace you choose (Slow 120, Conversational 130, Brisk 150 or your own) and keeps a running total. Put // on its own where you want a one-second break, and each blank line adds half a second after the paragraph. A separate box takes the seconds of action and silence that are not in the words. If you enter the number of script pages, it compares your total with the page rule of about 55 seconds a page. Paste spoken words only, because every word in the box is timed.

Use the calculator scene by scene rather than on the whole script at once, so the slow scenes show up in the total and you can see where the length comes from.

How to time a scene by hand

1. Count the dialogue words in the scene. Count the spoken words only, not character names, scene headings or stage directions.
2. Divide by the pace. Plus AI gives 120 to 150 words a minute for conversational speeches and 100 to 150 for presentations, both for American speakers. Use 130 as a fair starting point for conversation, then test it.
3. Read the action aloud at the speed it would play on screen, and time it.
4. Add the dialogue time and the action time. Then add a margin for pauses, reactions and silence, which often take longer than the words.
5. Add up all the scenes and compare the total with the page count. Follows suggests treating the page rule as give or take 20 per cent, because genre, era and paper size all move it, so a gap inside that range is normal.

A worked example

A scene has 260 words of dialogue and 40 seconds of action. At 130 words a minute, the dialogue takes two minutes. Enter 40 in the action box and the calculator gives 2:40 before any breaks are added.

Say the scene fills two and a half pages. At 55 seconds a page that is about 2 minutes 17 seconds, which is within 20 per cent of the 2 minutes 40 seconds from the word count, so the two methods agree. Use the word-count figure for planning and the page rule as a sense check.

Common mistakes

• Timing dialogue at reading speed, which is quicker than a performed line.
• Counting character names and scene headings as dialogue.
• Leaving out pauses and reactions, which often add more than the words do.
• Treating the total as the final length. The edit decides the final cut.
• Using one pace for every genre. The ratio of pages to minutes varies with genre, so a comedy and a war film will not time out the same way.

For more on turning words into time, read how many words fit in 30 seconds. The treatment template and the AV script template are the places to set the story and the timing before the script is locked.

Sources

• Stephen Follows, Does one page of a screenplay really equal one minute of screen time?, read 5 November 2026
• Plus AI, Finding your speaking rate: words per minute for speeches and presentations, read 5 November 2026

Related guides

• Film treatment template: what to put in it
• AV script template (two-column)
• Pitch deck structure for short films
• All guides and tools