how long?

Are you writing for the masses with a supermarket 'bestseller' or are you writing to actually mean something to someone or yourself or even the whole world. There are short movies and there are long movies. Short scripts and long scripts. 120 pages is an average for one page being equal to about one minute of screen time. Two hours is a general count of how long 'most' people are going to sit still for a movie without a break. There are great short novels and monumental longer ones. So it's dependent on what you want to say and how well you do it. Personally, I have what is considered a very long script. Everyone initially freaks out over the page count. However, I was told long ago that the people who are REALLY responsible for making good movies are interested in a good story, and for the most part they respect the writer and understand that sometimes a good story takes as long as it needs. THAT is dependent on being a good story-teller. You have to respect your audience and be economical as a screenwriter, yes. But this doesn't mean you have to break into a sweat over the page count. I have stood by the advice that was given to me. I was very conscious of being both descriptive AND economical while I was writing this particular script. It still became a long script. And: it gets read. By very prominent people. Who are true to form to the advice and information that was given to me when I was starting out. Just: make sure it's a good story. Tell it well. One of these prominent people became a fan, and is very responsible for getting it around. He nearly wheezed and fell out of his chair when he saw the size of this script, but I kept on talking...until he said, "What the hell. They made WAR AND PEACE didn't they?!" cheers--Hilary Comments?