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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42461
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42461
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Screenplays have less dialogue than you think!**

I too used to think that a screenplay was all about the dialogue. But when I researched the medium, I discovered that dialogue is just a part of the whole. A very important part, but not as many overall minutes as we might imagine.

My favorite screenwriting resource is [Bang2Write](http://www.bang2write.com/?s=dialogue). They have multiple articles arguing this point. That dialogue shouldn't take too much time and that showing action is even more important.

Sure, movies can run from one extreme to another: From [My Dinner with Andre](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082783/) to [2001: A Space Odyssey](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/?ref_=nv_sr_1). Your standard script is a balance of action and talk.

I'm not finding stats for a good range of minutes of dialogue in a movie, but some suggest that a script be [no more than 1/3 dialogue](https://forum.tarantino.info/t/ratio-of-action-description-to-dialogue/2145). But note that this does not mean 1/3 of the time. While the rule is 1 page of script equals 1 minute of movie, the reality is that a [page of dialogue takes much less than a minute](https://johnaugust.com/2006/how-accurate-is-the-page-per-minute-rule) and a page of action can take a lot more.

As for what to do with that dialogue. Read it out loud. Grab some friends and read it together, each of you taking a part. What sounds good on a printed page may be awful in a movie. Frankly, I think all writers should read their work out loud as part of the editing process. But what's useful for book writers is essential for scriptwriters.

Original score: 4