What are the standard screenplay margins?

Standard screenplay margins are 1 inch top and bottom, 1 inch on the right, and 1.5 inches on the left (the extra left margin leaves room for binding). Dialogue and character cues have their own tighter indents within that.

How many pages should a screenplay be?

A feature screenplay is typically 90 to 120 pages, since one properly formatted page runs roughly one minute of screen time. Comedies trend shorter (around 90) and dramas can run longer. A TV hour drama is usually 45 to 60 pages; a half-hour comedy around 22 to 35.

Why is one page equal to one minute?

The one-page-one-minute rule works because the standard combination of 12-point Courier, fixed margins, and screenplay element indents produces a consistent amount of content per page that, on average, plays out in about a minute of screen time.

Screenplay Margins and Page Counts: The Exact Industry Standards

The exact screenplay margins, font, and page-count rules the industry expects. Why one page equals one minute, and how to hit the right length for your format.

Screenplay margins look arbitrary until you realize they're the reason the whole industry can estimate a film's runtime just by weighing the script. Get the page geometry right and "one page per minute" holds; get it wrong and your 100-page script might really be 80 minutes or 130. Here are the exact standards.

The margins

Edge	Margin
Top	1 inch
Bottom	~1 inch
Right	1 inch
Left	1.5 inches

The wider left margin is the one people forget. It exists so the physical script can be bound with brads without the punch holes eating into the text.

Within those page margins, individual elements have their own indents:

Dialogue — roughly 2.5" from the left.
Character cue — roughly 3.7" from the left.
Parenthetical — between the two.
Action and scene headings — full width at the 1.5" left margin.

The font

12-point Courier (or a Courier variant like Courier Prime). It's non-negotiable, and not for looks — Courier is fixed-width, so every character takes the same horizontal space. That consistency is what makes page count a reliable proxy for runtime. See more in the screenplay format guide.

The one-page-one-minute rule

Because the font, margins, and element indents are standardized, a properly formatted page runs about one minute of screen time. That's why length targets are stated in pages:

Format	Typical page count
Feature film	90–120
Comedy feature	~90–100
Drama feature	~100–120
TV hour drama	45–60
TV half-hour comedy	22–35

Come in far outside your format's range and readers assume a problem before they read a word — a 150-page spec feature reads as undisciplined; a 70-page one reads as underwritten.

Don't set this by hand

Every number above is applied automatically by real screenwriting software. You should never be measuring margins or counting minutes manually — the tool enforces the geometry so your page count means what the industry expects it to mean.

That's baseline in Scriptease: correct margins, Courier, and element indents out of the box, with an accurate page count as you write. Your job is the story; the geometry is handled.