pages coming up short?

[JulianW]

I've been writing a horror script for the last month or so and it is coming along very quickly. I set it out to be about 90 pages because it's low budget and trashy. Trouble is it looks like it's going to come in at about 80 pages. And even that's optimistic. Maybe not as much of a problem with low budget horror. But still I think this is shorter than I'm happy with. I'm trying to figure out how to flesh it out without weighing it down. Anyone else have these problems? I think it's because I rushed into it too quickly from first spark. This is something I should of realized at the beginning.

[stevenNZWG]

The first thing to check if you feel you have rushed in too quick is: have you introduced the characters well enough for the audience to connect with them. Horror works best when the viewer cares what happens to the characters. If the characters and the story are strong then it wont matter what the budget is.

And an hour twenty is fine for a low budget horror if it still scares.

[dfmamea]

what program are you using?  are you trying to keep paragraphs to a four-line maximum?  are widows/orphans dealt with ruthlessly?  have readers hefted it, read it, and said, mm, 's a bit light, innit?

and belated congratulations on making the quarters at Zoetrope.

[JulianW]

What are widows and orphans? I like 6 line paragraphs. Anything else looks funny to me. Isn't six the standard? Some people i've seen are using one line. Crazy. I'm in final draft. No ones read the script because it's not finished. My first and third acts are fine, it's all in the middle where its short. My subplot is quite thin in the middle and I was surprised to see how quick my 'main plot' is in the middle. Thats the biggest problem I think. Maybe I will get a lighting bolt of creativity to the brain and all problems will be solved. I was thinking if I had another subplot running through the script then I could introduce another couple characters to get their heads pulled off.

[dfmamea]

a widow or orphan is one line of a paragraph that's 'left behind' at the bottom or top of a page.  i'm sure Final Draft takes care of these for you.

there's no standard for maximum number of lines per paragraph.  it's a personal choice; i prefer four or less.

if this is your first draft, i suggest not worrying about length right now.  finish it then review what you've got.  if it's still shorter than you'd like, maybe the next draft will provide some opportunities for more character or plot development, or extra head-ripping set-pieces. 

[JulianW]

Yes, it's first draft. I'm just going to stop worry about it. I found my last script got a bit longer after second draft, I'm sure this one will too. Thanks.