I've NEVER written a script before... so before I write wayyyyy too much.. I would appreciate a more expereienced opinion..

I have (only) 7 pages done. I would say (once added up) about 3 pages is dialogue and the other 4 are 'action'.. is it too little dialogue? and, is it okay to have (multiple) entire scenes that may have NO dialogue (or very little, maybe a couple of lines...)?

Thanks a lot!!

(I'm assuming you're talking about a screenplay, here.)

Every script is going to be different. If you haven't already, I'd suggest bouncing over to www.script-o-rama.com and look at some of the film scripts (not the transcripts) and see if they look similar to what you're doing.

Your genre is going to determine how much of each element you have in your script. Something more character based is going to have more dialogue, where more plot driven scripts will have more action.

It's not uncommon to have a series of scenes that are all action, but you may want to consider if any dialogue will enhance those scenes.

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karynbensinger.com

I'm sure it's fine if those scenes are serving your story! From what I've seen/read, most screenwriters have the problem of putting in too much dialogue, so I'd venture to say that you're ahead of the game!

I read somewhere (I think in Syd Field's Screenplay) that Alfred Hitchcock advocated writing the entire screenplay without dialogue first and then going back and adding in just enough dialogue to serve the story.

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"Words. Words. They're all we have to go on."
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

Thanks to both of you! LOL. I certainly like to think of myself as ahead of the game ;)

Although, this leads me to another question...

one page = one minute... I can kind of understand how that would work if you had a fairly even action/dialogue split... Because, at least to me, a page of dialogue will go a lot faster than an average page of action... and I do seem to be writing heavily on the action side...

For example (this is about half a page in celtx of my script):

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INT. MORGUE - NIGHT

Pitch blackness is suddenly partially illuminated by a small light. The light plays over the various instruments in the room before landing on the drawers used to hold the bodies.

A vague figure emerges, bending a little to read the names on the outside of the drawers. The light passes over several names before resting on 'John Doe'. The figure pulls out the drawer and removes the sheet from the face. The light plays over the face of 'John Doe'. A small sigh escapes from the figure as he closes the drawer.

Once again, the light plays over several names before resting on another 'John Doe'. The figure pulls out the drawer and removes the sheet form the face. The small beam of light plays over the face of this 'John Doe'. The figure drops the sheet back over John Doe, then hefts John Doe over his shoulder, closes the drawer and slips back into the shadows.
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To me, this should take longer than half a minute (as it's half a page).. or even longer than a minute..

SSsssiiiiggghhhh.... The writing seems to be going okay... BUT... to many formatting worries... LOL!

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Day: 1/30
Pages: 7/100
Insanity Level: 4/10 (normal)

What I do is try to use line breaks as pacing. So, instead of

A vague figure emerges, bending a little to read the names on the outside of the drawers. The light passes over several names before resting on 'John Doe'. The figure pulls out the drawer and removes the sheet from the face. The light plays over the face of 'John Doe'. A small sigh escapes from the figure as he closes the drawer.

I would do something like:

A vague figure emerges.

The figure bends a little to read the names on the outside of the drawers. The light passes over several names before resting on 'John Doe'.

He pulls out the drawer and removes the sheet from the face.

The light plays over the face of 'John Doe' and rests there a moment.

A small sigh escapes from the figure. He closes the drawer.

If you do this, you can control the pace of things a little better - it takes more space on a page to more accurately indicate more space on the screen. It may require that you think/write a little differently though.

Right now, I don't think it's going to be all that productive to worry about hitting the one page/one minute thing. From the small excerpt you provided, your action paragraphs are actually a lot thinner than you're expecting.

"Pitch blackness is suddenly partially illuminated by a small light. The light plays over the various instruments in the room before landing on the drawers used to hold the bodies."

...can also be written as:

"Pitch black. Suddenly pierced by a pen light.

It roves over a steel table, tray of scalpels and a drill. Stops on the storage drawers."

In your example, the light can travel all over the room or only hit one object before reaching its goal. Both ways need a different amount of screen time.

Hitting the one page/one minute thing is more in how you say something than what you say.

"She laughs."
or
"She laughs like she's just been freed from the prison of her mind for the final time."

...will take up the exact same amount of time on the screen, but one is obviously longer on the page. And it's something that can be easily taken care of in a rewrite until you have the instincts to nail it the first time through.

Does any of this make sense?

In my opinion it's not important enough of an aspect to let it bog you down when you have so little time to finish the first draft. So write away and worry about the minutiae later.

@-->---
Taffy and Daisy Go To K-Mart - Frenzy '07 winner
Secret Bodyguard - NaNoWriMo '07 winner
Marital Bliss - Frenzy '08 Soon to be winner

If you're concerned about how long something might take (not that you really need to be at this stage) try walking it through.

I think your example in the morgue is c45 seconds of screen time. Spaced out a little on the page, separating some of the actions from one another, that seems about right.
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SF08: Gethsemane - Thriller
SF08: Shooting - Comedy

Good luck to you all.