How Page Count Converts to Runtime—and Where the Formula Stops
SlateX converts script length with a narrow rule: one eighth of a page is 7.5 seconds, so one full page is 60 seconds. The scene keeps eighths rather than seconds; the per-scene reading and the project total use the same conversion, not two different formulas. The number can describe the approximate text length of a whole scene, but it does not provide an offset within the page and it does not represent a shooting schedule.
One script eighth converts to 7.5 seconds; the per-scene reading and the statistical total use the same conversion.
There is only one conversion formula
During script import, scene length is recorded as eighths, and the estimated seconds are produced by multiplying the eighth count by 7.5. Statistics do the same calculation after adding the eighths across scenes. Eight eighths therefore make one full page and convert to 60 seconds; the two calculations differ in scope, not in formula.
That is why How Script Eighths Work—and What They Do Not Tell You explains the eighth itself, while this page focuses on what happens after an eighth count is converted to time. The formula adds no judgment about dialogue, action, or scene complexity; it only converts the existing page-length value into seconds.
Fraction strings are read by numerator only
A slash-separated page-length fraction is read as a count of eighths; the denominator does not take part in the conversion. SlateX writes a denominator of 8, so such a file can round-trip to the original eighth count; with a non-eighth fraction, the numerator is treated directly as an eighth count and the result no longer carries the original meaning.
No claim is made about what other script software writes. A receiver should check the actual length string in the script exchange file instead of assuming that any denominator will be read.
A missing length can come back as 1/8 page
When no length information exists at all, the value is not 0; it becomes 1/8 page. When a script exchange file is written, a scene with no writable length—an eighth count of 0 or no value—gets no length attribute at all. A scene with no writable length can therefore go out with no length attribute and come back as 1/8 page.
This is a narrower instance of the exchange boundary described in What FDX Exchanges—and What It Does Not Carry: a missing value does not have to keep the same shape across writing and reading. What is established here is how the length attribute is written and read, and it should not be generalized to unrelated fields.
Hard boundary: whole-scene length is not a shooting schedule
This quantity reaches only as far as “how long is the whole scene.” It provides no position within a page and cannot locate a specific dialogue or action line, so the converted seconds cannot place you at a particular script line.
The app does show a duration reading derived from this conversion; that reading expresses text scale. Treating those seconds as “shooting progress” is an extrapolation. Dialogue lines and action lines on the same page can take very different amounts of time to shoot, and this conversion does not read those differences; it represents text scale, not scheduling.
Page count converted to seconds expresses text scale only; it does not provide within-page location or a shooting schedule.
FAQ
Why does one full page equal 60 seconds here?
A page is represented as eight eighths, and each eighth converts to 7.5 seconds, so the same formula yields 60 seconds. This is a mathematical conversion, not a measurement of actual shooting time.
Does missing length information become 0 seconds?
No. When length information is completely absent, the value becomes 1/8 page and therefore produces the corresponding converted duration.
Does a non-eighth fraction use its original denominator?
No. A fraction that is not in eighths has to be checked against that file, scene by scene.
Can this duration be used as a shooting schedule?
It should not be treated as a scheduling basis. It only expresses the scale produced by the page-length conversion, and the receiver should verify the separate information needed for scheduling.
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