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 estimated duration written during import and the total duration shown in statistics use the same ratio, 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; imported scene duration and statistical totals use the same ratio.
There is only one conversion formula
During script import, scene length is first represented as eighths, and the eighth count is multiplied by 7.5 to write the estimated seconds. The statistics side does 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
When a length attribute contains a slash-separated fraction, the reader takes the numerator and does not use the denominator. Fractions written by SlateX use a denominator of 8, so that specific round trip can return to the original eighth count; with a fraction string this software did not write, the same numerator would be treated directly as an eighth count and the result would no longer carry the original meaning.
We have not verified whether third-party script software writes non-eighth fractions, so we do not make that claim. 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 reader does not use 0; it uses 1/8 page. On the export side, if a scene's eighth count is less than or equal to 0, the entire length attribute is omitted. 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 the rule for the length attribute, and it should not be generalized to unrelated fields.
Two page displays do not mean two values
The same eighth count can appear in two display shapes. One view separates whole pages from remaining eighths, such as showing a total as “2 pages plus 4/8”; another view shows the total eighth count directly, such as 20/8. The display conventions differ, but the underlying value is still the same total number of eighths.
To compare scene length, reduce both displays to the same eighth count first. Treating the two strings as independent values would mistake a presentation difference for a data difference.
Hard boundary: whole-scene length is not a shooting schedule
This quantity reaches only as far as “how long is the whole scene.” It carries no offset within a page and cannot locate a specific dialogue or action line, so the converted seconds cannot place you at a particular script line.
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 reader uses 1/8 page and therefore produces the corresponding converted duration.
Does a non-eighth fraction use its original denominator?
No. The current reader takes the numerator and does not read the denominator; we have not verified whether third-party script software writes such fractions, so we do not make that claim.
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.
Axiom One LLC — SlateX. Figures current as of 24 September 2026.