Reading eighths — 3/8, 2 3/8, and what the estimate is not
The page tells you the length. Not the shoot.
- A scene's length is written in eighths of a page. SlateX displays it the way the script page is read:
3/8,2 3/8. - Under it, the app also shows a derived time estimate — the eighths converted at a fixed rate so you can answer "roughly how long" without doing arithmetic on your knees in the rain.
- Two things this estimate is not:
- it is not a measurement of what you actually shot;
- it does not change because a take ran long.
- What you shot is a different column and it comes from your own recording — that is where the real duration lives.
Print it. The distinction between "scripted eighths" and "what we got" is the sentence that saves the evening.
Full detail: How Script Eighths Work—and What They Do Not Tell You.