When I first started to get involved in this industry on the other side of the camera as a filmmaker, there were a variety of rules I started to hear. A screenplay should never be over 120 pages and even better if it was only 90 pages. Then there was the runtime of films themselves that they should never be longer than 90 minutes. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about this industry is that rules are always changing, and evolving and in some cases can simply be broken.

My first screenplay, First World, was 125 pages. I was told time and time again to shorten it. Yes, I made a short film version to promote the overall project, but the screenplay itself was accepted by a variety of festivals and events—with a notable nomination for Best Screenplay at the California Independent Film Festival in 2007.

Last weekend I saw The Brutalist. With a runtime of 3 hours and 35 minutes, on the face of it, it does seem like a long time to be sitting. But like Gone With the Wind’s runtime of 3 hours and 58 minutes, each of those films had an intermission. In each film, the break was at an appropriate time as the respective stories were changing acts.

When I learned that The Brutalist’s screenplay was 168 pages, I looked at SOS United States’ 148 pages and was suddenly OK with it. It also dawned on me that First Launch’s 151 pages concluded 2024 with 22 awards and 10 official selections. Even my first completed film, Justice Is Mind, clocked in at 2 hours and 33 minutes.

My point to all these comparisons is that sometimes a story just needs time to be told and shouldn’t be constrained by arbitrary rules. The whole point of filmmaking is to immerse your audience in the world you create. To shortchange the experience or leave the audience unfulfilled, due to someone’s interpretation of certain norms isn’t what created and built this industry in the first place.

Many years ago, I was cast in a film that offered me a solid part with an excellent script. All of us were excited to participate and we gave it our all. But some “expert” got to the filmmaker and convinced them to cut the final edit to well under 90 minutes. The result was an abbreviated version that was nothing less than a cinematic disaster. To this day, I still can’t believe what I saw unfold during the premiere. Was it the lack of a cohesive story why the film was never released? I’ll never know as the filmmakers quietly took all the marketing materials down and disappeared for a while.

Having just received my latest quarterly payment for First Signal, I’m more than pleased that the film is still finding an audience since it was released in 2021. But what is clear from the accompanying report is that the industry is currently slowing down on all fronts. It’s no secret that studios have cut back production along with original content being produced by the streamers. However, streaming itself is expanding, which is great news for the independent filmmaker. The key of course is to make high-quality content with a budget-conscious production. Thankfully, the world of AI has made unthinkable processes once reserved only for the major studios, now available to the independent filmmaker.

With the democratization of the industry well underway, I see endless opportunities for creatives as the unthinkable is now possible.

Just write.