The Longer Running Times

[Michael]

I’m wondering, why is it that after three live action spin-offs in this current era of Trek shows they have finally decided to take advantage of the fact that episodes of streaming shows can be longer than the broadcast standard 45-ish minutes and made the episodes of Starfleet Academy clocking in around 60+ minutes. It becomes especially jarring when you remember that some episodes of Discovery clocked in around only 30-ish minutes.

Mind you, I’m not complaining, as I enjoy getting more Trek every week. I’m just wondering what about this show is different that made them decide to go for the full hour. Showrunner Noga Landau said in the Collider interview the other day that there are virtually no deleted scenes for the show and that they put everything they film in the finished episodes. Does that perhaps mean the other shows’ episodes could have been longer as well but that they were more aggressive in cutting the fat in the editing?

For those who are knowledgable about these things: Is there a substantial difference in writing a script for a 60+ minutes show versus writing one for only 40+ minutes of runtime? Is that something a writer needs to be aware of when they write their script?

Also, interestingly, I don’t think I would necessarily say I even notice the extended runtime when watching the episodes. Episode three was the first where I thought a tighter edit could have helped to make the episode better.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I think the general rule of thumb is approximately one page of script to one minute of screen time.

 

[bdub76]

A lot of the shows I have been watching that have come out recently are running up to an hour or more in length. Check out Welcome to Derry as an example. I see this with shows that are around 8 episodes or less.

In the past, shows have been around 42-48 minutes long with the rest of the time available for ads. This is why I pay for streaming without ads, especially with shows that are or have aired on television.

It's also bad for sitcoms. I'm rewatching Who's the Boss, and the show's episodes are about 22 minutes for a half hour show. That's 8 minutes of ads.

Watching TV without ads is why I cut the cord to begin with back in 2013.

 

[firehawk12]

I’m wondering, why is it that after three live action spin-offs in this current era of Trek shows they have finally decided to take advantage of the fact that episodes of streaming shows can be longer than the broadcast standard 45-ish minutes and made the episodes of Starfleet Academy clocking in around 60+ minutes. It becomes especially jarring when you remember that some episodes of Discovery clocked in around only 30-ish minutes.

Mind you, I’m not complaining, as I enjoy getting more Trek every week. I’m just wondering what about this show is different that made them decide to go for the full hour. Showrunner Noga Landau said in the Collider interview the other day that there are virtually no deleted scenes for the show and that they put everything they film in the finished episodes. Does that perhaps mean the other shows’ episodes could have been longer as well but that they were more aggressive in cutting the fat in the editing?

For those who are knowledgable about these things: Is there a substantial difference in writing a script for a 60+ minutes show versus writing one for only 40+ minutes of runtime? Is that something a writer needs to be aware of when they write their script?

Also, interestingly, I don’t think I would necessarily say I even notice the extended runtime when watching the episodes. Episode three was the first where I thought a tighter edit could have helped to make the episode better.

Measure of a Man had a longer cut that they put together on the blurays, but most of the TNG episodes have outtakes and cut material that you can see on the discs. Episodes back then were around 50 minutes, but they still had to trim.

Not having to be cut for TV allows them to be longer - although funny enough, Star Trek airs on TV in Canada so someone somewhere is trying to fit ads into these new shows that run long.