>>Dialogue can be tough, depending on the story. Generally it's about 1 page per minute. But when writing for something such as the 80s "Moonlighting" series, where the dialogue was quick and sometimes ran over other character's lines, the 1 page per/min rule of thumb gets thrown out the window.
I had two movie screenplays being sent around in Hollywood. After the class I sent out query letters and had 17 agents ask to read. 7 offered representation and I went with John Grisham's NYC book agent for a 2 year/no way out contract. They subbed me out to Writers & Artists. But one of the agents I turned down offered to get a script to the producer of Forever Knight with my agent's permission, so I studied dialog for the show by transcribing half a dozen episodes and comparing that with the purchased scripts so that I knew how the actors preferred to say the lines. Then I got my lengths by getting max and min for the commercial break sections. Bryan mailed on Tuesday and James Parriott called him on Thursday asking about my credits. I didn't have any and he wanted a Canadian writer. But it was glorious.
Forever Knight: Good Night, Sweet Prince“so I studied dialog for the show by transcribing half a dozen episodes and comparing that with the purchased scripts so that I knew how the actors preferred to say the lines.”
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That’s really an excellent idea to get a handle on what’s needed. Writing for performance can be quite tough - there are so many variables, so it’s great to able to have some examples to serve as a reference-guideline.
Carl Reiner wrote a book & made a film about his getting into entertainment. He titled it “Enter Laughing”. In his inexperience when he first tried out for a part, he read the stage direction out loud (”enter laughing”) as his first line.
I would usually catch Forever Knight, Dark Justice and the other “Crimetime After Primetime” late eve offerings. Good watchin’.