How to Format a Phone Call in a Screenplay

How to format a phone call in a screenplay comes down to one question: what does the audience see and hear? If only one side of the call is heard, it is written one way. If both voices are heard but only one character is on screen, it is written another way. If the film cuts between both ends, it needs an intercut.

This guide covers all three methods with example pages, the V.O. versus O.S. question that splits working writers, and the small cases that trip people up: unknown callers, voicemail, speakerphone and video calls.

Start with what the audience experiences

A phone call is not a formatting problem first. It is a staging decision. The format follows from three choices:

• Do we hear the other person? If not, the audience fills the silence with guesses.
• Do we see the other person? If not, the audience stays trapped with one character.
• Do both reactions matter? If yes, the film needs to cut between them.

Answer those and the method picks itself. The rules below are the same in every screenwriting program, so the software you use does not change any of it.

Method 1: only one side is heard

We stay with one character and never hear the voice on the line. Write the scene as normal dialogue. A parenthetical such as (into phone) can make it clear at the start, and the pauses show the reader where the other person is talking.

INT. MARA'S KITCHEN - NIGHT

Mara dials. Waits. Someone picks up.

                    MARA
                (into phone)
          It's me. Don't hang up.
                (listens)
          I know what time it is.

She closes her eyes.

                    MARA (CONT'D)
          Then tell him I called.

Two cautions. Once the call is established, you do not need (into phone) on every line. And you do not need a (beat) or (listens) every time the other person speaks. Script Reader Pro makes the point that this wastes space and dictates pauses to the actor. Use one only where the silence changes the meaning of the next line.

This method suits short calls, and calls where the missing half is the point. The reader has to work out what is being said on the other end, and that work keeps them leaning in.

Method 2: both sides heard, one side seen

Here we hear both voices but stay in one location. The character on screen gets normal dialogue. The voice on the line gets a character extension next to the name.

INT. MARA'S KITCHEN - NIGHT

Mara presses the phone to her ear.

                    MARA
          Is he there?

                    DANNY (V.O.)
          He left an hour ago. Took the car.

                    MARA
          Which way?

                    DANNY (V.O.)
          Mara. Go to bed.

V.O. or O.S.?

This is the question that splits writers. Most formatting guides, including Final Draft’s own blog and Script Reader Pro, use (V.O.) for the voice on the phone, because the speaker is not physically in the scene. O.S. means off screen: the character is in the location, just out of frame, like someone shouting from the next room.

Not everyone agrees. Screenwriter John August wrote on his blog in 2005 that he would use O.S., meaning off screen, for a character heard on the phone from another location. Final Draft also shows a common extra layer: (V.O.) on the name plus a (from the phone) parenthetical, so no one confuses the caller with a narrator.

The practical rule: pick one convention and use it for every call in the script. A reader forgives a choice. Switching between them halfway through looks like a mistake.

Films built on this method

Some of the tensest phone scenes in cinema keep the caller off screen. In the opening of Scream (1996), written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven, we stay with Casey, played by Drew Barrymore, while a voice on the line turns a casual chat about horror films into a threat. We never see who is calling. The voice, performed by Roger L. Jackson, is all the audience gets.

Phone Booth (2002), written by Larry Cohen and directed by Joel Schumacher, stretches the same idea across a whole film: a publicist, played by Colin Farrell, answers a ringing booth and learns a hidden sniper is watching him. The voice of the Caller belongs to Kiefer Sutherland. Locke (2013), written and directed by Steven Knight, goes further. Tom Hardy is the only actor on screen. Every other character is heard over the car’s speakerphone during a single drive from Birmingham to London.

The Danish film The Guilty (2018), directed by Gustav Möller and co-written with Emil Nygaard Albertsen, unfolds entirely inside an emergency call center. Each of these films proves the same thing: when the audience cannot see the other end, the voice becomes the threat, the help or the mystery.

Method 3: the intercut

When both reactions matter, cut between both ends of the call. Writing a new scene heading every time the camera switches would bury the dialogue, so screenwriters use INTERCUT. Establish each location once, then add the intercut line and write the conversation as if both people were in the same room.

INT. MARA'S KITCHEN - NIGHT

Mara dials, the phone wedged against her shoulder.

INT. BUS DEPOT OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

DANNY (20s) answers on the first ring, a half-eaten
sandwich in his other hand.

INTERCUT - PHONE CONVERSATION

                    DANNY
          Depot.

                    MARA
          Did he come back?

Danny looks out at the empty bays.

                    DANNY
          No. But his bag's still here.

Mara sits down slowly.

Notice what disappears: the (V.O.) extensions. Both characters are now on screen, so both speak normally. Action lines can belong to either location, and the reader follows because each line names who is doing what.

Writers use a few accepted versions of the intercut line, such as INTERCUT – PHONE CONVERSATION, INTERCUT WITH: or a heading that names both places, such as INTERCUT – MARA’S KITCHEN / BUS DEPOT OFFICE. Dave Trottier, writing as Dr. Format for Script Magazine, gives one test for all of them: use the intercut only if the reader will not get confused.

Split screen

A split screen shows both callers at the same time. Pillow Talk (1959), starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson as two strangers who share a party line, is known for its split-screen phone conversations, and its screenplay won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. On the page, write SPLIT SCREEN only when the image itself is the idea. Used as a habit, it reads like the writer directing the film.

The small cases that trip writers up

• Dialing and ringing. Put them in the action line. “The phone rings. And rings.” is enough. There is no need to count rings unless the count matters.
• Unknown callers. If the audience does not know who is calling, neither does the character cue. Use a label such as MALE VOICE (V.O.) or CALLER (V.O.) until the story reveals the name.
• Voicemail and answering machines. Treat the recorded voice as (V.O.). A parenthetical such as (on voicemail) clears up any doubt.
• Speakerphone and car audio. The same (V.O.), with (from the speakers) if the source matters to the scene.
• Video calls. Format them like a phone call. If we see the other person on a laptop or phone screen, say so in the action line, and use (from the screen) if needed.
• Text messages. These follow different rules, because the audience reads them instead of hearing them. They need their own approach.
• Ending the call. “She hangs up.” is all it takes. The next scene heading closes the intercut. Some scripts add END INTERCUT, but it is not required.

Which method should you choose?

• Short call, information only: Method 1. Keep it fast.
• Tension built on what we cannot see: Method 2. Keep the camera with one character.
• Both characters change during the call: Method 3. The intercut lets the reader watch both faces.
• Both images at once are the point: split screen, used once and on purpose.

A useful check: read the call aloud and ask whose reaction you would cut to. If the answer is always the same character, you do not need an intercut. Like any other dialogue, a phone call still needs a want on each end of the line. If nobody wants anything from the call, it is exposition with a ringtone.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use V.O. or O.S. for a phone call?
Most guides recommend (V.O.), because the caller is not in the scene. Some professional writers use (O.S.). Either is understood. What matters is using the same one every time.

Do I need a new scene heading every time an intercut switches location?
No. That is the reason the intercut exists. Establish both locations, add the INTERCUT line, then write the conversation straight through.

Do I write (into phone) on every line?
No. Once the reader knows the character is on the phone, the parenthetical has done its job.

How do I end an intercut phone call?
Show the call ending in an action line, such as “Danny hangs up.” The next scene heading takes the story elsewhere. END INTERCUT is optional.

Go deeper

Phone calls build on the basics of the page. If any of the elements above felt unfamiliar, start with How to Format a Screenplay, then read How to Write Dialogue in a Screenplay, because a phone call is dialogue with one face missing. Chapter 5 of The Screenwriting Series, Formatting a Screenplay, covers screenplay format in full.

Which method do you reach for first when you write a call? Tell us in the comments.