The Ultimate Screenplay Format Reference

Overlapping Dialog

Occasionally you may want to have two or more characters speak at the same time. The Screenwriter’s Bible describes four ways for handling that situation:
 

                     JACK AND HELEN
         What?
 

To make it crystal clear:
 

                     JACK AND HELEN
               (simultaneously)
         What?
 

A little less space efficient:
 

                     JACK
         What?

                     HELEN
               (overlapping)
         What?
 

And finally:
 

               JACK                        HELEN
         What?                      What?
 

The latter two options also work well when the two characters don’t say the same thing:
 

               JACK                      HELEN
         Frank, you must be out   Get out of here.
         out of your mind.                 
 

Computer Conversations

One might think that conversations by email or in chat rooms should be considered dialog, but they aren’t. Only spoken words should appear as dialog.

If words of a conversation appear on a computer screen then the Screenwriter’s Bible suggests creating a derivative of the insert, like ON THE MONITOR.

Here an example:
 

Frank’s eyes are fixed on the monitor.

ON THE MONITOR

Karen’s words appear:

         “I think I’m being watched.”

BACK TO FRANK

who types

ON THE MONITOR

Frank’s words appear:

         “Where are you? I will pick you up
         immediately.”

BACK TO FRANK

who watches nervously.

ON THE MONITOR

Karen’s words appear:

         “55, South We...”

BACK TO FRANK

Frank waits for a moment. Nothing happens.

                     FRANK
         I know where that is?

He takes his gun from the drawer, runs out the room.
 

The lines ‘Karen’s words appear:’ and ‘Frank’s words appear:’ can be omitted if what happens is obvious.

In another situation you could also have a character read out loud the words that he reads on the monitor. That case would, of course, be handled like ordinary dialog.

Note that The Screenwriter’s Bible did not suggest to use INSERT, which is used for small items, like letters, newspaper articles, paper clips etc.

You should not use a camera direction here. This is not an opportunity for using POV.
 

Foreign Languages

(coming soon)