Phone calls are everywhere in modern stories, and they're a formatting question nearly every writer hits early. The good news is that there are only three standard approaches, each suited to a different kind of scene. Once you know them, choosing is mostly a matter of asking whose experience the audience should share.
Option one: we only hear one side
If the audience stays with one character and never sees or hears the other person, write it like a monologue with pauses. The listener's responses are implied.
INT. MAYA'S CAR - NIGHT
Maya answers her phone, eyes on the road.
MAYA
Yes. No, I'm still driving.
(beat)
He said that? To you?
This approach keeps us locked in the character's point of view. It works well for suspense, when the audience should know only what the protagonist hears, and for comedy, when the unheard half of the conversation is funnier imagined.
Option two: we hear both sides
If we stay with one character but can hear the person on the other end, the unseen voice gets a character extension. Most writers use (V.O.) here, because the voice comes through a device rather than from someone in the room. Our guide to V.O., O.S., and parentheticals explains why.
INT. MAYA'S CAR - NIGHT
MAYA
Did you get the files?
DANIEL (V.O.)
Some of them. The rest are gone.
We hear Daniel, but we never see him. The scene still belongs to Maya.
Option three: the intercut
When the audience should see both characters, you could alternate scene headings every few lines, but that clutters the page. Instead, establish both locations once, then use INTERCUT to tell the reader the scene will move freely between them.
INT. MAYA'S CAR - NIGHT
Maya drives, phone to her ear.
INT. DANIEL'S OFFICE - NIGHT
Daniel stands at a window, phone in hand. Files scattered on the desk.
INTERCUT MAYA AND DANIEL
MAYA
Did you get the files?
DANIEL
Some of them. The rest are gone.
Maya swerves to the shoulder. Stops.
After INTERCUT, dialogue doesn't need extensions, because both characters are visible in their own spaces. Action lines can describe either location; it should be clear from context which one you mean.
Choosing between them
The choice is about point of view and information:
- One side only when the protagonist's isolation or uncertainty matters.
- Hearing both when we need the other person's words but the scene's emotional weight stays with one character.
- Intercut when both characters' reactions matter, or when the visual contrast between the two places tells part of the story.
Intercuts are especially powerful when the two locations are in tension: one character calm in a quiet office while the other is in danger, for example.
Beyond phone calls
INTERCUT isn't only for phones. Any time two scenes happen simultaneously and the story benefits from cutting between them, you can use it: a parallel heist and police response, two characters getting ready for the same date, a race against time in two places. For sequences that jump through time rather than space, a montage or series of shots is usually a better fit.
Text messages and video calls
Text messages are often written as a short action line with the message in quotes or italics, or as a display on screen ("ON PHONE: Where are you?"). Video calls usually work as intercuts. There's less standardization here, so choose a clear method and stay consistent throughout the script.
Common mistakes
- Alternating full scene headings every line. It's technically correct and exhausting to read. Use INTERCUT.
- Forgetting to establish both locations before the intercut. The reader needs to know where both characters are.
- Mixing methods within the same call. Pick one approach per conversation.
- Long calls. Phone conversations are static by nature. Keep them short, and give the character something physical to do.
Phone calls are logistics, and logistics should be invisible. In Quillit, scene headings, character cues, and dialogue format themselves as you type, so the only decision you're making is the one that matters: whose side of the call the audience is on.
