Voice-over (V.O.)
Also known as V.O. · VO · narration
Dialogue heard but not spoken aloud in the scene's space at that moment — narration, a remembered voice, a character's thoughts, the far end of a phone call. Marked as (V.O.) on the character cue.
On the page
Voice-over
MAYA (V.O.)
I should have left when I had the chance.
In practice
Voice-over is easy to overuse as glue for plot the audience should feel instead. When it works, it has a point of view — irony, intimacy, or a frame that pictures alone cannot carry. When it fails, it narrates the obvious and becomes the first thing notes and coverage ask you to cut from the draft.
Mark V.O. on the character cue so readers and actors know the voice is not ordinary on-camera speech in that moment. Do not bury the distinction in action alone; production and the table read both need the extension where they already look for speaker labels during rehearsal and coverage.
A useful craft check: mute the V.O. and watch whether the scene still plays. If the images already tell the beat, the narration is probably padding. Keep V.O. that adds attitude, unreliable framing, or information the camera cannot ethically or practically show without the voice.
See it formatted
How to format phone calls and intercut conversations
Establish what the audience sees and hears, then use clear scene headings or an INTERCUT instruction so a phone conversation stays easy to picture.
V.O. vs O.S.: voice-over or off-screen dialogue?
O.S. means a speaker is in the scene but outside the frame; V.O. covers narration and voices outside its physical space. See screenplay examples of both.
How to format a pre-lap in a screenplay
When the next scene's sound arrives before its picture, write it just above the scene it belongs to: a (PRE-LAP) cue for a line of dialogue, a PRE-LAP line in action for a sound.
Common questions
What is the difference between V.O. and O.S.?
O.S. means the character is in the scene's world but not visible. V.O. is a voice layered over the scene that is not that live on-mic presence — narration, memory, or a non-present speaker.
Do readers dislike voice-over?
Readers dislike lazy voice-over. Distinctive V.O. with a clear job still sells; redundant V.O. that explains the image gets cut first in notes and coverage comments.
Can the protagonist narrate in present tense V.O.?
Yes if the voice has attitude and purpose. Present-tense tour-guide narration that labels every feeling tends to flatten scenes; let the voice argue with what we see, not caption it.
Should V.O. appear in a shooting script differently?
The (V.O.) cue extension remains. Production may add ADR or temp-voice notes later; on the page, keep the story reason for the voice clear so departments know it is intentional sound design, not a missing face.