Also known as V.O. · VO · narration
Dialogue heard while the speaker is not speaking on camera in the scene — narration, a remembered voice, a call that is not diegetic in the frame. 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.
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.
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. versus O.S.: which screenplay extension should you use?
Use O.S. for a speaker who belongs to the current scene but is outside the frame; use V.O. when the voice comes from outside the scene's immediate physical action.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
