Establish what the audience sees and hears, then use clear scene headings or an INTERCUT instruction so a phone conversation stays easy to picture.
Direct answer
For a call shown in two places, establish each location with its own scene heading. Then either keep cutting with scene headings or add an all-caps action line such as INTERCUT — TELEPHONE CONVERSATION before alternating dialogue without more headings. If the audience stays with one caller, keep that location and identify the remote voice instead.
On the page
INT. MARA'S KITCHEN - NIGHT
Mara paces with her phone to her ear.
INT. ELI'S CAR - SAME
Eli watches the warehouse, phone to his ear.
INTERCUT — TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
MARA
Tell me you found it.
ELI
I found the door.
MARA
That wasn't the question.
Evidence weight
Readers need to know where each visible caller is before an intercut instruction can do useful work. After that setup, repeating full scene headings for every exchange usually adds friction without adding information.
INTERCUT — TELEPHONE CONVERSATION, INTERCUT CONVERSATION, and INTERCUT AS NEEDED are all readable after the locations are established. Named forms become useful when three or more locations could make the pattern ambiguous; a routine two-person call usually does not need one.
Not one rigid template
Keep one scene heading when only one caller is visible. Mark the remote speaker with a character extension and, when useful, a short source parenthetical such as “from the phone.”
Separate headings remain a clear choice when the locations change, visual business matters on both sides, or the exact rhythm of each cut is important.
If the other voice is intentionally unheard, write the visible character's pauses and reactions in action or brief parentheticals. Do not invent dialogue merely to fill the silence.
Reader and handoff friction
Choose for the recipient
A submission draft can use the leanest version that makes the call easy to see and hear. Avoid production shot lists or editing instructions that do not clarify the story beat.
Once a production team is working from the script, retain established scene identities and coordinate changes to numbered scenes. An intercut does not erase the scheduling significance of the locations introduced before it.
In Plot, write each location as a Scene Heading, the intercut instruction as Action, and each speech block as Dialogue. That keeps the draft aligned with familiar screenplay elements instead of inventing a proprietary phone-call element.
Browse the screenplay formatting reference
Complete, source-backed guides for common screenplay situations
V.O. vs O.S.
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.
Text messages
Put readable on-screen messages in action, identify the sender when needed, and use one consistent pattern instead of disguising silent text as spoken dialogue.
Scene numbers & production
Leave scene numbers out of an ordinary spec unless requested; add and preserve them when a production needs stable references for breakdowns, schedules, and revisions.
