Format Question - The Transition Between Thoughts and Dialogue

J

JGill

New member
Hey everyone,

I'm writing a script that requires a character to have their thoughts be heard aloud, which will then transition to dialogue that's spoken aloud. For example:

CHARACTER 1
(thinking, thoughts heard aloud)
What will I do?

CHARACTER 1
(spoken)
I know!

I'm new to screenwriting, so I'm not sure of the format I should follow. Should the thoughts of the character and the words he speaks aloud be separated? Should they be kept together? I'm not sure how to approach this. Thanks for everyone's help!
​
 
You would use a (v.o.) or (V.O.) after the character name for the times where they were thinking to themselves.

i.e.,

Lars (V.O.)
I wish we were still a good band.

Lars
We f'ing rock!

But, more importantly, what purpose is this serving. Voice over or narration is way way way overused. That said, there are no real rules...so act accordingly. Just know that it is at the expense of your script. (all of this is funny to me because I just submitted a short for feedback that was 75% voice over. ;) But, in my short, the dialogue is occurring in the form of a conversation while we are seeing visual details from other scenes. It's an intercut situation between various scenes and the conversation that is taking place).

Forrester
 
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