How to Format Text Messages in a Screenplay
Screenplay text message format: INSERT — PHONE SCREEN, ON THE SCREEN conventions, keeping texts brief, chat intercuts, and how modern scripts show texting without stopping the movie.
Texts on screen are a modern formatting problem with a settled set of conventions. The core question: does the audience read the phone with the character, or see typing as action? The standard device is the screen INSERT; the modern alternative keeps the phone in the scene and the message in action.
Method 1: INSERT — The Screen Itself
The classic approach: cut to the phone screen as its own "location":
INSERT — PHONE SCREEN
A text thread. MARA: "Where are you??"
Typing dots appear. Then:
UNKNOWN: "closer than you think"
BACK TO SCENERules:
INSERT — PHONE SCREEN(orINSERT — HER PHONE) occupies the slugline position, flush left, ALL CAPS- Message text in caps for the sender's label, then the message — keep texts short; the audience reads slower than you think
BACK TO SCENEreturns us to the action- One INSERT per exchange — bouncing INSERT/action/INSERT per message reads like a slideshow
Method 2: The Message in Action
The sleeker modern style — the phone stays a prop, the text lives in the action line:
Mara's phone buzzes. A text: "closer than
you think."
She scans the street. Nothing.No INSERT at all. This works best for single messages where the sender matters more than the thread, and it keeps pacing fluid — the movie never "cuts" to a phone.
Method 3: The Chat Intercut
For a full conversation by text, intercut typing with reading, exactly like a phone call INTERCUT:
INTERCUT — TEXT THREAD
Jake types: "you left your keys."
Mara, walking, types back: "keep them."
Jake types: "that's not what I meant."
Mara stops typing. Deletes. Pockets the
phone.The beats between messages — the deletes, the pauses, the typing dots — are where the scene lives. That "she deletes the reply" moment is characterization no dialogue can buy.
On-Screen Text Without the Phone
When the text appears superimposed over the scene (common in comedies and docu-style):
SUPER: "u up?"SUPER: (superimpose) or TITLE: marks text rendered over the image — see slugline conventions.
Rules of Thumb
- Brevity — screen-reading time is real; texts over ~8 words slow the reader
- Consistency — pick one style per script (INSERT vs action-text) and hold it
- No texting montages by accident — long chat sequences should follow montage compression
- Autocorrect and typos — intentional misspellings characterize the sender; accidental ones confuse the reader
- Emojis — write them out (
winky face) or use them sparingly; rendering varies
Scripta formats inserts, supers, and intercuts as distinct elements — and imports chat-style plain text cleanly. Start writing free →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you put text messages in quotes?
In INSERT or action formats, quotes make the message boundaries clear: A text: "closer than you think." Consistency matters more than the choice.
What's a SUPER?
Short for superimpose — text rendered over the image (titles, locations, and in this case on-screen messages).
Should texts be ALL CAPS?
No — write the message content normally. Caps are for sender labels and structural cues, not the text itself.
How do I show a deleted message?
In the action: She types "I miss you." Deletes it. Sends "k." — the delete beat is the drama.
Related Pages
- Formatting Phone Calls — the voice version
- What Is a Slugline? — INSERT and SUPER's home
- How to Write a Montage — compressing a whole chat
How to Format a Phone Call in a Screenplay
Phone call screenplay format: one-sided calls, the INTERCUT pattern for two-location calls, filtered V.O. for the far side, voicemail, and text-based call etiquette.
Fountain Syntax — Write Screenplays in Plain Text
Fountain format cheat sheet: scene headings, character cues, dialogue, parentheticals, transitions with >, emphasis, notes, title pages, and page breaks in plain text.