Inneresting Screenwriting Blog

V.O. vs O.S.: Voice‑Over & Off‑Screen Dialogue Explained

V.O. (voice over) and O.S. (off-screen) are similar terms, but they have slightly different applications.

🎞️ #278 - Do we need a canon?

"I can't believe you haven't seen (x)!" In Scriptnotes episode 713, Danya Jimenez & Hannah McMechan talked briefly with John about how one element of film school is how it forces you to watch a lot of things you wouldn't necessarily seek

Featured Friday: Remembering Rob Reiner

Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a new curated collection of screenplays each week. This week, we remember Rob Reiner. Reiner brought the words of writers like Norah Ephron, William Goldman, Aaron Sorkin, and Stephen King to the screen, creating multiple modern day classics. Our

🤖 #277 - Do we want to be more human?

While it's a long way from large language models to generalized artificial intelligence in the real world, there are plenty of stories where artificially sentient beings question their humanity (and if they really need any). Frequently stories about artificial life, whether created by science or magic, focus on

Featured Friday: Golden Globes 2026 (Television)

Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a new curated collection of screenplays each week. This week, we celebrate this year’s Golden Globe nominations with a look at the series nominated for Best Television Series, both Drama and Musical or Comedy. If any more scripts

🥪 #276 - Making a run for it

Earlier this week we did a close reading of the sequence in Ted Lasso where Roy Kent quits his TV job and rushes back to Nelson Road to give coaching a chance. Let's pull back a little bit to talk about the overall impact of a climactic run

Featured Friday: Christmas in the Background

Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a new curated collection of screenplays each week. This week, we look at movies that are deliberately set at Christmastime, but have nothing to do with the holiday itself. If you’ve ever wondered, “Wait, is that a Christmas

The Mad Dash Toward Love (feat. Roy Kent)

It’s easy to come up with quick setups for when a character needs to run away from something. All it takes is showing them in a place with someone or something they don’t want to be near. But what about when a character needs to run toward something

🥪 #275 - Recipes for Leftovers

Sometimes the leftovers are the best part of the meal. Yes, on their own you can have yourself a microwaved portion of the same meal for several days, but because you can get creative. Just like how Monica Gellar invented the Moist Maker sandwich out of food from Thanksgiving dinner,

Beat Writer’s Block: Screenwriters’ Creative Reset

John talks about how to define those moments when the writing isn’t happening when you need it to.

Scriptnotes Recap: Episode 712, Wicked: For Good Co-Writer, Dana Fox

For those who don't know, I am John's assistant first and foremost. My role as the producer of Scriptnotes falls under the umbrella of my assistant duties. It's basically two full-time jobs smushed into one, but – and I mean this objectively – it's

☄️ #274 - Emotional Hot Potato

The blog Sketchplanations does a pretty concise job describing this week's topic. What happens when stress and anger become contagious? The 30 Rock episode "Chain Reaction of Mental Anguish" shapes its story around the same concept. Liz needs somebody to unload her problems on since she&