: Re: How do I represent two computers having a conversation between themselves that other characters are unaware of? I have two computers who are talking to each other in a movie script. They do

I'd say that whether you need a voiceover reading out the messages or not depends on how long the conversation goes on for.

In the example you gave - Sherlock - the text conversations rarely last for more than about two or three replies, and if they do, they're usually punctuated by other characters interrupting, or the texter visibly reacting to the replies. Neither of those things can really happen with your computer chat. The sad truth is that audiences have short attention spans, so if your silent text conversation goes on for too long, it might get boring.

The anime Durarara has similar text conversations, taking place within an online chatroom, that go on for significantly longer. These have a voiceover, for two main reasons:

To make the scene more interesting than just watching messages pop up on a computer screen for an entire minute
To remind the audience who each participant in the chat is, since they're all using pseudonyms (and eventually there's enough people in the chatroom that it would get confusing otherwise)

If your chats go on for any length of time, or if there's any ambiguity about which of the computers is which, you'll probably need a voiceover.

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