What's a Vox Pop? How to Format Street Interviews in Your Screenplay

2026-10-29

Vox pop is short for the Latin vox populi, "voice of the people." It's the classic street-interview sequence: a reporter stops passers-by, asks them all the same question, and the edit cuts from one answer to the next. On screen it gives a quick, funny or revealing snapshot of a place, whether that's a town reacting to a scandal or locals passing judgement on the new bypass.

Because vox pops are short, punchy and come thick and fast, the page needs to read just as quickly. Some speakers only get a single line, so how you name them matters.

Name them by what the audience sees

The viewer will never learn that the woman outside the salon is called Zoe, so a cue like ZOE tells the reader nothing. Descriptive labels such as HAIRDRESSER, BUTCHER, VAPING MAN or WOMAN WITH PRAM do the characterising for you and bring in the flavour of the town for free.

Keep cues short and distinct. Two or three words at most, and never two that look alike. If you have two of a type, set them apart by appearance (OLD MAN IN FLAT CAP, OLD MAN WITH DOG) rather than by number.

Put ages and detail in the action line. Introduce each person in one quick line, such as "A BUTCHER (50s), bloodied apron, cleaver still in hand", and keep the cue itself clean. Ages in the cue, like JULIE (30), clutter the flow.

Save CITIZEN 1, 2, 3 for true background. Numbered labels work for a murmur of voices, but they waste the chance to show us who lives there.

Only use a real name if they come back. If a vox-popped stranger reappears later in the story, introduce them properly with a name the first time.

Keep the montage moving

Set the sequence up once, then don't interrupt it. Open with a single heading, add one line about the reporter and the question, then give each interviewee a one-line intro and their dialogue. Don't put new scene headings between speakers. Close it off when you're done. For example:

MONTAGE – VOX POPS – HIGH STREET – DAY

A REPORTER thrusts a microphone at passers-by.

A HAIRDRESSER (40s) leans out of her salon, foils in hand.

HAIRDRESSER Best thing that's happened here since the Woolworths shut.

A teenage VAPING MAN exhales a cloud of mango.

VAPING MAN What bypass?

A BUTCHER (50s), bloodied apron, doesn't stop chopping.

BUTCHER Ask me again when it's finished.

END MONTAGE

Written this way, a reader moves through a dozen strangers as quickly as an audience will. Each one is instantly pictured, and the town's character comes through in every line.

The short version

Give each speaker a descriptive cue based on what we see, put ages and detail in a one-line intro, and wrap the whole sequence in a single montage heading.

Write your vox pops free in INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY. Character cues autocomplete as you type, so even a dozen strangers won't slow you down.