Yeah, I know that might seem like really dumb question at first glance, but the thing is I'm writing a short in which there is no dialogue (because no one is able to speak). So a lot of the story is conveyed through people writing 'messages' to each other instead.

Would you be able to hijack the dialogue space for that, so for instance it looks like this:

ELLIE’S MESSAGE
blah blah bleh.

Or is that just plain wrong and should I be reprimanded for even asking?

It really clutters up the script if I have to use ACTION space for that too. Makes it difficult to read.

Dialogue is for dialogue only. If you were someone like William Goldman, you could bend the rules. Saying that, if this is just a fun script for friends to read, then you could just state in the action\description that the dialogue is in place of C.U.

I've been story editing a short script in which there is no dialogue, but a series of notes being passed and forward. The writer chose to use V.O. instead of using C.U. in the action description.

Thanks. I'm not William Goldman or someone like him so I guess I'll have to work with what I've got.