I agree with you about the editorializing. I have no problem with that if it's done sparingly and if that's the best way of setting the scene. If done right, it engages the reader in a way that is superior to not using it and sticking to the rules like you said. But I do think the key is to write what an actor can act. I also believe that the examples above can be acted out. Consider this scene description from last year's Source Code by Ben Ripley: "He swallows. A strange, creeping panic. He has no idea where he is." That's a perfect way of conveying to an actor how to play that scene. As I'm writing I sometimes imagine myself being a director on set explaining to an actor what's going on and how to play the scene. That way I can more easily verbalize it and put it in the scene descriptions. "He has no idea where he is." sounds just like something one would tell an actor so he can get into the mind of the character. Same thing with the examples from The Sting that you highlighted. I can't imagine for a second that Paul Newman and Robert Shaw would have had any problem visualizing and understanding how to play this scene after reading the scene descriptions. It behooves us as writers to not forget that a screenplay should be a living, breathing thing that eventually will be acted out by professionals who do nothing but think about characters and how to best portray emotions. What you wrote the other day regarding plot/character is so important. As readers we experience stories through the eyes of characters. If the characters are flat, no plot in the world will make up for the lack of engagement we will feel in the story. For me, it's like the difference between going to a party with my best friends vs. going to a party with my aunt Phyllis (thanks for the tea cozy, by the way. It's lovely.) Yes, we want directors and producers on our side, but we also want actors to love the characters and to be able to get into the minds of the characters in the best possible way. In a sense, as we are reading, we are acting the characters in our minds. If we are not engaged and instead feel that we are watching characters over there somewhere going through plot points, we will be disappointed and not feel immersed in the story. I'm sure that the above scene could have been written in another way without the editorializing, but it would not have been as immersive. Here we understand exactly what is going down and the writer makes his points clearly. It engages us as readers in a way that the alternative cannot provide. For the record, I also imagine myself being a director on set as I'm eating breakfast, brushing my teeth, walking the dog, shopping for groceries, visiting the in-laws, paying the bills and driving to work.