Beat

When written in a screenplay, a 'beat' just means a small pause. Some people insist that a 'beat' must only apply to a pause that changes the direction of the scene, but that always seemed a little bizarre to me.

If you read some scripts that use them ...

Go (By John August) said:

BURKE
Now that he’s gone, there’s something I
wanted to ask you guys about. Sort of a
proposition.
(beat)
See, my wife and I .. we’re gonna
have Christmas dinner tonight.

And I was thinking, maybe you
guys would want to come over, eat some
dinner with us. My wife is great, you’ll
love her, then I’ll sign your form. How
does that sound?

A beat.

ZACK
Actually, you know, I had plans.

Click to expand...

or

Terminator 2 (By James Cameron and William Wisher) said:

TERMINATOR
Because Skynet knows the Russian counter-strike will remove its enemies here.

SARAH
Jesus.
(beat, then)
How much do you know about Dyson?

TERMINATOR
I have detailed files.

Click to expand...

The beat in 'Terminator' was a pause that beautifully changed the direction of the entire movie.
The beat in 'Go' was just an uncomfortable silence.

Just to be confusing a 'Story Beat' is basically a plot point.

Good luck,

Mac

If you mean 'beat' as in 'a story beat' or 'beat sheet', it's a flexible term. You can take it from the main beats of a story, all the way down to the beats of a scene.

It basically means a piece of the plot, a chunk of story.

Think of it this way: if you were summarizing something, you'd give all the beats. "And then he begged her not to go, but she did. And Roger was waiting outside with a gun. She managed to get away, but he followed her to her mom's house." Those are all beats.

I like to make my beats a bit more creative by not simply writing "beat." I want to show that there is a pause in dialogue, but I want to show that in a more interesting way than just "beat."

For example, say a character is smoking...

GOTH GIRL
Yeah, yeah. Doesn't everybody?
(takes a drag)
Okay, your turn.

I generally never use a beat or a parenthetical in dialog to show action.

For short dialog pause, I use ellipses.
For longer pause, I break the dialog into two and put an action in between (to avoid the parens).

For short pauses in action, I separate the action into...

A new paragraph.

As for beats of the story...Bottomless got it right. Plot points.

Brian,

it's ALL of them, depending on the context of the scene.
And it is perfectly acceptable to use them, in MODERATION.

For myself I agree with Joe, I tend to use ...... to show thinking during dialog.
And those little actions that we do while we are talking are great ways to develop character.
Even BETTER is have the character say something BUT then in action DO something different.

Let me dig out and post two instances that have to do with a beat.
*
*
*
*
*

BrianTubbs said:

I realize this is a first-grade screenwriting question, but can someone please explain to me what a "beat" is? I can't seem to get it. Is it a dramatic moment? A change in direction? A point of emphasis? What is it?

Thanks and sorry for the dumb, very basic question.

Click to expand...

indicating beats/pauses in dialogue is effective, but don't use them unsparingly or people might think you're M. Night Shyamalan

I don't know why people would prefer to write (beat) to some action, as DrSpork mentioned. Be creative, have your characters do something, even if it's only to listen, it still sounds better than a generic lingoism.

This is from a spec

I'm working on.
(and yes, I'm okay with discussing the usage of BEAT)


INT. HUMMER

HR shuts the hummer off, looks at the huge house.

SWIFT
Holy shit!

HR steps out, leans against the hummer.
Swift gets out, stares about him in awe.

HOTROD
Hear that?

Swift listens. Shrugs, what the hell am I
supposed to be hearing?

HOTROD
Listen.

SWIFT
Man, I don't hear nothing but some
kids playing and a stupid bird.

HOTROD
No music blaring, no bitch nagging
her man, no sirens wailing.
(a beat)
No woman screaming that her
babies been shot.

A BEAT

SWIFT
Why are we here HR?

HOTROD
One more month bro.
One more F-ing month of
pushing that poison and not
seeing my princess every day.
One more, that's it.
Then this place is mine.

HR moves toward the house.

Swift stares at him.
It sinks in.
He follows.
***********
Okay, so there's two in there.
The one in the dialog I put in to indicate a change in tone for HR.
That the following line should be given more thought.
In context of the whole story, previous events, I figured the actor would know what to do and I was trying to give him the lattitude to come up with it himself. I wanted to avoid the parentethical of (with feeling, or sadly, ect.)

The second one, in the action line shows a shift in mood for Swift.
A moment where it dawns on him what HR is REALLY saying.
That he's leaving them all. Running.

I felt that the moment there could be left open. I didn't want to and didn't feel the need to spell it out. Again, I'm trying to trust the actor to understand the story and play with his response. The beat indicates that an emotional change needs to be made for Swift.

So, ya'll discuss while I go get the next one.

I hope Rainbow

that my explanations of the beats in my pages answers your question.

Sometimes an action is too much, or disrupts the flow, or is just filling.
And readers know what a beat (in proper context) means.

So, lets experiment.
Throw some actions in to where the beats are in my scene and we'll see where it takes us.

Here is scene #2

(again, open for discussion.)

Casino stands there, gun pointed at HotRod’s head.

CASINO
What’s up HR?

HR plays cool but he’s sweating man, sweating it.

CASINO
Alex, you aight?

Alex nods his head.

ALEX
(struggling)
I told him.

Casino leans over and kisses his forehead.

CASINO
Welcome back man.
We thought we were
gonna lose you.

Alex swallows hard, looks at HR.

CASINO
Close the door.

HR obeys.
Casino slides the gun back in his pocket. Sits in a chair. HR sits back down.

A BEAT

CASINO
You lose control of your boy?

HR nods.

CASINO
One of mine shot that girl.
She’s next door ya know.
How f'd up is that?

HR shakes his head.
It’s nuts.

CASINO
I hope she gets to go home
someday. I hope she -
(struggling)
Not like mine. Not like mine.

A BEAT

HOTROD
So, are we diamond?

CASINO
(still grieving)
Diamond?
You can’t diamond this shit.

A BEAT.
Yeah.

CASINO
Deal with your boy HR.
Nobody wants a war.

HR Nods. Leaves.
****

The first beat says "okay, Casino thinks about what is going on. Takes a moment to consider what he wants to say, what happens next."

Well, I felt I could shorten that to just two little words. A BEAT puts in that moment without me having to write it out. If there aren't SPECFIC, VITAL actions that need to happen in these little moments then I tend to leave them out.
This is my little way of avoiding over directing.

Now on the second one I added my own little "note".
That this moment has that "Yeah, it doesn't make sense, it's nuts" feel to it. Both guys are thinking it.
Silently agreeing.
Again, I felt it would be overwriting to put that in.

I'm trying to leave room for the actors and the readers to come to the conclusion on thier own without me beating them over the head with it.

How about:
HOTROD
. . .no sirens wailing. . .No woman
screaming that her babies been shot.

They drink in the silence.

The first beat I replaced with elipses, the second reflects their reflective nature in the moment.

Although I do admit the first beat actually works well in that context - the language flows almost poetically and to break up the dialogue might interrupt the flow, good point.

Personally I never use them, and think they can be overused (not in your example), for instance:

FRED
Hey!
(beat)
How you doing?

reads better in my opinion as:

FRED
Hey!

Fred smiles and waves.

FRED (CONT'D)
How you doing?

Hey Rainbow,

thanks for playing.
I think a fair bit can be learned from discussing the choices different writers make in their work. And in seeing how other choices affect the script.

The first beat, the dialog one from the first example is a pause where HR recalls the shooting of a kid from earlier on. His line of "No woman screaming ... " would need to be delivered with more emotion then the generic and random list of other ghetto noises.

So, the beat here says "Okay, build up the emotion. Take that second to get wound up, to pull the emotion to the surface."

"They drink in the silence."
?
Well, that was a nice try but totally the opposite of the tone of the scene.

In the second beat Swift is decoding the desire for this type of sound, and starts to understand that the house is more then just a random house.
They aren't out cruising. HR is up to something.

Oh yeah, definitely in your example the beat is used wrong and the action is much better.

He he, well, you know your story a lot better than I do, and I have to hand it to you, I think that's the most appropriate use of a (beat) that I have seen. It fits there between the dialogue. Still, I think you could replace the 2nd beat with something more specific -- perhaps some body language that reveals what's going on inside the characters, but from your explanation I can't figure out what. . .! You could probably think of something though.

So are we saying a "beat" can be:

• a hesitatant pause, e.g. for thought or realization
• a pause to change the subject
• a pause for breath in a long speech

...? But instead of writing (beat) you can use an ellipsis... to indicate the pause... or include a minor action or expression or look that fills the moment?

Heh, just an excuse to play around with the unordered list function.

-Derek

Uh, no.

Not all of that.

I agree only with the moment of realization/refelction.

The change would have to be stronger then just a shift in subject matter.
It's a shift in mood, in feeling.
The beat IMPLIES a stronger moment then a simple pause.

For a moment in dialog of searching for words, I would use ellipsis.
For a break in a long speech I would go for action.

dpaterso said:

So are we saying a "beat" can be:

• a hesitatant pause, e.g. for thought or realization
• a pause to change the subject
• a pause for breath in a long speech

...? But instead of writing (beat) you can use an ellipsis... to indicate the pause... or include a minor action or expression or look that fills the moment?

Heh, just an excuse to play around with the unordered list function.

-Derek

Click to expand...

I'd agree, except for "pause for breath". That's acting, not writing!

scripter1 said:

The beat IMPLIES a stronger moment than a simple pause.

Click to expand...

I disagree. While a writer should save beats for important moments (beat-clogged scripts are irritating), they could be used for a simple pause. I'm having trouble thinking of a specific example, but they can be used for timing. Dramatic emphasis is the best, but not only use for them. Sometimes, you just need a little pause. 'Beat' is the best way to do it.

Bottomless,

I think I've got a great one for you.
Not sure if it is ACTUALLY written this way but maybe it works.

StarWars, A new hope.

Han charges down the hallway, bellowing.

LEA
He's got courage, I'll give him that.

A BEAT

Han races back pursued by fifty storm troopers.

***

So, there you got a pause, and it was filled by an empty hallway.

Now to me...
That's confusing.

I would have written it like:

Han charges down the hallway, bellowing.

LEA
He's got courage, I'll give him that.

Han turns a corner. His bellows echoe to a halt.

SILENCE.

Han races back, now pursued by fifty storm troopers.

Luckily I have the script on hand.

The sequence goes like this...



HAN
(to Luke and Leia)
Get back to the ship!

LUKE
Where are you going? Come back!

Han has already rounded a corner and does not hear.

LEIA
He certainly has courage.

LUKE
What good will it do us if he gets himself killed? Come on!

Luke is furious but doesn't have time to think about it for
muted alarms begin to go off down on the hangar deck. Luke and
Leia start off toward the starship hangar.

INTERIOR: DEATH STAR -- SUBHALLWAY.

Han chases the stormtroopers down a long subhallway. He is
yelling and brandishing his laser pistol. The troops reach a
dead end and are forced to turn and fight. Han stops a few
feet from them and assumes a defensive position. The troops
begin to raise their laser guns. Soon all ten troopers are
moving into an attack position in front of the lone
starpirate. Han's determined look begins to fade as the troops
begin to advance. Solo jumps backward as they fire at him.

INTERIOR: DEATH STAR -- SUBHALLWAY.

Chewbacca runs down the subhallway in a last-ditch attempt to
save his bold captain. Suddenly he hears the firing of laser
guns and yelling. Around the corner shoots Han, pirate
extraordinaire, running for his life, followed by a host of
furious stormtroopers. Chewbacca turns and starts running the
other way also.

IMO, ellipses indicate a "trailing off" of dialogue, and that's how I've seen them most used. Time-wise, it's a bit shorter than a beat.

CARRIE (CONT'D)
You'll find that special person
...one day...maybe. And then
you'll forget all about me.

Or, used in another way:

POV CAMERA - SHANE'S FACE

Mouth agape, humiliated.

JUSTIN (O.S.)
And hold it...hold it...and...


A "beat" is a dead stop; a total break in the dialogue. I usually (based on how it's used in scripts and then conveyed on film) think of a beat as around a 1 to 2 second pause.

Ellipses don't convey that stoppage and are, in my opinion, a weak device to use to indicate such.

Like I said, I hate, hate, hate using the word "beat." Seeing the word "beat" takes the reader out of the story and reminds him/her that he/she's reading a script, rather than being immersed in a story.

I prefer to create a beat with some sort of action. I usually don't use parentheticals to convey the "beat," but in the example I posted in post #4 it works and saves space (doesn't pad the pages with unnecessary white space).

For my writing, I think it's wasteful (and bad form) to break up a fluid dramatic moment in the pages with a bunch of hard returns and an action line when the information is better expressed as an "action beat" in parentheticals (again, I don't usually employ this method, but it is effective if used properly):

SHANE
Oh! Well thanks for clearing tha--
(it hits him;to Carrie)
From the gym?!

That is much better, in my opinion, than writing:

SHANE
Oh! Well thanks for clearing tha--

It finally hits him. He glares at Carrie.

SHANE
From the gym?!


*shrug*

Just some examples of how I do it. Everyone who's read my scripts (pro and non-pro) likes the way I write, so I'm gonna stick with what works for me.

Your mileage may vary.

Haven't you sold that script yet, opty?

Opty's doesn't post here anymore, Blackheart.

scripter1 said:

In context of the whole story, previous events, I figured the actor would know what to do and I was trying to give him the lattitude to come up with it himself. I wanted to avoid the parentethical of (with feeling, or sadly, ect.)

Click to expand...

I can appreciate that. A screenplay peppered with (beat)s can be irritating. So can too many instructions on where I should breathe, how I should look at someone, what gestures I should make, etc. The director and the actor can decide those things. IMO, it's fine to use (beat) once in a while, and descriptions of the beats. But it's probably best to not overuse either.

Regarding Joe's

post of the StarWars scene.

I liked the film version much better.
The scripted version was way too much.
It works much better as a shortened, fast scequence.

And I did like Joe's version better then mine.



WoW, hate is such a (beat) strong word.