Write what you want.  It's your script.  If the story is good, it shouldn't matter what technical stuff you put in.  I use beat, pause, POV shots, it doesn't matter.  

I think people get a little too Gung ho about exact formatting.  Why are you going to make your script look like everyone else's?  I've used the stuff above and had producers read it and give feedback.  So it's not as big as people are making it to be.  

See also, glossary of screenwriting terms

-Don

thanks, Don, I'll read that.

It needs to be noted that a beat is not specifically the same thing as a pause. A literary beat serves the same purpose as a beat in music. In fact, these story beats are used by composers to plan the soundtrack score. When movies are scored, there are even visual cues placed over the film to aid the musicians.

Beats, like a riff or a drumbeat in a song, are drivers for the story and occur so often in a script that most are just understood. Most writers incorporate them subconsciously and notating them should be kept to a minimum at least. There is no real necessity to notate them at all. Most writers actually use them solely to break up dialogue when there isn’t a great deal of action. If dialogue can be broken up with action, that would be better.

I wouldn't use beat all the time. I only use it when it's a necessary pause for that moment, if it's significant for what I want, then I'll use it, otherwise no.

I've used them in my scripts.  I haven't had one complaint about using them.  Just use them sparingly.

Quoted from Kevan If somebody posts about the use of the word "beat" then they obviously haven't read a book on screenplay writing and assume they can use this from reading shooting scripts they have downloaded from the internet!

man that was a cheap shot!

Actually Kevan, you're suppose to use an ellipsis when you want to add a pause in the middle of someone's dialogue:

            JOHN
I was there the night of the
fire... It wasn't pretty.


You use beat when you want to add a pause before someone actually talks.

           MARY
What's that smell?  Did you
cut one?

           JOHN
    (beat)
No.


I hope this clears things up.


Phil

well i dunno. i mean the question still stands really. should i use beat or not?

That's entirely up to you.  If you use them, use them sparingly.


Phil

got it!

Quoted from Kevan Great! Now you're gonna confuse the kid!

"gonna"?

Wether you call it 'beat', 'pause', or 'Chuck Norris', don't use it at all.

Every scene in your screenplay, every sentence, and every word must be designed to make the reader want to read more. Words are the tools by witch you create interesting visuals in the reader's mind.

What powerful, compelling, and emotive image does the word 'beat' create in your mind?

None. Each 'beat' of your script is a waste of space which only produces a sense of nothingness in the reader's mind.

Of course there are lots of beats in a movie... hundreds of them, but the actors will know how to place them. They're not going to say their lines interrupting each other, if you omit to write the 'beats' down in the script.

Even when a beat in a particular scene has enough dramatic weight to write it down, don't write 'beat'. Write down what's happening during the beat, what are the characters doing during the pause in dialogue. These actions have to be dramatically relevant, if they're not it means we're in presence of those small beats that should be handled by the actors, not the screenwriter.

If John asks Sally to marry him, and Sally doesn't respond inmediatly, that's a beat that could belong to the screenwriter's territory. But don't write 'beat'. Does Sally look away? (uh oh, she's gonna say 'no') Does she look at him smiling? (it seems she's gonna say 'yes'). Write down what she does during the beat instead of just telling the reader that there's a 'beat'.

No prob Kevan, I'm glad I helped.  

Kevan,   Where the hell are you coming from with your nonsense?  I learned formatting from the Cole/Haag's, 'The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats, Part I: The Screenplay Guide.'  This book is considered to be the bible for the industry and it doesn't say to use (pause) over (beat).  I've never heard this from a script doctor I've hired (and he was very thorough).  And I've never been told this from judges in competitions wher eI've received feedback.

(beat) can be used but it must be used sparingly.  It can be used in spec scripts when that pause would change how the line is read.  With the example I use above about farting, the (beat) suggests that John was lying.  

In regards to you pm'ing Daniel, don't bring up that nonsense.  While it's true that I can read minds, I was reading someone's else's at the time.


Phil