Quoted from The Dark Horse What do people think of something like... JOHN Hi. How are you? (Mary sighs and drinks her beer) Yeah. I'm good. I've seen that done a few times. I dunno what to think of it. Using a semi-colon is a new thing for me too. But I hardly know when to use it. JOHN Hi. Would I like a beer? (considers it; laughs) Yes I would. Oh and sotto. JOHN (sotto) Beer time. Another thing is using a beat straight away. Didn't know we could do that. JOHN (beat) Yep.

I'm worried you're way overthinking all this.  The times any of this should come up in a feature script is very, very few...possibly never.  If you find you're using any of the above often, you're overdoing it.

I strongly recommend never using semicolons in a script.  They have no place there.

Quoted from Dreamscale I strongly recommend never using semicolons in a script; they have no place there.

FTFY

I agree with Dave - I try to put a small action in if I want to break it up.

I.e
John I, uh,
(Looks down meekly)
Down’t know

Quoted from FrankM FTFY

HA!  I had to look up what FTFY stands for, as I've never heard it before.

Quoted from JohnI I agree with Dave - I try to put a small action in if I want to break it up. I.e John I, uh, (Looks down meekly) Down’t know

One thing to keep in mind when using action wrylies is that there's only so much space on a wrylie line, and having a 2 line wrylie never looks good!

Quoted from Dreamscale One thing to keep in mind when using action wrylies is that there's only so much space on a wrylie line, and having a 2 line wrylie never looks good!

If I can't fit it on a single line wrylie,  generally don't do it. But that's just my preference.  

Quoted from eldave1 If I can't fit it on a single line wrylie,  generally don't do it. But that's just my preference.

So something like this?  

EXT. CITY STREET - DAY

Paula walks, carefully avoiding the various messes one finds on a city sidewalk, and rummages through her handbag.

She pulls out a letter just as she reaches a mailbox.

                    PAULA
                And here we go.
                  (Paula open the 
                  mailbox, notices 
                  the pick-up time 
                  sticker, checks 
                  her phone, 
                  realizes that the 
                  final pick-up of 
                  the day has passed, 
                  scans the area for 
                  a post office or 
                  other mailbox, 
                  finds no 
                  alternative)
                Oh well.
                  (She drops the 
                  letter in the box)
                You'll get it eventually.

Quoted from FrankM So something like this?   EXT. CITY STREET - DAY Paula walks, carefully avoiding the various messes one finds on a city sidewalk, and rummages through her handbag. She pulls out a letter just as she reaches a mailbox.                     PAULA                 And here we go.                   (Paula open the                   mailbox, notices                   the pick-up time                   sticker, checks                   her phone,                   realizes that the                   final pick-up of                   the day has passed,                   scans the area for                   a post office or                   other mailbox,                   finds no                   alternative)                 Oh well.                   (She drops the                   letter in the box)                 You'll get it eventually.

Exactly!

Beat works well in comedies as the final pause before a good funny line

Quoted from stevie Beat works well in comedies as the final pause before a good funny line

Agree

Yes. Particularly if you’ve drawn a character who is thinking about something before speaking.

EXT. POST OFFICE - DAY

John and Louise exit the post office with the letter. John tears open the envelope and stares in disbelief.

                LOUISE
          Well.....?

John doesn’t answer for a long beat. Then....

                JOHN
              (sadly)
          Sarah’s dead.....

Quoted from MarkRenshaw I try to avoid anything which takes the reader out of the story or gives obvious acting instructions.

Years ago, scripts were littered with camera directions. Today, unless you're a director, the important thing to anchor upon is YOUR STORY.

Let the Director and the Actors have room to maneuver and express themselves.

Express your intent with as few lines as possible. They are intelligent and will get IT.

As far as I'm concerned to use a word like "Beat"...

It's a waste of space. Come on. Just ask yourself why you're writing that.

What? They wait? They think? They do the "nod and smile"? Anything, but Beat?

Please someone start a thread explaining where it ever came from in the first place.

Kay wait... You're not talking 'bout the same "beat" as me, are you?

People tell you not to do a lot of things in this craft. Like "Don't use passive verbs"

And then I looked up Bill Lancaster's The Thing script and there's passive verbs everywhere.

As Scott Myers says, there are no rules. If your scripts are doing well in competitions, getting optioned, produced and good feedback from directors then keep doing whatever you are doing.

If not, try and figure out why.  

why not? you can use it as many times as you want. Some writers use "A moment" instead and sometimes, they use both. So any of them will be good for you, depending on how comfortable you are with a particular choice.  And I also think you should consider reading successful screenplays and know how these have been used.