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I don't understand the direction: 'beat'

Annoys me when I read it in a script for some reason.

It's a (beat) pause. But just a quick (beat) pause.

I don't tend to use 'cut to' as it's usually unnecessary. The scene heading shows it's a new scene. At a spec level it's not something to worry about, I don't think.

In comedy, however, sometimes there will be times when you do need to use it (or a 'smash cut') for the gag to work.

Something hacky off the top of my head:

Int - house - day

John
I'm never going to molest chickens ever again

Cut to

Ext Chicken Shed - night

John enters

Exactly:

"Don't worry Simon, Benji doesn't bite"

CUT TO:

Simon's trainer on the floor in front of Benji, surrounded by a pool of blood. Benji licks his lips.

There's no other way of making that work without a "CUT TO."

A "beat" is just a short pause, often used for comedy timing purposes. An episode of my favourite comedy "Not Going Out" has an incredible amount of beats because of its quickfire set-ups.

Quote: Leevil @ September 4, 2007, 11:46 PM

It's a (beat) pause. But just a quick (beat) pause.

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Still sounds too american to me. Almost like "wait for it..." in a lead up to a joke. doesn't (pause) work also?

Pause, but how long for? A beat is like 1 second, a slight hesitation for example.

Just thought I'd ask;

Does Charley know yet?

Quote: Simon Stratton @ September 5, 2007, 2:49 PM

Still sounds too american to me. Almost like "wait for it..." in a lead up to a joke. doesn't (pause) work also?

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I don't think it's American, I believe it comes from theatre.

You can use both as they mean different things. In a nutshell, as it was explained to me, "Beat" suggests that there is a thought there, that the character is thinking about something.

Dave
I hate you.

Chas
(beat)
I don't care.

Do I need the action "Chas is upset and tries to hide it"?

Dave
I hate you.

Chas
(pause)
I don't care.

The 'pause' means that Chas is being tardy in replying for whatever reason, concentrating on the footie, he's half asleep, etc.

In comedy I think there are places where you need 'pause' and not 'beat', where it's just about getting the timing right for the gag but it's rare.

That makes sense. Thanks.