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It may soumd abit dumb.. But what does "beat" mean when i see it in a script?

Basically, it means that is you do not say the next line immediately, leaving time for a reaction (enough time for a heart beat/ intake of breath / shocked expression etc), sometimes they do this by changing camera angle to focus on one person for their reaction and other times, you leave a second or two before delivering the next line.
I have known script writers use 'Beat' to flick back and forth between two different scenes that are supposed to be going on simulataneously.

Thanks for the question and thanks for the answer. I read a script with few "beat" in it and I didn't even consider it

francescasmum wrote:Basically, it means that is you do not say the next line immediately, leaving time for a reaction (enough time for a heart beat/ intake of breath / shocked expression etc), sometimes they do this by changing camera angle to focus on one person for their reaction and other times, you leave a second or two before delivering the next line.
I have known script writers use 'Beat' to flick back and forth between two different scenes that are supposed to be going on simulataneously.

thanks:D

certainly not a dumb question, I didn't know that either