Pitch Dictionary by pitch.dog
Scenes, beats & screenplay formatting · Core

Beat

Also called: story beat

ELI5

A small unit of story or emotion where something changes.

Used in conversation

“That reveal needs one more beat before we cut away.”

Definition

A small unit of action, information or emotional change.

Here “Beat” means: A small unit of action, information or emotional change. Other meanings are stored as separate sense entries and must be chosen explicitly.

Pitch context

Use this when explaining how the story works on the page or across the finished screen experience.

Why it matters: Helps describe how a story works on the page and how its dramatic parts fit together.

Connected terms

  • SceneA beat is a smaller unit of change or action; a scene is a continuous dramatic unit that can contain many beats.
  • Story beatThe search label “Story beat” can route to both entries.
Sources & evidence · 6

Direct term-level sources and supporting source families.