Joan Adamaitis Agerholm at 2012-08-21 09:46:22:
We just finished watching "Four Weddings and a Funeral". At the same time, we had the Shooting Script open, and followed along. What screenwriter Richard Curtis used were the following substitutions for "beat":
1) Tiny pause.
2) Pause.
3) Long pause.
4) A moment of silence.
5) Big pause.
Worked really well for us.
John + Joan