I’m cutting a feature and torn between intercutting the diner blowup on p.42 with the quiet car ride home, or letting the fight run as a single scene. In Final Draft 13, the intercut trims about three-quarters of a page and lifts momentum, but we lose a tiny turn where she nearly apologizes — when do you protect a micro-beat in dialogue versus prioritizing the scene’s spine?
I’d keep the intercut and steal the micro-beat by translating the “nearly apologizes” into action — on p.42, write it in FD13 as: she starts, “I — ” and swallows it right as you cut to the car, letting the road noise carry the breath. If the scene’s spine is truly her refusal to apologize, run the diner clean; otherwise the momentum gain from trimming that three-quarters page is worth it.
Building on @lewis75, protect it with a prop beat: button the diner on her breath catching, then cut to the car where she’s typed 'Sor — ’ in a text and deletes it, so you keep the intercut’s pace but the near-apology still lands. Quick test: show both cuts to someone cold and see which makes them lean in sooner.
This choice drives me nuts, but if momentum’s the spine, steal the micro‑beat with sound: let car ambience creep under the last diner line so she has the tiny breath of “almost,” and we’re already in the ride. If that near‑apology affects her next choice, don’t clarify it — give her a half‑second exit look and cut hard; Rule of Six covers this tradeoff: https://www.rogerebert.com/features/walter-murch-on-editing-rule-of-six. Does anything on p.43 hinge on her not having tried to apologize yet?