Review: FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER

​FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER: Script analysis. How did this one become my favorite??? It feels the most like Marvel. Quick scenes with action and heart. In the pilot, I immediately invested in and related to two characters I couldn't care less about.

Why? Because we're watching them post Thanos trying to survive in the real world as celebrities, so this is new for them and we have to decide to like them as people, not the heroes we've grown to love.

How? Giving them someone/something to love/care about that can be attached to their stakes or goals. Sam's family business and the legacy of Captain America are at stake. Does he choose his family or the world? Buckey's literal goal list is unfinished because of the stakes of disappointing his new friend with whom he needs to make amends.

And that's just the pilot.

It may have hooked me because it was the more traditional pilot. Set up and social proof, create empathy, begin the storyline for the series problem while introducing personal goals/problems for the protagonists. End the episode by raising the stakes both internally (Captain America) and externally (the antagonist may have powers).
​
The risks in the format in WANDAVISION and the extremely slow pacing and meta-science in LOKI lost me on the pilot.

This, however, I was able to invest in.

Check out our Development Notes service to get personalized feedback from one of our Story Experts and take your screenplay to the next level!

---

AUTHOR

Shannan E. Johnson is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO + Head Consultant of The Professional Pen, a script consultancy that develops screenwriters from idea to pitch to become more confident storytellers ready for a professional screenwriting career, and consults with scripted development teams at entertainment companies to streamline their notes process to get to pre-production more efficiently.