The full spot, beat by beat, with frames in the locked style. Marcus is cast from Aaron's footage (locked anchor); the Host is option A pending a final pick on the character & look board. Alt versions: "You Won't Do It" (taunt) · "Plain Language" (translation cut).
0:00–0:08
Cold Open — The Promise
Int. Kitchen — Morning · locked-off medium
Shot 1 · The host, the table, and the document. He pats it once.
A pleasant HOST (40s) at a plain kitchen table. Beside him, a comically enormous document sits on the table like a cinder block. He pats it once.
Host
"Your NFL pension. Written, and I'm quoting, in plain language."
(beat; he tries to lift it, barely can, sets it down, keeps smiling)
0:08–0:16
The Avalanche
Int. Living Room · static wide
Shot 2 · Hard cut: chest-deep, unmoved, blinking slowly.
MARCUS (retired after three seasons) opens the booklet. Hard cut: he is chest-deep in a landslide of paper, expression unmoved, blinking slowly. Single sheets still drifting down. Pages read "SSA OFFSET," "FORM 4506."
SFX: one soft paper-slide. Then silence.
Marcus
(flat)
"Plain language."
0:16–0:28
Gag One
Int. Living Room · locked-off wide
Term card: "Pension Expansion Player"
Shot 3 · A slow double-bicep flex, held, dead serious.
Marcus, dead serious, hits a slow double-bicep flex. Holds it. Stares into middle distance.
Narrator (V.O.)
(dry)
"A Pension Expansion Player is a benefits category. It is not... whatever this is."
Fact on screen
3+ seasons before vesting rules? You may still qualify.
0:28–0:40
Gag Two
Int. Bathroom · static frame
Term card: "Whole Person Evaluation"
Shot 4 · The gravity of a man at the gallows. The scale is silent.
Marcus steps onto a tiny bathroom scale with the gravity of a man at the gallows. Sucks in. Looks down. The scale is silent.
Narrator (V.O.)
"The whole-person evaluation is a disability review. The scale can't help you, Marcus."
Fact on screen
Disability benefits have their own review process.
0:40–0:55
Gag Three
Int. Living Room · camera at floor level
Term card: "Legacy Floor"
Shot 5 · Solemnly lifting the corner of the rug. Nothing.
Marcus on hands and knees, flashlight on, solemnly lifting the corner of a rug. Peers under. Nothing.
Marcus
(whispering)
"...hello?"
Narrator (V.O.)
"The Legacy Floor is a minimum payment. Nobody is under the rug."
Fact on screen
Legacy Floor = guaranteed minimum monthly check ($600 floor for pre-'93 era players).
0:55–1:15
The Turn
Int. Kitchen · two-shot
Shot 6 · One index card slides across the table. Long beat.
Host slides ONE index card across the table to Marcus. Card reads: "3 SEASONS = VESTED. IT'S YOURS. FOREVER." Marcus reads it. Long beat. He nods once, quietly moved.
Marcus
(soft)
"That's it?"
Host
"That's it."
Narrator (V.O.)
"Three credited seasons. The pension's yours, they can't take it back. Checks start at 55. Played before '93? Forty-five."
1:15–1:25
The Payoff
Int. Kitchen · same static frame
Shot 7 · One confetti burst. Neither man reacts.
Same static kitchen frame. From offscreen, a single burst of confetti drifts over the two of them, who do not react at all. Marcus holds a normal-sized check and examines it approvingly.
Marcus
"Ohh. That's my pension."
1:25–1:30
End Card
Shield-navy card · clean type
Check your Credited Seasons.
nflplayerbenefits.com · 800.638.3186
Music: sparse. A single patient piano, or nothing, until the turn. Then warm and restrained. The deadpan carries it.
Read notes. Shots 3–5 are the interchangeable runner; cut one for a :60. Term cards, fact strips, and the end card are motion graphics, not generated frames. Marcus is locked from Aaron’s footage; Host A holds until a final host pick. Any on-frame prop text (index card, page headers) is placeholder and gets fixed in the anchor pass. AI frames are a look target, not production stills.
