Photo: Arturo Holmes/WireImage
If you’re reading this while watching a movie, you’re doing exactly what Netflix predicted. Oops. The Rip star Matt Damon told Joe Rogan that Netflix anticipates its audience will be distracted while watching movies, so it asked filmmakers to make changes to keep their attention or to remind them what the movie is about. “The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was, You usually have three set pieces. One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third,” Damon explained. “You spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That’s your finale. And now they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay. And it wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.’” He also stated that the bar is “a lot higher for walking out of a movie theater” than changing the channel at home.
Ben Affleck (they’re always together, don’tcha know) added that Adolescence didn’t use any of Netflix’s tricks to keep its audience’s attention and it was “one of the best things Netflix has ever done.” “My feeling is just that it demonstrates that you don’t need to do any of that shit to get people,” he said.
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