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The Oscar-winning actor states that streaming behaviors are significantly changing the way screenplays are composed.
Hollywood veteran Matt Damonis raising the alarm about the second-screen phenomenon in movie production. During a recent interview on the Joe Rogan Experience to promote the new Netflix thriller“The Rip,”Damon and his long-time partner Ben Affleck revealed insights into how streaming platforms are shaping the creative process.
As per Damon, the conventional story structure is being abandoned.to cater to an audience that can’t stop looking at their phones, resulting in a change in rhythm and a formulaic method of narrative that emphasizes retention rather than depth.
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The change in structure marks a move away from the three-act format that has shaped action movies for many years. Damon pointed out that filmmakers previously reserved their greatest efforts for a major climax,The data-focused era of streaming requires instant satisfaction.
The conventional method for creating an action film that we were taught was,you typically have three standard sections.One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third,” Damon explained. He mentioned that the third act was typically the main focus of the budget, acting as the final reward for the audience’s patience.
However, the metrics for completion rates used by platforms such as Netflix have altered the equation for producers. Damon mentioned that studios now urge creators to start with high-energy scenes to stop viewers from leaving within the first few minutes. “And now they’re like,”Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay,he stated. This “hook-at-all-costs” approach aims to grab the focus of an audience that is frequently juggling multiple tasks while viewing.
Perhaps even more irritating for writers is the requirement to restate plot elements through dialogue—directly addressing the second-screen trend. As audiences frequently browse social media while a film is playing, studios fear they might lose track of the narrative. Damon revealed the straightforward criticism that actors and writers are being given:It wouldn’t be bad if you repeated the story three or four times in the conversationbecause individuals are engrossed in their phones while viewing.
In the end, this pattern suggests a futurewhere films serve more as ambient sound rather than engaging encounters.By creating movies that can be comprehended even when the audience is only partially attentive, the industry runs the risk of losing the subtlety that gives exceptional cinema its emotional depth. For Damon and Affleck, moving through this evolving environment involves reconciling their creative impulses with a digital world where the smartphone stands as the director’s main rival.