Matt Damon Reveals How Short Attention Spans Shaped Netflix’s Film Rules

Not unfamiliar with shooting a high-octane action sequence,Matt Damonis about learning to slow down and allow the audience to keep up.

While discussing his and Ben Affleck‘s new Netflix movie The Rip, the Oscar-winning actor stated that films now demand a “much higher level of focus” when they are released for home streaming.

That has a significant impact, and it’s also beginning to influencehow“You create films,” he explained on theJoe Rogan Experience, using Netflix as an example.

The conventional approach to making an action film, which we were taught, involves three key sequences. One in the first act, one in the second, and one in the third. These build up to the major one with all the explosions. You typically allocate most of your budget for that final sequence in the third act. Now, they’re asking, ‘Can we have a big one within the first five minutes? We want viewers to stay engaged.’

Damon added, “‘It wouldn’t be bad if you repeated the plot three or four times in the conversation because viewers are on their phones while they watch.'”

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This policy is not recent, as Netflix writers have reportedly been instructed by the platform to have their characters “announce what they’re doing” in the dialogue.

It seems there is no exception to this rule.The Ripfeatures Damon and Affleck as members of a Miami police team that starts to turn on one another after finding $20 million in an abandoned safe house, introducing external influences as they try to figure out who they can rely on.

Affleck remarked, “But then you look at”Adolescence, and it didn’t do any of that nonsense. And it’s absolutely amazing. And it’s dark too. It’s sorrowful and powerful. [It’s about] a man who discovers his child is accused of murder, and there are extended shots of the back of their heads. They get into the car, and no one says a word.

Damon refers to the Golden Globe-winning Netflix show as “the exception,” while Affleck believes it shows that you don’t need to use those techniques to maintain audience interest.