Ever observed that characters inNetflixOriginal movies appear to repeat the film’s storyline repeatedly? Or that they constantly verbalize their actions or intentions? It turns out this is done on purpose – andMatt Damon and Ben Affleck have just confirmed it.
For many years, it has been rumored that Netflixrequests its employed screenwriters to focus on “casual viewers”, referring to people who are looking at their phones or engaging in other tasks while watching. This, as noted by journalist Will Tavlin inn+1In 2025, it is demonstrated by characters who “state their actions so that viewers watching the show in the background can keep up.”
Although Netflix has never officially addressed these rumors, the truth might have been revealed by Damon and Affleck, the stars of thenew Netflix original film The Rip.
Making an appearance on Joe Rogan’s show this week, and during a conversation regarding the decline of cinemas and the prevalence of phone use in everyday life, Damon mentioned thatThe Ripneeded to follow many Netflix narrative guidelines.
Damon explained, ‘The traditional approach to creating an action film, which we learned years ago, involves three major sequences.’ He continued, ‘One occurs in the first act, one in the second, and one in the third. You typically allocate most of your budget to the final one, which serves as the climax. Now, Netflix is asking, ‘Can we have a significant one within the first five minutes? They want viewers to remain engaged.’
He continued, citing Netflix: “‘It wouldn’t be bad if you repeated the plot three or four times in the dialogue since people are using their phones while watching.’ It’s truly going to begin to interfere with storytelling.”
Affleck then interrupted, stating that not every Netflix narrative adheres to those guidelines.
But then you examineAdolescenceand it didn’t do any of that nonsense,” Affleck said. “And it’s absolutely amazing.
“That seems more like the exception, though,” Damon added.
“My impression is that it shows you don’t have to go through any of that nonsense,” concluded Affleck.
Somewhat ironically, The Rip– which cast the pair as members of a team of Miami police officers who come across stolen money – was described byThe Independentthe film critic Clarisse Loughrey as a movieluxuriating in some of these recently verified Netflix “guidelines”.
She stated: “It’s a character-driven story that doesn’t do much with its characters, as it has been affected by the Netflix curse of dialogue written only for people who are distracted by their phones.”
While promoting the movie,Damon also shared his views with Joe Rogan regarding “cancel culture”, which caused some to raise their eyebrows.
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