Matt Damon criticises Netflix storytelling techniques
Matt Damon has lashed out at Netflix for the way the organisation approaches narrative structure and plot building in the film world, suggesting that their greater focus on attention-grabbing content is “infringing” on stories.
Speaking newly with his friend and fellow actor Ben Affleck on the Joe Rogan Experience, the pair touched on countless topics across two and a half hours. They were chatting in support of The Rip, their new Netflix police drama.
Damon turned his attention towards the streaming platform, explaining, “The standard way to make an action movie, that we learned, was you usually have three set pieces.”
He went on, “One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third, and the big one with all the explosions and you spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That’s your kind of finale.”
However, this isn’t exactly how the conversation goes behind the scenes at Netflix. Instead, Netflix demands, “Can we get a big one in the first five minutes?’ We want people to stay tuned in.”
An approach like this, Damon clarified, is “going to really start to infringe on how we’re telling these stories.”
Elsewhere, streamers are telling creators, “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.”
This lines up with previous reports that script-writers were being told to “announce what they’re doing so that viewers who have this program on in the background can follow along.”
This comes as Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has been in the headlines for curious comments about the necessity of theatrical runs, as the company moves to take over Warner Bros Discovery. “I believe it is an outmoded idea, for most people — not for everybody,” Sarandos previously said of cinema-going.
Nonetheless, Damon and Affleck praised Netflix elsewhere in the interview, especially as they had worked with the streaming organisation to put together a deal where more of The Rip‘s budget went to paying its crew.
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