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Matt Damon explains to Joe Rogan why Netflix now makes movies for people with zero attention span
Matt Damon told Joe Rogan that Netflix executives ask screenwriters to create excitement in "the first five minutes" of a movie and to have characters reiterate the plot "three or four times" for people looking at their phones.
Despite successfully partnering with Netflix for their new movie, “The Rip,” Matt Damon and Ben Affleck aren’t afraid to criticize the streaming giant.
Since its Jan. 16 release, “The Rip” has hit No. 1 on Netflix’s viewership charts in 82 countries, with 41.6 million total views.
But during an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Damon told the podcast host why he and Affleck had to change their filmmaking approach for the action-thriller, knowing that “The Rip” was a movie exclusively for home audiences rather than a theatrical release.
“You’re watching in a room, the lights are on, other s*** is going on, the kids are running around, the dog is running around,” Damon said, describing a hypothetical viewer of the movie. “It’s a very different level of attention that you’re willing — or that you’re able — to give to it. And that has a big effect.”
Damon also told Rogan that because Netflix understands that the majority of its viewers aren’t paying close attention — one 2019 study found that 94% of respondents look at their phones while watching TV — it impacts how the streaming giant makes its movies and shows.
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Specifically, Damon said that Netflix asks screenwriters to have characters repeatedly reiterate key plot points, and to include an exciting event in the first five minutes of a movie or show in order to hook viewers.
“The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was, you usually have three set pieces,” Damon said. “One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third. […] 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 tuned in,'” Damon continued. “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.”
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Damon isn’t the first to share this insight about Netflix, but he’s probably the most high-profile person to say it out loud.
A deeply reported feature story for N+1 magazine in 2024 revealed that screenwriters who worked with Netflix were regularly told to “have this character announce what they’re doing so that viewers who have this program on in the background can follow along,” citing turgid dialogue from the Lindsay Lohan romcom “Irish Wish” and the Adam Sandler comedy “Murder Mystery” as examples.
Affleck then chimed in to note that one of the best recent shows on Netflix, the Emmy-winning drama “Adolescence,” was an example of why Netflix executives shouldn’t insist that creatives dumb down their projects.
“That feels more like the exception than the rule,” Damon said.
“My feeling is just that you don’t need to do any of that s***,” Affleck responded.
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