Netflix executives are insisting that they aren't "trying to dumb things down" for their often-distracted viewers.
Earlier this year, while promoting the Netflix movieThe Rip,Matt Damon saidthe streamer asks filmmakers to use a framing that reiterates "the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they're watching." That revelation led to a gag at Sunday's Oscars where host Conan O'Brien and Sterling K. Brown hilariously acted out howCasablancamight be remade under this type of direction. Netflix brass are now pushing back on that narrative.
"We actually all laughed when we watched that bit at the Oscars, but there's no such principle," film chairman Dan Lin said at a press event Wednesday. "If you watch our movies or shows, we don't repeat our plot, so I don't know where that came from. We are focused on making great movies. "
Speaking to Joe Roganin January, Damon discussed the challenges of making films for streaming. "You're watching in a room, the lights are on, other s‑‑‑ 's going on, the kids are running around, the dogs are running around, whatever it is," he said. "It's just a very different level of attention that you're willing, or that you're able, to give to it."
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He went on to posit that the alleged Netflix approach is "going to really start to infringe on how we're telling these stories."
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Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria believes "it's so offensive to creators and filmmakers to think that we would give them a bad note like that and they would just take it." Adding that the "haters gotta hate," the executive said she more frequently tells creatives to pull back from repeating information.
"We know how savvy the audiences are, and we are really treating them as sophisticated and as smart as they are, because they call out everything," scripted TV head Jinny Lowe added. "We're not trying to dumb things down."
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