Netflix execs are pretty adamant that they don’t ask their creators to dumb down the plot of a film or series for inattentive viewers.
“There is no such principle,” Netflix film chief Dan Lin told reporters Wednesday.
The comments come a few days after a bit at the Oscars with Conan O’Brien and Sterling K. Brown that suggested streamers often make filmmakers repeat information because viewers likely are on their phones. In the sketch, the pair jokingly modernize a scene from Casablanca by over-explaining everything.
“We actually all laughed when we watched that bit at the Oscars, but there’s no such principle,” Lin said. “I mean, if you watch our movies or TV shows, we don’t repeat our plot. So I don’t know where that comment came from. We are focused on making great movies.”
This wasn’t the first time in that the accusation has been levied at the streamers, and Netflix in particular has been called out by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as a culprit. While promoting the pair’s action film The Rip, Damon said: “[Netflix is] like, ‘Can we get a big [action sequence] in the first five minutes? We want people to stay tuned in. 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.’”
Affleck pointed to a few examples, like Adolescence, that “demonstrates you don’t have to” follow that model in order to succeed.
But Lin’s insistence that there’s no model to speak of was backed up by Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria and Head of UCAN (U.S.-Canada) Scripted Series Jinny Howe.
“I think it’s so offensive to creators and filmmakers to think that, first of all, we could give them a bad note like that and they would just take it,” Bajaria said.
Howe added that the company’s leaders “know how savvy the audiences are.”
“We know how much fans are paying attention, and we’re really treating them as sophisticated and as smart as they are, because they call out everything,” she said.
Speaking of Affleck, Bajaria also touched on the acquisition of his AI company InterPositive, which makes tools developed by and intended for filmmakers. The InterPositive purchase stemmed from the strong relationship between Netflix and Affleck. They also reaffirmed those ties recently by setting a first-look deal with Artists Equity, the new-model production company led by Affleck and Damon.
“He built it actually from the vision of a filmmaker,” she said. “He kind of went from filmmaking and set toward AI, not the other way around. So, it was really a tool that could be very useful and actually practical for filmmakers, and I think that’s what’s exciting about it.”
However, Bajaria also indicated that InterPositive’s AI tools would remain an option for filmmakers, rather than anything that’s integrated into Netflix’s core process.
“I want to make sure we have the best tools if filmmakers want them,” she said. “Some don’t want them. They don’t have to use them.”