Denying it tells filmmakers to reiterate plots, Netflix says it doesn’t tell filmmakers to reiterate plots

While on the promotional trail for their Netflix movie The Rip, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck appeared on the transphobic conspiracy theory and misinformation podcast The Joe Rogan Experience with a conspiracy of their own. Netflix, Damon says, encourages its filmmakers to reiterate “the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.” This isn’t necessarily a new or shocking revelation. In 2024, N+1 Magazine published a sprawling history by Will Tavlin of the Netflix movie factory and reported that executives told screenwriters, “Have this character announce what they’re doing so that viewers who have this program on in the background can follow along.” And to be fair, Netflix isn’t the only studio accused of this form of dumbed-down dialogue. Last October, YouTuber Amelia McCluskey made a similar argument toward the Oscar-winning blockbuster Sinners, which also has instances of holding the phone-addicted audience’s hand. This is actually one of those criticisms, where, once someone points the practice out, you hear it everywhere, but we digress.

Nevertheless, after a sketch parodying the allegation at this past week’s Oscars got a few chuckles and probably a few collar tugs from the Netflix execs in the audience, the streamer’s film chief felt it funny enough to publicly deny doing it. Per The Hollywood Reporter, at Wednesday’s Netflix press event, Netflix film chairman Dan Lin told reporters, “There is no such principle.” In fact, they all had a good laugh about it “when we watched that bit at the Oscars.” 

“I mean, if you watch our movies or TV shows, we don’t repeat our plots,” he says, implying that Matt Damon doesn’t watch Netflix movies, like The Rip, now on Netflix. “I don’t know where that comment came from […] We’re just focused on making great movies. There’s no formula or procedure.”