For those who already watch Netflix like it’s their job, Netflix is now offering you the chance to make it your job: The company is searching for a Tagger, one of the elite few who are tasked with reviewing Netflix content, then assigning it to categories such as “Suspenseful Rogue-Cop Movies” and “Goofy TV Shows Set Inside A Man’s Head Where All The Emotions Are Represented As People. Herman’s Head. You’re Thinking Of Herman’s Head. Just Search For Herman’s Head (O Results Found).” Unfortunately, the job is only available in the UK; then again, your specific surroundings don’t matter, seeing as you won’t be spending any time outside.
According to the job posting, applicants will be responsible for watching Netflix’s movie and TV content—including Netflix originals, which they will be the first to see—after which you will “deconstruct the films and programs and describe them using objective tags.” Those tags will then go into Netflix’s algorithms, which help generate the personalized suggestions and recommendations that keep subscribers who aren’t getting paid to do so watching Netflix all day.
Of course, not just anyone can sit around binge-watching Netflix getting paid for it, because of the entrenched class system that has for too long kept its boot on our neck, until at last we rise up and demand recompense for every Mystery Science Theater episode we watch. Also, because Netflix wants applicants with background in media, preferring those with a degree in film history, or who have worked as either a filmmaker or critic. However, you also have to be good with Excel, so most critics are disqualified.
As The Independent notes, you’d be joining a fairly esteemed company of people on their couches:
Current Netflix Taggers include a mum who speaks fluent Hindi and has worked on several procedural crime shows, a French native and former keyboard player in Stereolab now living in New York who tags French-language content and a film director working on his third feature starring Tim Roth who lives in Mexico City and tags Spanish-language content.
Could the ranks of “Overly Qualified Artists And Academics In A Love-Hate Romance With Their Televisions” soon include you? Or would you like to continue watching Orange Is The New Black on your own dime like a sucker?