even with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s recent suggestion, Netflix execs say they’re not asking filmmakers to repeat their film or TV plots in show dialogue.
“There is no such principle,” Netflix film chief Dan Lin told reporters Wednesday as the streamer met with press to tout its upcoming slate.
Affleck and Damon made their comments on the “Joe Rogan Experience” to promote their new Netflix film “The Rip,” and suggested that Netflix had asked creatives to repeat “the plot three or four times in the dialogue” to account for people being on their phones. The news led to a gag during Sunday’s Oscars, where Sterling K. Brown and host Conan O’Brien jokingly suggested how “Casablanca” might be remade under that edict.
“We actually all laughed when we watched that bit at the Oscars, but there’s no such principle,” Lin said at the Netflix press conference. “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. Certainly, we are focused on making great movies.”
In direct contrast to the idea that Netflix was asking creatives to add explainers to their projects, scripted series head Jinny Howe joked that chief content officer Bela Bajaria is “kind of exposition police and very against being overly explainer about things… We know how savvy the audiences are. We know how much fans are paying attention, and we are really treating them as they are sophisticated and as smart as they are.”
Bajaria added, “I think it’s so offensive to creators and filmmakers, to think that first of all, we would give them a bad note like that, and they would just take it.”
Asked about whether Netflix was still pondering different film windows now that the company’s deal to acquire Warner Bros. is over, Lin said “give us time” to articulate whether anything has changed. “We are a streaming first company,” he said. “The strategy works really well for us. You can see our members watch seven movies a month. But you can see how, through the Warners process, we built a closer relationship with the theater owners. We are looking for what special events that we can have in theatrical but just give us some time to figure out what we’re doing.”
Bajaria clarified that much of Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ promises about 45-day windows in theaters referred to the Warner Bros. output, not the Netflix film output — that strategy remains unchanged, although the streamer continues to experiment with theatrical runs for both TV and feature content.
“I don’t want you to conflate the two. When Ted was talking about what Warner Bros., it’s in a different business than Netflix is in,” Bajaria said. “But we have obviously done certain things in theatrical.”
Among other topics discussed:
• On Netflix purchasing InterPositive, a start-up founded by Ben Affleck that makes AI-powered tools for filmmakers: “What I think is really cool and interesting about InterPositive is that it was Ben as actor and filmmaker of really looking at ‘what would make this film more efficient, or could I do certain things that I couldn’t do otherwise?’ He was experimenting on his own for many years as he built it… We have always said we want to make sure that we have the best tools if filmmakers want them. Some don’t want them; they don’t have to use them. But the ones that do, if we had a tool that was actually created by a filmmaker and very practical, I think that’s sort of the most exciting thing about it.”
• On Netflix experiential events, including “KPop Demon Hunters” coming to Netflix House: “It’s really about building fandom,” Lin said. “We’re doing that with our movies and series, and now we’re doing it with a live experience. There’s a new one coming on, ‘KPop Demon Hunters.’ To be able to experience ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ at Netflix House in Philadelphia would be amazing.”
• On keeping up with the competition now that a combined Warner Bros./Paramount might be on the hunt for talent: “We’re really happy with the groups of filmmakers that we work with now, when you look at Greta Gerwig, David Fincher, Guillermo del Toro,” Lin said. “We can’t work with everybody, but we’re really happy with the talent that we’re working with… I think we will be even better because we have that competition. It just makes us hungrier, sharper, so we’re not afraid of the competition.”
Added Bajaria: “We’ve always had competition. This isn’t really any different. There’s competition all around the world… It’s always been, for us, to understand what the competition is, not head in the sand at all, to understand what the market is, and really keenly aware of what’s happening… We have to do this every day, all day, and not take our eye off the prize.”
• On shorter gaps between seasons: “We would love things to come back faster for the audience,” Bajaria said. “It also depends on the creator, writing and getting it all up and running.”
• On live series, and whether “Star Search” will return for a Season 2: “We’re trying to figure that out,” Bajaria said. “It was a talent competition. We haven’t done something like that, in that format and the way we launched it. I think we’re trying to figure out the right format for it. We really liked it, and I thought there was a lot of good things in there. We’re always like, ‘Let’s try something.’ Sometimes you have to have patience and build something like that. We’re still evaluating.”
• On whether there will be more talk shows on Netflix: “It’s not like, ‘Oh, we have to do talk.’ [John] Mulaney had a really great fresh take, and it was just an opportunity, somebody we had worked with a lot, we tried in Netflix Is A Joke. There’s no ‘yes or no.’ It’s not like, we’ll never do it because it hasn’t really worked as well.”
• On whether they’d be interested in bringing in Stephen Colbert after he ends his CBS run: “I mean, he hasn’t come in and had a conversation,” Bajaria said.
Source: variety.com
