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Topics: Netflix, TV and Film
Michael Slavin
Netflix’s screenwriters have admitted a secret technique they are told to use for people who are watching shows in the background.
As time goes on, TV and films are slowly shifting from an art-form to ‘content’, often to be consumed whilst you’re on your phone or doing something else.
Some people love this, and want nothing more than brainless TV to have on in the background while they’re doing the dishes or sending emails.
This has irked some fans and creatives alike though, with Irish actor Paul Mescal saying of the term: "That's a filthy word. It's not content. It's f*cking work."
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Alas, whichever side you land on, it’s always fascinating to hear about the things we never hear about and see how the sausage gets made.
In a recent deep dive on Netflix and how they operate, the magazine N+1 spoke to several screenwriters who had worked for the streamer who spoke anonymously.
One said that, in speaking with Netflix execs a common note was: “Have this character announce what they’re doing so that viewers who have this program on in the background can follow along.”
While I’ve been guilty in the past of looking at my phone here or there while watching a series or film, now all my focus will be on figuring out when I’m watching something and that is happening.
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One example used was in a recent Lindsay Lohan Netflix original Irish Wish.
They recounted the scene, in which Lohan’s character tells her lover after discussing ‘spending a day together’: “I admit it was a beautiful day filled with dramatic vistas and romantic rain, but that doesn’t give you the right to question my life choices. Tomorrow I’m marrying Paul Kennedy."
He responds by saying ‘fine’, to which she says: “That will be the last you see of me because after this job is over I’m off to Bolivia to photograph an endangered tree lizard.”
Two different sources who spoke to N+1 also stated that Netflix execs were prone to ‘green-light projects without reading the scripts at all.’
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When fans found out about the secret technique that Netflix is using, they were less than pleased.
DiscussingFilm posted the news on Twitter, which led to an avalanche of negative replies.
One said: “They’re just gonna scare away big names from making projects for them lol.”
Another said: “Netflix characters about to sound like NPCs narrating their every move. ‘I am opening the fridge now!’”
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And a third added: “A movie executive that hands down a directive like this has no business making movies”.
LADbible group have contacted Netflix for comment.