Netflix Execs ‘Laughed’ at Claim the Streamer Demands Movies and TV Shows Restate Plot Points for Viewers: ‘There’s No Such Principle’

By Michael Schneider

Michael Schneider

Variety Editor at Large

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Despite 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.

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