The age of streaming has changed film and TV forever – and Matt Damon has some terrifying observations about it.
Damon recently appeared on an episode of The Joe Rogan Podcast alongside friend and collaborator Ben Affleck to promote their new movie The Rip, with the pair reminiscing with Rogan about how platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and others have made it so we can watch hours of back-to-back shows or movies from the comfort of our own home or on our phones while commuting to work.
The developments in technology have, without a doubt, made it easier for us to consume media, but it also means streamers have to battle for our attention – and this is something which Damon has certainly picked up on.
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"The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was, you usually have three set pieces. One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third," Damon explained, adding that filmmakers would spend 'most of [their] money' on a climactic finale in the third act.
However, this isn't always the case nowadays, as studios want to grab a viewer's attention and keep it in a world of endless choice.
"Now they’re like, 'Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay," the Good Will Hunting actor stated.
He then went on to explain that some films will even reiterate 'the plot three or four times in the dialogue' to account for people who will be scrolling on their phones while watching.
Although the pair did note that not every film or TV series released on streaming has fallen foul of this rule - Affleck noted Stephen Graham's Adolescence as a notable example - Damon admitted he believed it was the exception rather than the norm.
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Touching on how modern technology had changed the film industry more broadly, Affleck said: "It's supply and demand. [If] people want to look at their phone they can look at TikTok... they're going to do that. I think what you can do is make s**t the best you can.
"You can make it really good, and people can still go to the movies," he added. "I think we have this idea that it's like an existential threat... People are still going to go to the movies because it feels like a cool thing to do."
Topics: Matt Damon, Film, TV and Film
Brenna Cooper