Hollywood veteran Matt Damon is sounding the alarm on the second-screen era of filmmaking. During a recent sit-down on the Joe Rogan Experience to promote the new Netflix thriller “The Rip,” Damon and longtime collaborator Ben Affleck pulled back the curtain on how streaming giants are influencing the creative process.
According to Damon, the traditional narrative arc is being sacrificed to accommodate an audience that can’t seem to put their phones down, leading to a shift in pacing and a repetitive approach to storytelling that prioritizes retention over nuance.
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The shift in structure is a departure from the three-act blueprint that has defined action cinema for decades. Damon noted that while filmmakers used to save their biggest resources for a grand finale, the data-driven world of streaming demands immediate gratification.
“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. He noted that the third act was always the priority for the budget, serving as the ultimate payoff for the viewer’s patience.
However, the completion rate metrics used by platforms like Netflix have changed the math for producers. Damon revealed that studios now pressure creators to front-load the action to prevent users from clicking away within the first few minutes. “And now they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay,'” he said. This “hook-at-all-costs” mentality is designed to capture the attention of a distracted audience that is often multitasking while they watch.
Perhaps more frustrating for writers is the mandate to repeat plot points through dialogue—a direct response to the second-screen phenomenon. Because viewers are often scrolling through social media while a movie plays, studios are worried they will lose the thread of the story. Damon shared the blunt feedback actors and writers are receiving: “It wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.”
Ultimately, this trend points toward a future where movies act more like background noise than immersive experiences. By designing films to be understood even when the viewer is only half-listening, the industry risks losing the subtlety that makes great cinema resonant. For Damon and Affleck, navigating this new landscape means balancing their artistic instincts against a digital reality where the smartphone is the director’s biggest competitor.