Matt Damon is pulling back the curtain on what he says is one of the biggest ways streaming has reshaped filmmaking, and it has less to do with cameras or budgets than it does with audience attention spans.
Damon and longtime collaborator Ben Affleck recently appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience to promote their upcoming Netflix movie The Rip, and the duo discussed how the streaming platform's viewership habits are influencing the structure and pacing of modern films.
According to Damon, the big difference is how people watch movies at home versus in theaters, and Netflix knows it.
He explained that a movie theater forces audiences into a focused experience, while watching at home typically comes with distractions, including multitasking and scrolling. That shift, Damon said, has put pressure on streamers to hook audiences immediately and repeatedly remind them what's happening.
"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 said, describing the traditional blueprint for action movies. "You spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That's your finale."
But on streaming, Damon said the priorities change fast.
"And now they're like, 'Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay,'" he continued. "And 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.'"
Damon's comments highlight what many filmmakers have quietly complained about for years: that streaming platforms increasingly lean into retention-based storytelling, prioritizing quick engagement over slow builds and more patient narrative structure.
Affleck, however, pushed back on the idea that pacing and repeated exposition are necessary for success. He pointed to the streamer's limited series hit Adolescence as proof that audiences will still lock in for something slower and heavier when it's done well.
"But then you look at 'Adolescence,' and it didn't do any of that shit," Affleck said. "And it's fucking great. And it's dark too. It's tragic and intense."
Affleck described the series as the type of storytelling that would normally be seen as risky in an algorithm-driven world, full of quiet moments and long stretches with minimal dialogue.
"[It's about] this guy who finds out his kid is accused of murder. There are long shots of the back of their heads. They get in the car, nobody says anything," Affleck added.
While Affleck felt the show demonstrates creators don't have to rely on streamer-friendly tricks to satisfy audiences, Damon suggested the industry still sees those kinds of successes as exceptions rather than the rule.