[NEWS] Netflix Is Telling Writers to Dumb Down Shows Since Viewers Are on Their Phones

I don't even own a mobile phone or tablet, but I sometimes do the puzzles in the daily newspaper (an actual printed and delivered copy!) while watching TV in the evenings, although mainly during quiz shows where what is happening on-screen isn't really important since you can still hear the questions, and the answers given by contestants who are usually dumber than tree stumps.
    Netflix Is Telling Writers to Dumb Down Shows
    Since Viewers Are on Their Phones
    ---------------------------------------------
    Amid a push to perfect 'casual viewing,' creatives say
    streaming execs are requiring them to remove nuance and
    visual cues, and do things like announce when characters
    enter a room.
    Compelling content can be hard to find on Netflix these
    days, and a new report suggests the streaming giant
    wants it that way.
    Executives are pushing writers to develop simpler, less
    complex scripts to keep distracted viewers engaged,
    according to N+1 magazine. Multiple screenwriters report
    that company executives are sending back scripts with
    requests to narrate the action, such as announcing when
    characters enter the room.
    Netflix knows we are on our phones all the time, with as
    many as 94% of people tinkering on their devices while
    watching TV, according to a 2019 study commissioned by
    Facebook. Dumbed-down scripts that lack nuance and visual
    cues can help viewers with divided attention follow along,
    making them less likely to turn the program off.
    One example of black-and-white dialogue cited by N+1 is
    the 2024 Lindsay Lohan Netflix flick Irish Wish. At one
    point, Lohan tells her love interest, James: "We spent 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."
    Here, Lohan describes the visuals ("dramatic vistas and
    romantic rain"), which an engaged viewer would remember
    but a distracted one wouldn't have seen. She then
    reiterates her intention to marry, a key plot point.
    James responds in kind with a retort fit for a telegram:
    "Fine. 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."
    In fairness, we wouldn't necessarily expect hard-hitting
    narratives from a rom-com. But the N+1 report lines up
    with a similar account from actress and producer Justine
    Batemen of Family Ties. "I've heard from showrunners who
    are given notes from the streamers that 'this isn't
    second screen enough,'" she told The Hollywood Reporter
    in 2023. "Meaning the viewer's primary screen is their
    phone and the laptop, and they don't want anything on
    your show to distract them from their primary screen
    because if they get distracted, they might look up, be
    confused, and go turn it off."
    Though Netflix could still produce Oscar-nominated titles
    like The Irishman (2020) and Don't Look Up (2021), it now
    seems focused on perfecting the art of background TV.
    Bateman used the term "visual muzak," or the equivalent
    of elevator music for TV.
    Some viewers have begun noticing simplistic, even awkward,
    dialogue. One took to Reddit to ask if The Perfect Couple
    (2024) was written by a human or AI. Perhaps if audiences
    do not demand more complex scripts, it could be easier for
    Netflix to replace a larger portion of its scriptwriting
    with AI.
    "I had actually forgotten I had watched The Perfect Couple,"
    TV journalist Manori Ravindran tells the BBC. Is the golden
    age of TV writing over, steadily being replaced with a
    never-ending stream of forgettable, premium background
    content?
    Netflix is also encouraging viewers to ditch the living
    room TV and only watch content on their mobile devices,
    chief product officer Eunice Kim told Fortune in a 2023
    interview. Mobile devices offer more personalized
    advertising experiences, whereas a living room TV
    experience is more communal. Kim described the Netflix
    mobile app as a "Swiss army knife to grab users' attention
    in different ways."
    The company is rapidly building out bespoke advertising
    tech that gives businesses more flexibility and control over
    which users see their ads and when. Over 50% of new Netflix
    users are opting for the $6.99/month subscription with ads,
    which is less than half the cost of the regular standard
    plan ($15.49/month) and much cheaper than the top-tier
    premium plan ($22.99/month).
    <https://au.pcmag.com/video-streaming-services/109083/netflix-is-telling-writers-to-dumb-down-shows-since-viewers-are-on-their-phones>