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

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).

About Emily Dreibelbis Forlini

Senior Reporter

I’m the expert at PCMag for all things electric vehicles and AI. I’ve written hundreds of articles on these topics, including product reviews, daily news, CEO interviews, and deeply reported features. I also cover other topics within the tech industry, keeping a pulse on what technologies are coming down the pipe that could shape how we live and work.

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