erik lundegaard

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Sunday October 02, 2011

When Writers of Code Write Copy

Not to tread on the territory of AKC, the Copy Curmudgeon, but I saw this the other day while browsing Netflix's site:

Netflix recommendations: based on your interest in...

It's less what they recommend than how they recommend it.

Based upon my interest in “Straight Time,” starring Dustin Hoffman, and “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,” starring Richard Dreyfuss, Netflix automatically generates the following recommendation: Understated Movies based on a book from the 1970s.

By which it means: Understated 1970s movies based on books. (Only one of the above, “Straight Time,” was based on a book from the 1970s.)

Raise the rates, fire the writers, apparently.

Posted at 08:35 AM on Sunday October 02, 2011 in category Technology