Cary Fukunaga explains how Netflix's algorithm influenced the Maniac creative process, says "there's nothing really inventive" about True Detective

GQ

Fukunaga, who won an Emmy for directing the first season of True Detective, explained how Netflix's famous algorithm impacted his new limited series Maniac, starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill. "Because Netflix is a data company, they know exactly how their viewers watch things," he says in a GQ profile. "So they can look at something you're writing and say, 'We know based on our data that if you do this, we will lose this many viewers.' So it's a different kind of note-giving. It's not like, 'Let's discuss this and maybe I'm gonna win.' The algorithm's argument is gonna win at the end of the day. So the question is do we want to make a creative decision at the risk of losing people." Fukunaga also talked about True Detective, which he has nothing to do with anymore except for a producing credit, saying he wanted to break up the talking and philosophizing with his famous six-minute tracking shot from the fourth episode. But creator Nic Pizzolatto wasn't interested. "I mean, there's nothing really that inventive about" True Detective, Fukunaga says. "It's just another crime drama." Fukunaga says he wanted to "do something fun."