‘Expats’: Filmmaker Lulu Wang Is “Very Angry” About Prime Video Adding Commercials In Her New Series

Recently, it was announced that Amazon is joining the ranks of Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services by offering a cheaper, ad-infused tier for its streaming service, Prime Video. This would allow folks to pay less monthly, but they have to deal with commercials during their streaming content. For consumers, this is a choice. You either pay more or experience ads. For filmmakers and creators like Lulu Wang, this is a shocking announcement that really changes how their art is being consumed. 

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In a new interview with THR, where she’s promoting her highly anticipated series, “Expats,” which stars Nicole Kidman and debuts on Prime Video on January 26, filmmaker Lulu Wang was asked about the recent decision by Amazon to create a subscription tier that includes ads. As you might hope, that news doesn’t change anything creatively with “Expats.” Viewers with and without ads will get the same content, but it’s clear Wang had no idea Prime Video was going to force ad breaks in her series. 

“No, and I’m very angry about that,” said the filmmaker when asked if she knew beforehand that Prime Video was going to include ads for some subscribers. “If I had known, I would’ve created it in a different way because it’s not a show that has cliffhangers or commercial breaks to make sure people come back.”

Interestingly, it appears Wang doesn’t fully know if she’ll be consulted about when the ads are inserted into her show. If you’ve watched many streaming services that feature ads, you know that a lot of the time, the ads can be jarring, as the content isn’t created with breaks in mind. So, you hope it’s during some sort of scene transition, but that’s not always the case. When asked about if she is going to have input about where the ads are inserted, Wang is unsure.

“No. Well, I mean, I don’t know. They say maybe,” explained Wang. “We’re still in the middle of dealing with it, but I just think that’s horrible.”

She added, “What’s funny is that in episode five, there actually is a commercial break in the news [on the show], and it’s a bit of an absurd moment because of what’s happening in the news and then the commercial that comes right after or in the middle of it. So, that’s what I kind of envision. We’re in the middle of a really dramatic scene and then you see some Gatorade or beauty commercial.”

Some people might see these comments as some sort of sour grapes response from Wang. For many, ads don’t really impact the viewing experience. However, if you create something that isn’t meant to have ads and you haphazardly insert them, it really can break the immersion, as well as the flow of the story. Quality network TV can use ad breaks in creative and interesting ways. But all of those shows know full well that ads are going to be employed. So, they’re created with that in mind. 

Wang is clearly upset that many people who watch “Expats” are going to have their viewing experience interrupted multiple times by commercials. And for someone like Wang, who is used to working on feature films, this is a considerably different situation than what she signed up for.

We’ll have to wait and see how Prime Video implements the ad tier and if creators like Wang will have input on where and when ads are put in their content. Otherwise, filmmakers might have to change how they create streaming content.