CREDIT: COURTESY OF THE NETFLAKES PODCAST
The NetFlakes podcast and blog was created by a Londoner to celebrate and lament the content that Canadian Netflix has to offer.

In February of last year, London native Dylan Clark-Moore started the podcast NetFlakes after many years running a movie review blog.

Clark-Moore along with guests such as Caroline Diezyn, who appears in every third episode, utilizes the podcast platform to discuss and dissect content appearing on Canadian Netflix.

“The idea of doing a podcast about Canadian Netflix came about because I knew I wanted to do a podcast about movies but that’s not enough of a hook… Since Netflix is how I watch most of my own content, it seemed like a good fit,” Clark-Moore said.

Clark-Moore described how the limited content in the Canadian Netflix used to be the root of the jokes.

“It was about either watching the garbage or mining Netflix for the few truly great movies it had.”

But according to Clark-Moore, there is much more variety now and a lot of Canadians use the site as their source for entertainment.

“A majority of Canadian use Netflix so I love the idea that somebody can either a) see that we’re covering a particular movie and then just watch it right then and there or b) listen to us talk about a movie and become inspired to watch that movie that night.”

Diezyn, as a PhD literature student at Western University, she utilizes the critical theory she has encountered in her studies as a lens with which to analyze the Netflix content for the podcast and blog.

“The best part about working on The NetFlakes Podcast and blog is that I get to have fun conversations about media I enjoy while tapping into the research I’m doing for my doctoral degree at Western. I wouldn’t have any occasion to talk about the uncanny or homo-social desire outside of my schoolwork if it wasn’t for NetFlakes.”

As much fun as critically dissecting Netflix content is, it takes a lot of work. From the onset, there were learning curves that had to be overcome.

Clark-Moore noted that much of the struggle was born out of assumptions about the ease of creating a podcast.

“I thought it was as simple as plugging two USB microphones into my computer, recording ourselves being insightful and hilarious and then putting it onto the internet and becoming famous. Every step of the way has been like uncovering a new level of ignorance I didn’t know I had.”

While NetFlakes is not currently Clark-Moore’s full-time job, he has hopes that it will be in the future.

“I absolutely consider it a job. Ultimately, my goal is to do NetFlakes full time and dedicate my working life to bringing Canadians together through conversations about culture… I hope that it’s clear from the content that we are creating something exactly how we want to.”

It is important to note that there is quite a bit of time involved in this project. Over 10 hours a week is spent watching movies, taking notes, recording, editing, blogging and engaging in social media promotion.

Regardless of the work and commitment involved, Clark-Moore believes in the power of this platform and topic for sharing ideas and starting conversations.

“I believe that movies and culture are a common language that we all share and so by using a dialect that we [Canadians and beyond] have access to, we can engage in truly meaningful conversations using these films as a launching point.”

For anyone interested in checking out the NetFlakes podcast they can do so for free on iTunes and SoundCloud.