Lynn Fisher’s Nestflix site catalogs your favorite fake films from TV and movies

You won’t find Threat Level Midnight on Netflix, but you can find it on Nestflix.

Threat Level Midnight isn’t a real movie, but a creation for the Steve Carell sitcom The Office, and that’s why it’s not on Netflix. But it is on Nestflix, which launched Wednesday. Nestflix is the creation of Phoenix-area web developer Lynn Fisher. Fisher created the site, which catalogs over 400 fake shows and movies dreamed up for real shows and movies, to create a place where all these unique offerings could reside.

“I’ve always really enjoyed when a movie or show has a fake movie/show inside it. It feels like a special little treat. I started noodling on how many of these fake titles there are (so many!) and thought it could make for a cool wiki-type site. I love cataloging patterns or consolidating scattered data for these projects and this seemed like it checked those boxes,” she told Pop Culture Junkie.

The name of the site was inspired by the stories within stories aspect of the entries. “I looked for a category/name for what these films within films are called and “nested stories” felt like it fit and then the pun Nestflix fell out of the sky perfectly formed. So it made sense to make the site look like a real streaming platform. And then it all came together really well after that,” Fisher said.

Fisher’s talents as a web designer helped her create the site, but filling it with content required a lot of research, pulling from various sites, lists and wikis.

“IĀ referenced a whole bunch of wikis (Wikipedia,Ā fandom.com, and various blogs and list articles throughout the years). Wiki maintainers are the real heroes!”

Compiling all the information, though, was up to her. “I was then able to create two huge spreadsheets, track timestamps for the movies, plan which episodes I needed to watch, and then figure out which streaming services offered them. I took screencaps, documented details, and created images and vector logos for each entry. It really was a lot of work now that I look at it all together!”

The entries on the site are searchable by title, parent film or show, and by actor (or rather, the character who played the actor.) You’ll find dozens of entries from shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and 30 Rock, as well as older fake films like Angels with Filthy Souls, the noir featured prominently in the 1990 movie Home Alone. The footage played during the film was shot just for the movie, for all that it looks like an actual film.

Angels with Filthy Souls, the faux flick from Home Alone, has an entry on Nestflix

Fisher says that’s one of her favorite invented movies. “I loveĀ Angels with Filthy SoulsĀ fromĀ Home AloneĀ of course, kind of the classic one you think of. I love all the shows fromĀ Insecure. They’re all so detailed and well done. Some other faves areĀ Sunrise Bay,Ā Duck-tective, andĀ Galaxy Quest,” she said.

When the site first launched, fans could submit any titles they thought she missed, but that function has been paused temporarily while Fisher catches up on the backlog. “As I have time, I plan to keep adding movies and shows from the huge list I have going. It’s a real big list so we’ll see if I can make a dent.”

The site resembles a streaming site; the searchable platform has stills, logos, art, and metadata looking like it’s all ready to start with a click of your mouse or remote.Ā One thing not featured: video clips. “No plans for adding video because I suspect it will be a copyright mess!”

Threat Level Midnight, Michael Scott’s magnum opus as seen on The Office, is featured.

Fisher’s love of pop culture is evident in her other sites, which include fun and beautifully-designed tributes to some of Fisher’s favorite shows like a menu-based tribute to The Good Place, a chance to dress David Rose from Schitt’s Creek, and fun facts about Top Chef and its contestants, as well as a clever look at the age gap between leading men and their (usually much younger) female counterparts in so many, many movies. Her website, which has links to all her work is here.

Netflix hasn’t weighed in on Fisher’s site yet. “If they’ve seen it, hopefully they like it and have a sense of humor!”