Back in, say, 2019, if a filmmaker signed a deal with Netflix, that meant they’d be paid well and given complete creative freedom. Theater release? Not so much. Still, the pay and latitude — and the ability to reach the streaming service’s massive subscriber base — helped offset the lack of humor that comes with a traditional studio opening a movie in multiplexes around the world.
But those days are in the past.
Dan Lin arrived as Netflix’s new director of movies on April 1, and he’s already started making changes. It fired about 15 people on its executive film creative team, including a vice president and two directors. (Netflix’s entire film division is about 150 people.) It reorganized its film division by genre rather than by budget, and said Netflix is no longer just home to expensive big-screen blockbusters like “The Gray Man” with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans or “Red Notice” with Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Dwayne Johnson.
Instead, Mr. Lin’s mandate is to improve the quality of movies and produce a wider range of movies — at different budget levels — the better to appeal to the diverse interests of Netflix’s 260 million subscribers. It will also change the formulas for how talent is paid, meaning no more huge upfront deals.
In other words, the era of Netflix austerity is well underway. The company declined to comment for this article.
Now that Netflix has emerged as the dominant streaming platform, it no longer needs to pay top dollar to lure auteur creators like Martin Scorsese, Alfonso Cuarón and Bradley Cooper. It also helps that some of the major studios are allowing their movies back on Netflix shortly after they hit theaters, providing more content to attract subscribers. The service’s latest list of the 10 most-watched English-language films included six non-Netflix productions.
Mr Lin’s predecessor as Netflix’s head of cinema, Scott Stuber, took the job in 2017 when the company had no track record as a place for original films. To succeed, Mr. Stuber, who was once a vice president of production at Universal Pictures, spent lavishly on talent, promising the filmmakers almost complete creative freedom and a hefty budget. It worked — to an extent. Directors got to make their passion projects, and their films earned Oscar nominations (though few wins).
In 2021, the streamer peaked its output, stating that it would release a new movie a week.
Mr. Stuber, an affable friend of talent, pushed to get Netflix to embrace the idea of wide theatrical releases. And it was a major coup when he landed the sequels to the blockbuster “Knives Out,” in a $465 million deal that some believed might signal a change of direction. It never happened.
Under Mr. Lin, who once produced at Warner Bros. and produced hits like “Aladdin” for Disney and the “It” and “Lego” movie franchises, the goal is to make Netflix movies better, cheaper and less frequent. Mr. Lin, who declined to comment for this article, also wants his team to become a more aggressive producer — developing its own material rather than waiting for projects from producers and agents to come to them, according to two people familiar with the matter. his thought. spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications. This approach, the thinking goes, will help them have more of a say in the quality of films.
Netflix had been reviewing its pay structure before Mr. Lin’s arrival. Since the company began sharing performance metrics last year, there have been discussions about basing filmmakers’ and actors’ pay on a movie’s performance, similar to how traditional studios reward them when movies do well at the box office.
However, a more economical approach to budgets, along with Netflix’s continued aversion to releasing films in theaters, has some producers and agents in Hollywood realizing that the streaming service is no longer a top choice when trying to find a distributor for their films. .
Several high-profile directors who made films for Netflix have moved on to their next projects. After making “The Irishman” for Netflix, Mr. Scorsese went to AppleTV+ for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Maggie Gyllenhaal Films ‘The Bride’ at Warner Bros. after directing her first film, 2021’s “The Lost Daughter,” for the streamer. And Scott Cooper, who directed “The Pale Blue Eye” for Netflix in 2022, is bringing his long-awaited Bruce Springsteen biopic starring Jeremy Allen White to 20th Century Fox. (New films from Netflix stalwarts Guillermo del Toro and Noah Baumbach are both in production for the service.)
Netflix recently declined to bid for the rights to a short story that Millie Bobby Brown, star of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and “Enola Holmes,” was attached to, two people familiar with the matter said. It is also no longer moving forward with a Kathryn Bigelow film based on David Koepp’s apocalyptic novel Aurora. the director walked away from the project a few months ago.
Edward Berger — who directed “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which won four Oscars, for Netflix — is complaining that the service is demanding budget cuts on a movie he’s trying to make with Colin Farrell, according to three people with knowledge. of the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A spokesman for Mr. Berger declined to comment.
Shortly after Mr. Stuber left the company, Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, gathered members of the film staff in a conference room and told them that the quality of their films needed to improve, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. of the meeting. who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal communications. He also mentioned that if they didn’t feel comfortable moving in a different direction, they might want to consider leaving the company.
One thing that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon is Netflix’s theatrical release strategy, which is a bone of contention with some filmmakers and stars — not to mention theater owners.
“The data from the pandemic is clear that streaming-only movies don’t have the awareness and pop of a first-run movie,” said John Fithian, former president of the National Association of Theater Owners and a founding partner. Fithian Group, which advises clients on ways to support the cinema experience. “Nearly all of the most-watched movies on streaming services are first-run movies.”
However, many in the creative community support Mr. Lin. By consolidating the business, they are desperate to keep Netflix buying movies. The hope is that with a renewed focus, Netflix can greenlight movies that studios would say no to and provide a home for more mid-budget romantic comedies and character studies in Hollywood’s changing landscape.
