With Netflix gaining a film chief in Dan Lin, the streamer’s era of hunting prestige is seemingly over.
A recent report from The New York Times profiles what Lin is looking to do with Netflix, and the new era is already making bold moves. Since the exec’s arrival earlier this month, the streaming service laid off around 15 creative film executive group members, including one vice president and two directors.
Part of Lin’s plan seems to be to “improve the quality of the movies and produce a wider spectrum of films” while also “changing the formulas for how talent is paid, meaning no more enormous upfront deals.” Thus, they want fewer Maestro movies and more crowd-pleasers.
The streamer is seeking fewer auteurs and more filmmakers who can hit what Lin feels audiences will want. However, producers and filmmakers are already dealing with Netflix’s pay shift and refusal to release theatrical releases, so this new era is already on a rocky foundation.
This move has already brought some significant shifts, like projects having budgets cut in half or scrapped altogether. NYT notes, “Netflix recently declined to bid on the rights” to a short story that Millie Bobby Brown was attached to, and the streamer will no longer be moving forward with a film by Kathryn Bigelow based on David Koepp’s apocalyptic novel Aurora.
On top of all that, Edward Berger (director of 4x Academy Award winner All Quiet on the Western Front) “has been complaining that the service is demanding budget cuts on a film he’s trying to put together with Colin Farrell.”
Some people are more positive however, hoping Netflix will become a home for movies that the studios would say no to, given life to often-forgotten genres like romantic comedies and mid-range character-driven dramas.
Let’s see where Netflix is during awards season next year or if they’ll become the audience favorite again.
