Netflix is pivoting to lower-budget filmmaking projects, moving away from the high-octane big-budget action flicks, the New York Times reports. That would be a piece of great news for filmmakers as it opens up more opportunities to screen your next project on the Netflix platform.
Enough with the mega-budget projects
The story begins with Mark Wahlberg. According to BI in 2020, Netflix paid Wahlberg a whopping $30 million to star in “Spenser Confidential,” which clocks in at 24 on the highest-paid film roles of all time. Critics panned the action thriller, an adaptation of Robert P. Barker’s 2013 novel “Wonderland.” It scored a dismal 36% on Rotten Tomatoes despite the hefty investment. That caused some turbulence in the screening giant, in which Netflix’s previous film chief, Scott Stuber, left the company in January following clashes with bosses over what kinds of films to produce. Before Stuber’s exit, Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria met with the company’s film department, where she said film quality needed to improve, according to the Times. In the meeting, Bajaria told staff that the company was moving in a new direction and to consider leaving if they were not on board, according to the outlet. Now, Dan Lin is the streaming service’s new film chief, and he wants to produce a more varied slate of movies to better appeal to the array of interests among subscribers.
The indie-style filmmaking is the preferred approach
Dan Lin arrived as Netflix’s new film chief on April 1 and has already started making changes. He laid off around 15 creative film executive group members, including one vice president and two directors. (Netflix’s entire film department is around 150 people.) He reorganized his film department by genre rather than budget level and has indicated that Netflix is no longer only the home of expensive action flicks featuring big movie stars, like “The Gray Man” with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans or “Red Notice” with Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Dwayne Johnson, Michael Bay and more. NYT reports that Lin is now tasked with producing a wider variety of films, which the company thinks can be done at a lower budget, to connect better with the site’s audience. One of his first moves was ending massive upfront paychecks for actors.
Good news for filmmakers
Netflix has learned (in the hard way), that the story is the most important factor, and making low-budget films might be preferred over the high-octane mega-budget action flicks which cause the audience to turn off the TV. What does it mean for us? Netflix might be more tolerant to accept projects from independent creators, as far as the content will appeal to its large audience and subscriber base.
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Netflix can be like the A24 of streaming. Invest in solid stories, rely on good storytelling, cast up-and-coming stars. total unknowns or actors that need a chance to prove themselves. This has been proven again and again to be cost effective with shows like MAID proving to have enduring success.
No, instead they’ll give the least funny 90’s SNL cast members $100 Million each for the laziest effort movies / personal vacations you’ve ever seen commuted to video.
Netflix produced films have always been what I call disposable media: average to below average fair that you are only going to watch once, if you can even finish it. Maybe this will actually bring us better films
The reported monster budgets of Netflix original features are hard to understand, especially since the production value is so generically CGI and quantifying a ROI without box office revenue makes it tough. The bulk of programming during the early days of pay cable was low budget narrative for a reason. Hopefully their bean-counting results in them acting as more as gate-openers instead of gate-keepers.
But to be fair, in one sense it could work ..but on the flip side Netflix profits margins will go up big time..now the question is how are they going to structure the payment module? Like residual etc to actors and directors and writers …cause that’s the first thing any good lawyers or and agent and from experience will stand on when representing their client.
Hey. My name is DVF, and I wrote, produced and directed 3 feature films. All three thrillers/ horrors and award winning films looking for a home right now, being one them, fresh out of the oven as in May 2024. Also, I just finished a very special script as well that I’d like to partner up with different companies, NETFLIX HERE I AM, or producers to make it happen. HMU: johnnymontana5150@gmail.com
Was super interested in the article. Killed 2 ads only for them to come back on the 3rd paragraph. Can you find less frustrating means to get ad revenue?