Netflix plans to make 25-30 films a year as plant to make fewer films

Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Netflix plans to make 25-30 films a year as plant to make fewer films.

In 2018, “Saturday Night Live” captured the public perception of Netflix as a ceaseless river of content. In a satiric ad, the late-night program hawked the streaming service as an “endless scroll,” promising that “by the time you’ve reached the bottom of our menu, there’s new shows at the top.” And when it came to movies, “SNL” joked that Netflix was so desperate for things to make, it had resorted to shooting the fake films from “Entourage.”

Scott Stuber, the head of Netflix’s film division, is the man responsible for feeding the algorithm, and for much of his six-year run, his mandate was clear: quantity, not quality. In 2020, for instance, Netflix announced it planned to release a new movie every week. It never got around to making “Medellín,” Vincent Chase’s passion project from “Entourage,” but the strain of producing so many films showed. For every Oscar winner like “Roma,” there was an array of forgettable movies, such as “Thunder Force,” a laugh-deprived superhero farce, or “The Last Thing He Wanted,” a dreary Anne Hathaway drama that no one, it seemed, wanted to watch. 

The restructuring will also mean layoffs, most notably the departure of executives Lisa Nishimura, famously tied to Tiger King, and Vice President for Film Ian Bricke.

The pivoting is reported to have come down from Netflix Film Chief Scott Stuber, who has placed an emphasis on cutting down on title releases to ensure the production of high-quality projects. Despite hits like Red Notice, Don’t Look Up, and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, recent releases from Netflix have failed to achieve accolades, notable streaming numbers, or make a cultural impact.

Now, Netflix is shifting strategy again and opting to take fewer bets. Instead of making roughly 50 films annually, the goal is to back between 25 and 30. The result of this judiciousness is one of the company’s strongest fall film slates in recent memory, a compelling mixture of broadly appealing comedies, thrillers and sci-fi adventures, along with Oscar contenders from the likes of Bradley Cooper and the Obamas. 

When I meet with Stuber in October, it’s the day after Netflix has commandeered Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall for the lavish premiere of “Maestro,” a look at the tangled relationship between Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia, that’s expected to be a major awards player. The film has earned rapturous reviews. Stuber is thrilled by the critical reception and happy that Cooper, who produced, wrote and directed the film in addition to starring in it, received a waiver from the striking actors union to attend the screening. “Maestro,” the Netflix film chief argues, embodies the company’s new approach.