NETFLIX: Peaky Blinders; Stranger Things; Orange Is the New Black; The Crown versus THE RIVALS: Disney+’s The Lion King; Apple TV+’s Oprah’s Book Club; Amazon’s Downton Abbey; new hire Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator of Emmy-winning Fleabag.Walking into the Los Angeles headquarters of Netflix recently, I passed a young woman standing on the street outside holding up a sign. “.
The company employs some 6500 people globally, themselves subscribers to a “Netflix culture”, enshrined in an extensive mission statement – “We want to entertain everyone, and make the world smile” – that at times resembles a cult handbook. Employees are urged to “care intensely about our members and Netflix’s success”, and are told, “Succeeding on a dream team is about being effective, not about working hard.
A key to Netflix’s early success was encouraging binge-watching by making whole series available online at once. “We get the credit for that,” Hastings says. “But the real credit should go to DVD box sets. My wife and I would sit in bed and watch“That was the big idea that made Netflix,” says Andy Harries, whose production company Left Bank Pictures makesfor the streaming service. “When they told people what they were going to do, most of the studio heads and TV people told them they were mad.
Eighty per cent of Netflix content continues to be licensed from other companies, but it is pouring huge amounts into developing original programming. It has been reported that of the $US12 billion spent on content in 2018, $US3 billion was on Netflix Originals – up from $US1.6 billion in 2017. Overall, Netflix is expected to spend about $US15 billion on content this year. By comparison, the BBC spends around £3.7 billion , including its radio output.
Boosted by the power of social media, Netflix has become the new source of global water-cooler moments. This is nowhere more true than in documentaries – a field in which Netflix excels, applying the principle of multi-part series to a form customarily restricted to a feature-length format.
“Netflix has 151 million subscribers worldwide. They make more new programming than anyone else. Everyone else is coming from a standing start. It is by far the dominant player; but the question is, how does it maintain that?” Nonetheless, the inexorable rise of Netflix, and the imminent arrival of other streaming services, makes some people nervous. In April, actor Helen Mirren expressed fears that making movies that go direct to streaming is depriving audiences of the singular experience of seeing films in a cinema. “I love Netflix, but f… Netflix,” she said.
GoodWeekendMag Better than Foxtel
GoodWeekendMag Maybe, maybe not. Great story.