. Two years ago, the legendary director reportedly opposed the idea that streaming films should qualify for Oscars. The new pact was seen as a sign that the old guard was finally embracing the realities of a shifting business forced to adapt to changing consumer habits., Netflix’s movie chief. “Throughout Wall Street, throughout the industry, there was recognition about the possibilities that this deal presents. We’re going to do great things together.
“For so long people talked about how technology is going to change things and everything will be different, but they thought it was three or four years away,” says Bryan Lourd, co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency. “Then it happened all at once. COVID sped up things in so many ways and forced artists to step back and understand that change wasn’t coming. It had occurred.”
“We didn’t have anything,” says Stuber. “We didn’t have a library. We couldn’t remake ‘Nutty Professor.’ For me it was important to define ourselves, and the way to do that was by working with great filmmakers. Original storytelling was our superpower.”such as Alfonso Cuarón’s black-and-white drama “Roma” and Paolo Sorrentino’s next film, coming-of-age story “The Hand of God.
Stuber’s knowledge of the filmmaking process, one gleaned from years working in the trenches as a producer, has made him a valuable ally for directors like Berry. It was also a major reason that Noah Baumbach, who made the Oscar-winning “Marriage Story” for the streamer, recently signed a multi-year pact with Netflix.
“The problem with being a producer like Scott, who is hands-on, is it’s not good for your family life,” says Jeff Shell, the CEO of NBCUniversal. “You rarely shoot movies in L.A. these days, so you’re in Atlanta or Vancouver or London for four or five months. That’s OK when you’re single or newly married. It’s not OK when you have young kids.”
“The movie business is in a revolution,” he says. “For all of us who love it, it’s imperative that we work towards revolutionizing it into the best possible form.” In Stuber, Sarandos found his ambassador to the creative community — a low-key film buff and family man who has made movies with most of the top people in the business over his decades in the industry. Stuber spent those early days hustling from one lunch to another, up early for breakfast meetings and out late for drinks with prospective collaborators as he worked to change the narrative around Netflix.
“It’s really about what’s best for the films,” says Stuber. “We feel like it’s important to give the consumers choice. Some want to watch them in theaters, and some want to watch them at home. There’s no one-size-fits-all.” Netflix has had a mixed track record in movies. While it has elbowed into the awards season game, it has had less success making films that endure. Perhaps it’s the nature of streaming, and the vast, ever-expanding ocean of content that is being offered up and replenished with alarming rapidity to fill the great maw of the consumer base, but many of the original movies that are being made for these services fail to capture the popular imagination.
Stuber thinks that will change when the company starts to more frequently report viewership metrics. The streaming revolution may have democratized viewing habits, empowering consumers to watch movies and shows when, how and on whatever device they wanted. It has not been a victory for corporate transparency, however, at least when it comes to sharing ratings or other public data about how those titles perform.