Last summer, Netflix offered Hollywood something unexpected: a rare peek inside the highly secretive streaming service. The company rented out a huge L.A. soundstage and invited each of the major talent agencies to come one by one and watch presentations from the heads of Netflix’s many divisions–from unscripted series to stand-up comedy–as they outlined the company’s ambitions. For Netflix to lavish this kind of attention on agencies–one attendee described the food offerings as “craft services gone wild”–it wanted something. The primary, not-so-secret message to the gatekeepers of the world’s biggest stars? Please make Netflix your destination, not your last resort, for making movies. “How do we convince A-list actors and directors to work at our studio?” is how one agent who was there describes the subtext of Netflix’s message. “How do we one day get Tarantino?”
Since launching its first original show, House of Cards, in 2013, Netflix has more than proven itself in the television game. Buzzy series like Orange Is the New Black and Stranger Things have helped the company grow to 137 million subscribers, and last year, it tied with HBO for the most Emmy trophies.
For all its TV success, though, Netflix still needs films. “Movies are what drive people to a streaming platform,” another agent tells me. “TV series are what keep them engaged.” Netflix has had licensing rights to existing film catalogs from Disney and other studios since it started streaming in 2007, but the competitive landscape will change radically in 2019: Disney and WarnerMedia have announced plans to launch their own streaming video apps before the end of the year, and they will likely be reserving most of their content for themselves. Meanwhile, Amazon is ramping up its moviemaking ambitions, and Apple is also expected to enter the fray this year. For Netflix to maintain its streaming lead–and prove that one of the stodgiest, most entrenched industries in the world can be sustainably disrupted–it needs to build its own library and create fresh buzz.
This explains why so many new Netflix films have been appearing in the “Recently Added” row of your Netflix app. In 2018, the company released more than 80 original movies, surpassing all the major studios combined. Its 2019 slate includes big-budget features from Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Michael Bay (6 Underground), and Steven Soderbergh (The Laundromat). Netflix even recently acquired a top Oscar consultancy–the one that ran the Best Picture campaigns for both La La Land and Moonlight.
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