Netflix’s Big Wake-Up Call: The Power Clash Behind the Crash
/source in comments, continues in comments/
As rivals toggle between schadenfreude and fear, top creators and insiders are increasingly becoming vocal about what’s gone wrong with the streaming giant’s culture.s. “It gave the power of greenlight to several people. It caused absolute demoralization and chaos. Everybody thought it was a terrible thing Ted did, allowing one team to greenlight something that another team had passed on.” Though the show was critically panned (it sits at 11 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), it performed well enough to get a second season. “It sent a message to Ted because it did OK numbers,” this source continues. “Ted, wanting to increase content by a huge amount, started to look to Bela as what the company should be. Cindy kept saying we should still be betting on high-end creators and making some cheaper things, too.” (A Netflix insider notes that Sarandos was impressed when Bajaria picked up the thriller You from Lifetime — a project that Holland had rejected as a pitch. The series turned into a Netflix hit.)
A Netflix rep stated in reply to a request for comment, “Bela is an exceptional creative executive with an eye for quality as well as shows that will appeal to many different audiences. Under her leadership we’ve expanded the variety and breadth of our TV programming in the U.S. and internationally.” Among the shows Bajaria is credited for are megahit Squid Game and Lupin.
Sources say some Netflix executives began to worry about the burgeoning number of shows. “It was, ‘Hey, guys, do we think this is enough? Because we are cannibalizing our own sh-t,'” says a former insider. And then there was Holland’s concern about the lack of curation and quality control. An important creative talent who had successes working with Holland muses: “I wonder if, say, a bonobo throwing sh-t at a whiteboard full of titles as a method of deciding what projects to make would have more or less success than all of these other ‘deciders’ who think they know what people want or don’t want.”
But a prominent creative who was squarely on Team Holland says, “They pitted Bela and Cindy against each other.” Adds a former Netflix insider, “People would always say they didn’t know who to go to [to pitch]. And Ted loved that stupid phrase, ‘There are multiple paths to yes.’”
One of Holland’s last projects for Netflix was The Queen’s Gambit, an expensive period piece that sources say was mocked as “Holland’s Folly” by some in-house. According to sources, Bajaria and her staff were dismissive and even unpleasant to the team that worked on it. (A Netflix spokesperson says that is false.) When the series turned into a phenomenon, Bajaria was routinely credited for it in the media.
As Holland expressed unhappiness with the broader strategy, an insider says the response was that things would work out fine if maybe one in 10 shows worked. “This is one of the things that Cindy and Ted disagreed on for a while,” this person says. “She was the one person who would push back on him.” Frustrated, sources say Holland turned to Netflix founder Reed Hastings. This source says Holland also objected to Sarandos’ expensive campaigns for the Oscars: “Cindy said, ‘You’re losing the town. You cannot buy your way to an Oscar.’ That was another thing Ted was mad about.”