Hollywood was underpaying producers relative to the value they generated. Netflix saw an opportunity and signed deals with producers more in line with the value they generated. Because of this competition, Hollywood is now paying producers more.
Sounds like an unequivocal good thing for film and television. Talented producers get paid more. More money is being invested in films and shows. Obviously, films and shows are making enough money to justify these deals.
Actually no. It’s a switch in the compensation model. Networks have traditionally paid producers using sizable backend deals. If the show does well they do well. Example: Larry David.
Netflix in contrast never does backend deals that way. It’s all laid up front. It actually means that Netflix shoulders the risk upfront.
So Networks are now simply switching to the upfront higher risk model where you eliminate backends and pay all upfront. You can’t say producers are “making more”, it’s just a different way to pay out. And again it’s a shift in risk management.
It's a great thing for the real creative leader types. I've wondered if this would happen in software. Of course we are amazingly well off by the standards of most fields. I still feel based on the value we give companies that there is room for compensation to greatly increase.
In the movie and tv biz, I think everything is basically unionized for regular crew and actors, so they have basic decent pay. Is there any down side to this?
Translation using basic microeconomics:
Hollywood was paying the equilibrium clearing market price. Increased demand from Netflix raised the equilibrium clearing market price through innovation that requires production talent.
I wish Netflix would force HBO Go and Amazon Prime Video into an UX war. It drives me crazy how bad the player and the general experience are on these 2 services. You can’t even pause with the space bar on HBO.
I could not disagree more. Prime Video is by far the best user experience for me, and Netflix is by far the worst. I can't stand how Netflix displays related results when they don't actually have a particular result in stock. I cannot stand the auto-start feature where if you're browsing and idle too long on one item, it will start playing a trailer or synopsis. The sideways scroll under different heading is horrible (this is bad on all of the services).
Amazon's search works so much better and feels less algorithmically personalized (something which I believe is a horrible anti-feature in all of these services). And because Amazon can support letting me buy or rent content that isn't stocked in the Prime Video service, the search results are _so_ much more useful to me. Often in Netflix, I just want to know _if_ they are carrying a certain title right now or not, and don't want to be presented with alternatives that are "similar in spirit" to whatever I was searching.
I also find that the "continue watching" section on Netflix frequently does not appear as the first row, and there are all sorts of "trending" or "critically acclaimed" rows that I have to scroll through to get back up to the "continue watching row" at the top. While on Amazon, this section is always at the top, and automatically updates with shows that have released a new episode since the last time I signed in.
Netflix already feels like an outdated brand to me, like it's the cheap way of doing a streaming platform. I get it that network-specific apps like NBCSN sports apps and HBO Go, etc., these probably will suck because it's a network that is probably utterly incompetent at investing in technology.
But Netflix really disappoints me. I think in the long run, Netflix will not be remembered as fondly as it is now, though we all benefit from the huge bidding war on talent creating great shows.
I wish the opposite. I wish netflix would let me browse and read descriptions with out the distraction of their autoplay. It's like if I was trying to google things and goolge inserted running background videos behind all search results. It's horrid
IMO, Hulu is by far the worst of the major streaming services. From a design perspective it looks good, but the UX seems to be designed take you to the next episode of the last thing you watched and that's it. If you want to watch a different show, or an episode out of order, or even just want to browse, you're fighting an uphill battle against their "FULL SCREEN EVERYTHING!" design.
I wish Netflix had the equivalent of Prime's x-ray.
I'm also very surprised that X-ray does not hi-lite items on the screen that you could click to buy on Amazon (I assume someone is working on this), not saying I want it, just surprised the feature doesn't exist.
> “The increased volume at other places has worked in our favor,” says Casey Bloys, the head of programming at HBO.
I do hope this is the case but I'm not convinced. Netflix's approach atm seems very strongly geared towards the middlebrow, which is perhaps the area their algorithms perform best.
It's probably not very economical for them to target someone like me when there's still droves of people watching network TV.
I'm not totally sold on the Deuce but it feels like far more of a prestige product than anything I've seen on Netflix.
When someone signs with HBO, they know they're gonna be given the opportunity to develop with top notch people whilst retaining control within a proven system. Whereas Netflix seem to be exclusively focusing on throwing money at the problem. For example, Netflix have made several attempts at a cool 30-minute dramedy type deals, absolutely none of them come close to something like Insecure in overall quality. The most noteworthy one (Master of None) has some bizarrely stiff writing at points that would've been helped hugely if Ansari had been paired up with some experienced writers.
Netflix don't do themselves any favours with the notion that things will get lost in the pile. A director selling anything that hasn't a sizeable and obvious audience tends to get absolutely buried on their platform (e.g. Noah Baumbach's last film's only publicity seemed to be the references made to it following Dustin Hoffman's sexual harassment allegations)
As Netflix streaming phases out more and more actual movies, in favor of their original content, I'm finding it exceedingly difficult to watch anything of reasonable quality. To the point that I've reupped my DVD plan to 3 movies at a time, it's the ONLY way to actually find anything worth watching. Stranger Things? Don't get me started. Great nostalgia, but a boring and recycled story.
Netflix's algorithm has gotten worse. One is better off searching for renown actors and directors to find good movies and shows instead of looking for suggestions.
Most of these shows are junk. If you don't like comic books or dark murder based series you're not too happy with Netflix these days. It's going to be one big ABC now. What do you expect when you hire one person to churn out seven shows at once? Where's the creative risk taking? Shonda Rhimes? Ugh.
It’s funny, before the ads annoyed me. But now I’m wary of investing time into any shows because I’m afraid of all the extra time they waste with filler content like unnecessary drama or actors looking at each other’s faces, presumably to make it feel like you’re getting more minutes of content for your money. But I feel like it’s wasting my time.
At least I have the option of fast forward, though more likely I’ll just stop watching everything except the most highly acclaimed stuff. And/or I’m getting older and just not entertained as much by it anymore.
You're not wrong. I think a major issue is a lack of talented writers. A large number of show, like the Netflix Originals, seems to have a good idea for one season. When season two comes around it's clear that the creators/writers just had ideas for one season and the quality of the show suffers.
The Marvel based shows Netflix produces just wants to capitalize on the success of the movies, but they couldn't secure the right to top tier super heros and they're struck with charters that can't carry multiple seasons.
How is a company with a P/E of 150 whose competitive advantage has been all but obliterated going to force a lemonade stand, let alone Hollywood, into a talent war?
It seems to happen regularly: First there were only the major studios, which each controlled their own talent from directors to actors. Then the talent became independent of the studios (I don't know when or how that happened). Then TV, then HBO and independent studios, then cable TV with hundreds of channels needing content, then streaming and also the infinite channels of the Internet, including YouTube and Twitch stars.
[+] [-] RcouF1uZ4gsC|7 years ago|reply
Hollywood was underpaying producers relative to the value they generated. Netflix saw an opportunity and signed deals with producers more in line with the value they generated. Because of this competition, Hollywood is now paying producers more.
Sounds like an unequivocal good thing for film and television. Talented producers get paid more. More money is being invested in films and shows. Obviously, films and shows are making enough money to justify these deals.
[+] [-] matt-attack|7 years ago|reply
Netflix in contrast never does backend deals that way. It’s all laid up front. It actually means that Netflix shoulders the risk upfront.
So Networks are now simply switching to the upfront higher risk model where you eliminate backends and pay all upfront. You can’t say producers are “making more”, it’s just a different way to pay out. And again it’s a shift in risk management.
[+] [-] Latteland|7 years ago|reply
In the movie and tv biz, I think everything is basically unionized for regular crew and actors, so they have basic decent pay. Is there any down side to this?
[+] [-] natalyarostova|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ggregoire|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mlthoughts2018|7 years ago|reply
Amazon's search works so much better and feels less algorithmically personalized (something which I believe is a horrible anti-feature in all of these services). And because Amazon can support letting me buy or rent content that isn't stocked in the Prime Video service, the search results are _so_ much more useful to me. Often in Netflix, I just want to know _if_ they are carrying a certain title right now or not, and don't want to be presented with alternatives that are "similar in spirit" to whatever I was searching.
I also find that the "continue watching" section on Netflix frequently does not appear as the first row, and there are all sorts of "trending" or "critically acclaimed" rows that I have to scroll through to get back up to the "continue watching row" at the top. While on Amazon, this section is always at the top, and automatically updates with shows that have released a new episode since the last time I signed in.
Netflix already feels like an outdated brand to me, like it's the cheap way of doing a streaming platform. I get it that network-specific apps like NBCSN sports apps and HBO Go, etc., these probably will suck because it's a network that is probably utterly incompetent at investing in technology.
But Netflix really disappoints me. I think in the long run, Netflix will not be remembered as fondly as it is now, though we all benefit from the huge bidding war on talent creating great shows.
[+] [-] tokyodude|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] superfrank|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blang|7 years ago|reply
I'm also very surprised that X-ray does not hi-lite items on the screen that you could click to buy on Amazon (I assume someone is working on this), not saying I want it, just surprised the feature doesn't exist.
[+] [-] Isamu|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] namlem|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JansjoFromIkea|7 years ago|reply
I do hope this is the case but I'm not convinced. Netflix's approach atm seems very strongly geared towards the middlebrow, which is perhaps the area their algorithms perform best. It's probably not very economical for them to target someone like me when there's still droves of people watching network TV.
I'm not totally sold on the Deuce but it feels like far more of a prestige product than anything I've seen on Netflix. When someone signs with HBO, they know they're gonna be given the opportunity to develop with top notch people whilst retaining control within a proven system. Whereas Netflix seem to be exclusively focusing on throwing money at the problem. For example, Netflix have made several attempts at a cool 30-minute dramedy type deals, absolutely none of them come close to something like Insecure in overall quality. The most noteworthy one (Master of None) has some bizarrely stiff writing at points that would've been helped hugely if Ansari had been paired up with some experienced writers.
Netflix don't do themselves any favours with the notion that things will get lost in the pile. A director selling anything that hasn't a sizeable and obvious audience tends to get absolutely buried on their platform (e.g. Noah Baumbach's last film's only publicity seemed to be the references made to it following Dustin Hoffman's sexual harassment allegations)
[+] [-] overcast|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] empath75|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryacko|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cylinder|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lotsofpulp|7 years ago|reply
At least I have the option of fast forward, though more likely I’ll just stop watching everything except the most highly acclaimed stuff. And/or I’m getting older and just not entertained as much by it anymore.
[+] [-] mrweasel|7 years ago|reply
The Marvel based shows Netflix produces just wants to capitalize on the success of the movies, but they couldn't secure the right to top tier super heros and they're struck with charters that can't carry multiple seasons.
[+] [-] SmellyGeekBoy|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] debacle|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] En_gr_Student|7 years ago|reply
Yay netflix!
[+] [-] forapurpose|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lesserknowndan|7 years ago|reply
Or maybe the battle has already been won.
[+] [-] mateuszf|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacobush|7 years ago|reply