According to a statement issued on Thursday, Netflix Inc. is restructuring its film division to make fewer movies year and centralize decision-making.
The Possible Lay-Off
Many employees may lose their jobs due to the upheaval. Two of Netflix’s most seasoned executives will also leave the company. After more than 15 years with the company, Lisa Nishimura will leave. She helped Netflix break into stand-up comedy and original documentaries. She is currently in charge of documentaries and low-budget movies.
After more than ten years, Ian Bricke, a vice president in the film division, is also leaving. Working with directors like Nicole Holofcener, Bricke contributed to creating The Kissing Booth film series.
Scott Stuber, the company’s head of motion pictures, strives to reduce production levels so that more films are high caliber. In recent years, the streaming service has launched more Hollywood original films than any other firm, averaging over 50 productions annually.
Only a few of them are seen by tens of millions of people or win Oscars, like All Quiet on the Western Front, which this year won best international film. But many of them arrive and depart quietly.
Netflix increased its output partly. It anticipated that competing studios would stop licensing as many movies as they had been focusing on their streaming services. The company formed numerous divisions to produce films at multiple price ranges and hired additional workers to boost output. The indie film collective creates movies with a lower budget, typically $30 million or less, while another group creates movies with a mid-range budget (between $30 million and $80 million). Another group produces movies with a higher budget.
Netflix’s Decentralization In-Line with Cost-Cutting Measures
These several departments ran independently in line with Netflix’s decentralized decision-making style. CEOs frequently have the authority to approve a movie without consulting their superiors. Stuber is currently aiming to increase executive collaboration and centralize decision-making.
Compared to the ones Netflix implemented a year ago, the employment cuts are significantly fewer in scope. Once its subscriber growth stalled, the company, which had around 12,800 employees by the end of 2022, cut hundreds of roles last year to cut costs.
A year of job cutbacks at several of Netflix’s competitors in the film and television industries was foreshadowed by the company’s cost-cutting measures in reaction to the decline of traditional TV viewers and investor pressure to increase streaming’s profitability. Last week, Walt Disney Co. started laying off 7,000 employees.
According to Bloomberg, to increase revenue and entice budget-conscious viewers, Netflix has launched a lower-cost streaming package with advertising as acquiring new users has grown increasingly complex. It has about 231 million paying customers at its peak in 2022. Also, a program is being implemented to make users who use another person’s Netflix account pay for the service.
