based on years of customer viewing habits and it’s willing to throw money at content creators.
The company spent $1.7 billion in 2016 on original programming and said it plans to spend $6 billion in 2017.
This represents a growing threat to Hollywood giants, LA Times reported:
Like many firms with tech roots, Netflix’s ambitions have grown beyond merely providing a platform that content creators can use. This ambition has rattled incumbents and created friction in Hollywood. Traditional studios and TV networks are still grappling with audiences’ migration away from cable subscriptions in favor of on-demand video streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, and they lack the agility of their tech-centric counterparts.
Rhimes is bringing her Los Angeles production company, Shondaland, to Netflix to produce original series and projects as part of the deal. Her longtime producing partner Betsy Beers is also moving to Netflix. The move to Netflix is the evolution of her company, Rhimes said.
“Shonda Rhimes is one of the greatest storytellers in the history of television,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said in a statement. “Her work is gripping, inventive, pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, taboo-breaking television at its best. We’re so excited to welcome her to Netflix.”
Disney was the first major player to strike back against Netflix’s growing dominance, announcing last week that it will launch two of its own video streaming services in 2019: a Disney-branded film and TV offering with original content developed by Walt Disney Studios, and an ESPN service expected to feature 10,000 sporting events annually.
When these launch, Disney plans to end its distribution agreement with Netflix for new films. Shows that came out of the Netflix-Disney relationship with Marvel TV, such as “Jessica Jones,” will still be available on Netflix.
“This is a declaration of independence by Disney, and now you have a direct competition between these two behemoth players,” Peter Csathy, founder of the advisory firm Creatv Media, said of Disney’s decision. “Netflix has a huge head start, but Disney thinks it can win. And Disney can feature the most valuable content library in the world.”
https://twitter.com/leslielouz/status/897113428011175942
While it’s impossible to predict what Rhimes will do with the freedom and money that Netflix provides, Vulture came up with a tongue-in-cheek wish list of shows it would like to see Rhimes produce:
“Smash” Season 3: By the time Smash left the air in 2013, it had become so terrible you couldn’t look away. In the hands of someone different, with oodles of Netflix cash and an all-star cast, could it become so good that you can’t look away? This is our goal. We reunite the core cast — Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, scarves — cut a few extraneous characters (sorry, Karen, have fun on season four of “Scorpion”), and fill in some new musical theater talent: Denée Benton as an ingenue; Leslie Odom Jr. as his “Smash” character, but now he’s famous; Norm Lewis as himself, but evil; “You’re the Worst”’s Desmin Borges as a fictionalized version of his face-twin Lin-Manuel Miranda. Now, the producers are trying to create their own musical adaptation of “Scandal” — cross-promotion, baby! Just wait till you hear Nikki James belt “Twice As Good (and Half As Much).” —Jackson McHenry
Something — Anything — With Sandra Oh: “Grey’s Anatomy”’s strongest seasons were the ones that focused on the Meredith-Cristina friendship, when Cristina had to be cut out of her wedding gown or lectured Mere about being self-reliant. Yang was Rhimes’s favorite and fiercest character, and she credited Oh for realizing her perfectly. Sandra Oh is returning to TV for a BBC drama, but shouldn’t she put that on the shelf to return to Shondaland, where her work was rewarded with a Golden Globe? With Yang’s chapter closed, Oh could move on to being a prickly, emotionally unavailable therapist, an editor, a power publicist — literally anything, just as long as these two collaborators are working together again, crafting a new woman everyone wants to be. —Hunter Harris
“The Princess Diaries 3”: It’s been rumored for years, and everyone seems to be game, so now there’s only one question left to seal the deal: Is there a better woman to lure Anne Hathaway to Netflix than Shonda Rhimes, writer of “The Princess Diaries 2”, underrated modern Disney classic? Chris Pine’s already headed for TV — may he and Anne follow their true hearts (and all those dollar signs) and live happily ever after with Shonda at Netflix. —Dee Lockett
