How Netflix is planning to find your inner Star Wars
Netflix broke Hollywood rules to create an $82 billion global streaming colossus that the rest of the entertainment industry rushed to imitate. But as development slows, it’s looking backwards rather than forward, borrowing a page from Walt Disney’s playbook.
The company that changed the way we watch television and movies aims to emulate the success of Mickey Mouse and “Star Wars,” which are trying to create brands that cross film, television, games, and consumer products. , officials told Reuters in a recent interview.
Netflix teams are plotting ways to get more milk out of Netflix’s big shows and movies with universes and characters they can return to again and again. The franchise strategy, the details of which are first reported here, is meant to complement Netflix’s efforts by building out a massive library of original programming, something for every taste.
“We want to have our own version of ‘Star Wars’ or our own version of ‘Harry Potter,’ and we’re working very hard to make it happen,” said Netflix vice president Matthew Thunell. “But they are not made overnight.”
Netflix’s franchise initiative comes at a crucial moment after two rounds of layoffs amid loss of subscribers. It’s rushing to build a low-cost, ad-supported version of the service, which it vowed never to do. On Tuesday, the company is expected to report losing 2 million more customers when it announces quarterly earnings. Its shares have fallen 70% this year.
Some of Netflix’s current partners, who requested anonymity to protect their ongoing business relationship, said they are disappointed by what they see as a lack of collaboration between film and television groups. It has thwarted attempts to capitalize on success through a sequel, spin-off or film adaptation of a hit series, he said.
“It sounds like you’re going to have to struggle to build a franchise out there,” said one studio executive.
Thunel offered a different point of view. He and a corporate spokesperson described an environment of close collaboration between creative executives, who can independently flag off projects but work toward similar goals.
“In a traditional studio, these are the big walls between the features team and the animation team and the series team,” he said. “Since Netflix is a very young organization, there was never time to build those walls.”
‘Stranger Things’ treatment
Netflix executives point to “Stranger Things” as a model. The science-fiction series, now in its fourth season, has inspired live experiences from Surfer Boy frozen pizza at Walmart to Hasbro’s Magic 8 Ball toys as well. A “Stranger Things” spin-off series and stage play is in the works.
On the heels of this, Netflix executives said they are or are planning to give the “Stranger Things” treatment to at least a dozen series and movies.
The Spanish series “La Casa de Papel” has been remade in Korean and has a spin-off in the works. A prequel to the Regency-era period drama “Bridgeton” is ordered, as was a reality competition in which no one dies, inspired by the South Korean drama “Squid Game”. “The Witcher” fantasy series spawned an animated film and is getting a prequel.
The company also identified three upcoming shows as potential franchises because the stories are well known, bringing in an underlying audience.
“The Three-Body Problem”, an adaptation of the first book in a Chinese science-fiction trilogy, is in production with Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff and DB Weiss executive producer. Japanese manga series, is shooting, and the live-action adaptation of the animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” has just been completed.
To be sure, not every story works as a franchise.
The executives aim to build the franchise out of Millerworld, the comic book publisher Netflix acquired in 2017. The first Millerworld series, “Jupiter’s Legacy”, was canceled after the first season. There are currently six new projects in development, and another one in production, said a spokesperson, who said Netflix plans to explore the villains of “Jupiter’s Legacy” in a new series.
“It should start with the story itself. Does it maintain that kind of detail?” Thunell said. “There are few series like ‘Stranger Things’ that are wildly successful, have depth of mythology, and have extra stories that you don’t know in animation or features or anime. allows. ,
Emerging Film Franchise
The film studio, which began from scratch five years ago, sees a handful of budding franchises: “Enola Holmes,” about Sherlock’s teenage sister, “Knives Out,” an Agatha Christie-style mystery, “The Old Guard,” the immortal About a team of mercenaries, the action-thriller “Extraction” and the zombie story “Army of the Dead.”
Spy thriller ‘The Gray Man’ is debuting on Friday. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who were hailed by film chief Scott Stuber as “franchise builders” at the film’s Los Angeles premiere, said they created a rich world with an attention to detail.
“We definitely designed and thought specifically to take this narrative forward in other forms,” co-director Anthony Russo said in an interview.
Netflix strengthened its franchise-building efforts through an October 2020 restructuring under new global TV chief Bella Bajaria, a former Universal Television executive who starred as “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Master of None”. Netflix comedy was developed.
As customer growth slowed in the fall of 2020, Bajaria sought to extract more from valuable deals with producers such as “Bridgeton” Shonda Rhimes. He formed a team to develop the prestige series and spectacles (often large, effects-driven fantasy series) that could evolve into franchises.
scouting material
Netflix added consumer products staff and hired in-house book scouts to find work for adaptations, rather than waiting for outside agents or publishers to bring content to its executives. Thunell called the move a “game changer”. It also created a video game unit.
The company begins to include marketing and consumer products staff early in the franchise-building process. For example, these teams recently traveled to London to meet Benioff and Weiss on the set “Three-Body Problem”.
According to Josh Simon, head of Netflix’s consumer products and live experiences division, “Army of the Dead” producers Zack and Deborah Snyder provided input on a virtual reality experience during filming. His team is now working with Snyders on ideas for his next film, “Rebel Moon.”
“We’re really deeply immersed in production meetings,” Simon said. “We can work years ahead because we have that level of trust and collaboration with creators.”
Global Licensing Advisors CEO Steven Ekstrat said that “Stranger Things” alone has the potential to generate $1 billion in annual retail sales starting in 2025 from products, events and possibly theme park rides or digital avatars.
Netflix will receive royalties of approximately $50 million to $75 million from those sales, as well as free advertising from merchandise. He added that to reach that level, Netflix needs to keep people hooked to the world of “Stranger Things.”
The streaming service has far less experience building franchises than its century-old Hollywood rivals, said Julia Alexander, director of strategy at entertainment research firm Parrot Analytics.
Alexander said, “Do we trust the Netflix machine as much as we do on the Disney machine? No, but in part that comes from the years Disney spends, that determines what the machine looks like.” “For all of Netflix’s dominance in the streaming space, they’re still relatively new to building this type of world.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)