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Enemy Number One is Netflix: The Monster That's Eating Hollywood (business-standard.com)
From a WSJ report: Tara Flynn, a rising star at a TV production unit of 21st Century Fox, walked into her boss's office last August and told him she was quitting and joining streaming-video giant Netflix Inc. The news was not well-received. "Netflix is public enemy No. 1," said Bert Salke, the head of Fox 21 Television Studios, where Ms. Flynn was a vice president, according to a Netflix legal filing. When Netflix finalized Ms. Flynn's hire a few weeks later, Fox sued, accusing it of a "brazen campaign" to poach Fox executives. In response, Netflix argued Fox's contracts are "unlawful and unenforceable." The ongoing legal battle is just one sign of the escalating tensions between Netflix and Hollywood as the streaming-video company moves from being an upstart dabbling in original programming to a big-spending entertainment powerhouse that will produce more than 70 shows this year. It is expanding into new genres such as children's fare, reality TV and stand-up comedy specials -- including a $40 million deal for two shows by Chris Rock. The shift has unnerved some TV networks that had become used to Netflix's original content being focused on scripted dramas and sitcoms. Netflix's spending on original and acquired programming this year is expected to be more than $6 billion, up from $5 billion last year, more than double what Time Warner Inc.'s HBO spends and five times as much as 21st Century Fox's FX or CBS Corp.'s Showtime.
At least the majority of what Netflix is doing is actual original programming. Hollywood needs someone to kick them swiftly in the ass and stop doing remakes of old shows and movies (some of which aren't actually old, Matrix reboot?)
Their Marvel based offerings are quite good, and Stranger Things is phenomenal.
Amazon is creating some genuinely entertaining original content as well. I think it's time for a changing of the guard.
What did they think was going to happen when they seemed to go out of their way to cling to their outdated business/service models?
The film and TV industry have been in a stasis for decades. TV, in particular, hasn't really changed significantly since the early 1960s, and Hollywood has basically functioned the same way since the collapse of the Studio System. It's time for a big shake up and if companies like Netflix and Amazon can deliver that shakeup, then so be it.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
*Voice of Smithers*
Imagine that, spend more on developing quality original content and consumers and producers will flock to you. Who would've thought... The legacy production houses had a huge leg up but never bothered, remaining content in their old, "good-enough-to-get-enough-eyeballs-for-advertisers" model. Looks like Blockbuster won't be the only giant getting taken down by Netflix.
"Public enemy #1" whereby "public" means "anybody I care about, everyone else can go get stuffed."
Netflix organized themselves around innovation. The studios did not -- they organized themselves around "wall building" techniques: Net Neutrality, DRM, Anti Piracy campaigns, political lobbying and more. Now Netflix is winning and what do the studios do? Whine.
Just add {In Space!} to anything.
Every old business model fights to save itself, and accuses the new business model of some nefarious intent. Sears->Walmart Taxis->Uber/Lyft Barnes&Noble->Amazon Yahoo->Google Newspapers->Slashdot/Reddit/Blogs etc. etc. Business is best when new, healthy models overtake old, unhealthy businesses. It is called "creative destruction" and it has been going on for a long, long time.
Then why are most Netflix shows such drivel, especially when compared to HBO's original offerings?
#DeleteChrome
Chris Rock can be pretty funny (he's more of a lecturer type of comedy; which I don't find funny) but not $20million per special funny. anyway, if NetFlix keeps throwing money around like that, they're gonna have to raise rates again. They were barely worth $7.99 month for streaming as it was. And then no more Doctor Who...so it's Amazon Prime for those - unless it's the latest season then it's buying the season or episodes and "owning" them as long as Amazon stays in business.
Streaming has jumped the shark.
Netflix is the monster that eats normal tv. And I'm fine with that. Being able to watch a movie/series/comic/whatever when you want WITHOUT commercials is so much better than what the normal tv channels have to offer.
Sure you can have discussions that not all the content that you want is on Netflix. Ok then watch normal tv. But I can't handle the burden of interruptions by commercials, news flash or moving widgets on my screen anymore.
Some cable companies already realize that: a internet plus phone subscription with my local isp is just as expensive as an internet plus phone plus tv subscription...
They should do a Firefly spinoff or actually do Firefly and then make it one of the most successful blockbuster shows in the 'verse.
A company whose employee retention plan is to call the lawyers likely isn't a great place to work anyways.
Go look at Hollywood movies and try to find one that is not:
1) a Remake
2) a Sequel
3) Based on a book/videogame or similar items.
And traditional TV isn't much better - Riverdale, Lethal Weapon, Supergirl, etc. etc.
Now check out Netflix's stuff.
Yes, Netflix is pumping money into it - because they are making more money than Hollywood because they are MAKING GOOD, ORIGINAL SHOWS.
Don't blame the winner for earning more money and reinvesting it. Blame the loser for losing their market share.
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The only reason Netflix makes their own content is they were being squeezed by Hollywood for higher and higher licensing fees. Back in 2011, when Netflix had to raise fees for streaming and mail-in service to cope with raising licensing fees, their customers revolted. So Netflix did two things: 1) split their business into two with DVD mailing separate from streaming and 2) offer fewer and more outdated movies. However content stagnated. I suppose that Netflix could have shown TV shows in syndication but that would not distinguish themselves enough from other players or even cable. Creating their own content was the only to keep themselves relevant in the streaming business. Netflix started with TV shows like abandoned properties (Arrested Development) and original new TV shows (Orange is the New Black) which has brought in many new and returning customers. Now they are branching into films.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
The article is based on one massive, ludicruous presumption that we all actually want Hollywood to survive.
Hollywood clearly have a stranglehold on the market, but the only output they can create is mindless, formulaic dross aimed at the lowest-common-denominator. They are also a breeding ground for radical left-wing socialists, scientologists, and talentless, shallow, manufactured "celebrities" that are famous just for their "lifestyle", not for actually achieving anything of real merit.
I say the world, especially the US, would be a MUCH better place totally without Hollywood.
Fairly priced competition that gives its customers what it wants AND has good customer service? FUCK THEM! /s
Finally a company ready to actually spend money and do the right thing by their customers.
Netflix is sending a message to all the old guard cable stations. They can and will cut out the middle man. They will not be extorted for content.
You keep trying to milk us more and more... fine, we'll make the shows ourselves.
It also wouldn't surprise me if netflix started up a sister company to cover and stream sports. More likely to partner with a company already in the biz though.
Some actors make $20mil for a movie - so it's high, but not all that outrageous. They are investing in things that will cause their subscriber base to grow. ++
I am all for it. Their original content has gotten better and better. Networks had better pay attention.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
We all know PIRACY is the one number enemy of Hollywood! No one else has done trillions of dollars in damages!
They've been trying to murder Netflix for years and replace them with their own (pay-per-play) systems. That's not escalating tensions, that's a life or death battle. You saw the same thing when the ACA threatened to bring single payer to the insurance companies here in the states. They're fighting for their life.
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Like they said, they havent innovated since popcorn.
Now, they're just churning out remakes over and over again.
The industry is quite pathetic; but.... Change is good.... Record industry learned the hard way; now, so is the movie industry.
Exactly so. The Law of Unintended Consequences in a nutshell. The networks and studios decided to shut down Netflix and monetize their old movies and TV shows on their own. And for a while, it worked. Netflix lost subscribers, and their movie selection was absolutely abysmal. But unlike the networks and studios, Netflix was able to adapt, and it became exactly the type of company that the networks and studios could no longer hurt.
It's such a pleasure to watch Hollywood being devoured by the monster it created.
A company that kind of gets it. Giving the customer what it wants. (depending on their location)
Fox can get bent. How about some more Family Guy or 30 year old Simpsons stuff. Talk about a company which was resting on its laurels that hopefully will get crushed in the near future or actually try something new again and possibly innovate.
All that money, time and effort and they got fooled. So fucking funny.
1. Turn out the rare movie worth watching in a theater.
2. Turn out the less rare movie worth watching when it gets to DVD.
3. Turn out a lot of movies that aren't worth watching. Period.
4. Go and whine to congress for legislation to protect them from "predatory competition."*
*Anybody who's eating your lunch is considered predatory, even if it's your fault.
I would have loved for Netflix just to have become a place where I could watch recent and older hollywood movies, completely replacing video rentals. But I get to be frustrated that new movies aren't there to watch and old movies aren't there to be found.
But hey, whats this, its a Netflix original show? Hey it isn't half bad. Well I could watch more of this.
Hollywood, you had the chance to box Netflix in and have them just BE the rental market. You could have just banked fewer dollars from rentals but still retained a lot of control.
But nooooo, you had to block the access to your catalogs of movies to try and cripple them. Now they're creating content that is very often better than what you are coming up with.
Cry me a river, hollywood. You deserve to go down, hard. You've never really played fair with your customers and now we're buying entertainment elsewhere....
Nope, can't say it with a straight face.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
"Phonographs are killing the piano industry" screamed the piano makers, "Radio is killing the theater" screamed the performers. "Video is killing the radio star" Screamed the radio DJ's, "Netflix is destroying video rental stores" Screamed blockbuster.
And here i sit at my piano, practicing along with a 'how to play piano' video on youtube, produced by a musician/former radio star, whilst watching a London theatrical performance that was recorded and made available for viewing on streaming Netflix.
You nailed it! Netflix was forced into this position by the old-school content creators and their (sic) valuable content libraries. It's not hard to make a TV show and there are plenty of great writers, actors, and directors just waiting to make some great stuff.
This is a lesson is greed. Netflix wanted to charge customers a flat-rate and the studios wanted to eat Netflix's profit. There was a time where it looked like Netflix would collapse because the price of content was going up, but they raised prices just a bit, re-invested in original programming, and are now on track to becoming a legitimate move studio.
Thus when you apply enough pressure, *poof* you get a diamond :)
Kind of reminds me of when Netflix killed Blockbuster. No one shed a tear for Blockbuster.
Netflix is also buying Indie films at festivals and ... gasp ... showing them. I never understood the studios' predilection for buying up these movies and then never distributing most of them.
their original content is so bad i wont even torrent it, basically i go thru a google search before i download any new tv series pilot, if it says netflix anywhere, i dont even bother
they have piracy completely beat
TV Broadcasters are the ones suffering from Netflix more than anyone. Netflix is still paying Hollywood for their content.
Netflix is currently reknown throughout the industry for throwing crazy cash at has-beens in a pattern all too familiar. Cast your mind back to Cannon Pictures at its 'prime' when they paid Stallone an unthinkable cash amount in appear in the 'Over the Top' arm-wrestling (yes ARM-WRESTLING) movie. Cannon also tried to spend its way to success with big projects and (once) big names with mega-inflated budgets.
The article mentions Fox's FX, but look at the amazing roster of shows that channel gets yearly from a very modest budget. Most of Netflix's output is mediocre to rubbish, but at far higher production costs than that seen in the rest of the industry. Amazon and the other 'new' media outlets have the same problem. They don't know how to control budgets or produce genuine hits of quality. So they go the Cannon route, over-spending and looking for high-gimmick hires. And, of course, the industry sharks are only too willing to help Netflix, Amazon et al to spend their money.
Sooner or later the 'new media' overspend will end, and the gravy train will hit the buffers. It always does after a new cash-rich entity enters the market, and then runs out of money or patience at poor returns. Then everything returns to normal again.
I know everyone wants to back the little guy, but Netflix is actually recreating the very monopolies we are trying to break-up:
The common complaint about cable was that they bundled everything together. You had to pay a monthly fee, you couldn't pick your channels a la carte, and if you wanted to watch "Game Of Thrones" you had to subscribe to HBO and pay monthly, even for just one show. In addition, nobody liked having to pay for cable TV & internet both, since it felt like the same service from the same company. Then to make matters worse, you had to buy HBO on cable just to stream the show on HBO's web site, which made no sense. (HBO might have fixed this, but the same goes for other channels, and sporting events.) This drove piracy mainstream.
But the bigger issue is that telecommunications companies are buying out content providers. This merging is dangerous, because a telecom company controlling say, a media news outlet, can't be unbiased. And there is nothing to stop them from offering certain content on their networks only.
Netflix threatened to break that all up. I could buy my internet from anyone, subscribe to Netflix, and have so much content we didn't need cable TV. We no longer paid for TV "channels" we didn't need. But then Amazon Prime came along, and then we needed to buy Netflix + Amazon. Oh, and buy Hulu for your TV watching. So now, we need to again buy all these services in order to have access to a full catalog of content. We are back to premium TV channels again. But at least we gained our a la carte stations!
But if Amazon and Netflix start to offer exclusive content, we get back to the media companies (Amazon, Netflix) being content providers too. I want to watch just one show, and I have to subscribe to Netflix. I's the HBO Game-of-thrones scenario all over again.
The solution is, and has been for 40+ years, to break apart the monopolies. We must separate content delivery companies from content creating companies. That no longer just means the telecom monopolies shouldn't be content providers, but it also means the streaming companies can't be content creators, and transitively, the telecom can't be either one. This gets us back to the ideal world where we choose our telecom company, choose our streaming service, and choose our content - all separately. Every streaming service should be able to provide all content, or nearly all of it. Competition comes back, we no longer have the zero-rating problem..
So cheer Netflix's success, but be careful what you wish for. At the present rate, we will all be paying $50/month for all these streaming services just to get the content we need.
P.S. We also need to stop each streaming service provider from using their own protocol. You bought a Roku box last year huh? Well, you can't access the newest coolest streaming service because they didn't make a firmware update for that service. If 20 years ago, you told people that their TV or cable-box needed a firmware update every time a new channel came-out, they would be attacking the telecom companies with pitchforks. Yet that is happening today and people accept it.
Their are their own first, second and third worst enemy.
Remakes and Reboots that are total crap because they are unnecessary or were never that great to begin with:
* Pet Sematary
* The Crow
* An American Werewolf in London
* Dirty Dance - yea really, wtf
* Drop Dead Fred
* Starship Troopers - maybe it could use a better treatment that is closer to the book, but you know that won't happen. The straight to video sequels should have killed this franchise
* The Neverending Story - new special effects might be an improvement. but Noah Hathaway's performance as Atreyu is irreplaceable.
* WarGames - it wasn't actually all that great of a film. although it had a certain nerdy 80's cult following
* Time Bandits - it's a fun adventure, but it's too tightly coupled to classic 80's movie plots to come out as a remake without some major alterations
* American Psycho - why remake a crap film that isn't even all that old?
* Escape from New York
* Little Shop of Horrors
* Romancing the Stone - quintessential 80's adventure plot. Unless this is remade as a rom-com there is no way it can make any sense today.
* Short Circuit - might actually be more relevant today. But it should be a Roomba or Tesla instead
* Arthur - truly horrible remake for an unremarkable film
* The Bodyguard - so is Kevin Costner going to protect Beyoncé this time around?
* Flight of the Navigator - I've seen the original several times, it wasn't really all that good.
* Jumanji - technically it's a continuation of the original with new characters. (did you know there was a cartoon series based on this 90's classic?)
* Gremlins 3 - yeah, because Gremlins 2 was so great.
* Weird Science - not sure how you map a sexist premise of this 80's trash to deal with sexism
* Total Recall - the 2012 remake was actually worse than the 1990 version. (and nothing like the book)
* 12 Angry Men - remade some 3 times already. give it a rest.
* Disturbia - it's not hard to get some positive reviews when you have a big budget for your Hitchcock film rip off. is it better than the original? no way.
* 3:10 to Yuma - rare case where a remake receieved positive reviews, probably by people who never saw the original.
* True Grit - a remake that was interesting and twisted compared to the original. But it was a flop, even if artistically valuable
* Attack of the 50 ft Woman - original wasn't taken all that seriously, the remake less so
* Bad News Bears - take all the 80's spunk and heart out and insert crude gags for a millennial audience
I wish I could say this is a comprehensive list of upcoming and already complete remakes. But it is less than 10% of what is really out there.
The Netfix stuff is usually not that good, but they do:
- release their stuff world wide
- at the same time (almost)
- and make it available at my home
There is a lesson to learn.
If I want the same from Hollywood I need download a pirated copy.
I think Peter Rosenthal sums it up nicely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
(nsfw language but hilarious)
No Hollywood, you've killed yourselves.
When's that Matrix reboot coming out again? Is that before or after Bladerunner 2?
-Styopa
Sorry Fox, you are little late to the party. The days when you could own employees were before Abraham Lincoln.
We spent all that time and money monopolizing the production and distribution channels. We paid good money to lawmakers (or occasionally left a horse's head in their bed) to get legislation written to protect these shady business practices. And now some upstart finds a way to bypass us. And without even giving us a piece of da action. I mean its all ones and zeros floating around in the ether. There isn't even a warehouse or movie theater to burn down.
Have gnu, will travel.
Wait, I keep hearing that AI and robots are gonna take all of our jobs. Let's just have AI write the scripts, use CGI where ever possible, and robots to fill in where CGI isn't possible. Profit!
Mostly joking, but consider all the stuffs discussed on /. Chips, rockets, Linux distros, yada yada. Why aren't all of these ripe for the takeover? Or is it just burger flipping and the assembly line that's conceived as being ripe for robotizing.
Posters on this very thread are saying that Netflix didn't start out making good, original content. Netflix only started supporting actual art and production when they got squeezed by the established studios.
Thus, while Netflix is good now, and a disruptive innovator now, this suggests that eventually Netflix may become part of the established order. Trying to live off their legacy and squeezing newcomers for cash. After all, who is going to pay for the 37th Chairman's tigerskin chair, mink slippers and Youth mudpacks made from genuine Antarctic mud, sterilized in a synchrotron and scented with the tears of Peruvian virgins?
China is buying up the studios, didn't you notice? It is THEY who, working with Rothschilds, Soros, etc, are watering down pop music and wrecking cinema to constantly feed us programmed narratives. There's a book that says all pop music now comes from a handful of Swedish guys, etc. People simply recognize the incongruence and deceit of modern "mainstream media". YouTube is proving that fiction itself might be on the chopping block.
This reminds of one of my favorite anime series that I think has some of the best writing of any show and that is Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. At the beginning of every episode is labeled as either Stand Alone or Complex. They are mixed together from episode to episode, but the Stand Alone ones do just that as self contained episodes, and the Complex ones further the overall serialized season plots. I have always though it was a brilliant way to have the best of both worlds.
Now that we have a live action G.i.t.S movie coming out (all controversies aside) I wouldn't mind if Netflix came out with a G.i.t.S: S.A.C. like live action series.
Nevermore.
All Netflix needs now is a news and weather show, and they can kill TV as we know it.
The movie studios have brought this on themselves. They tried charging insane licensing fees thinking that Netflix couldn't live without them. See how that's working out for them now. The only recourse Netflix had was to start creating its own compelling content. Any business that takes advantage of its customers may reap the rewards short term, but you'll always pay the price in the long term.
What a clown you are, every dramatic work is derivative, otherwise we would be watching random noise.
Hollywood needs someone to kick them swiftly in the ass and stop doing remakes of old shows and movies (some of which aren't actually old, Matrix reboot?)
The first Matrix film is eighteen years old. Do I need to invite Timeghost round to slap some perspective into you?!
...ooooOOOOOOoooo..... "The Matrix" came out closer to "Tron" than to the present day.....
....."Tron" came out closer to the late 1940s than the present day....
....ooooOOOO... the late 1940s... eh, sod it.
because if anyone can make a movie for $50k and show it to the masses and make 200mil then the studios would lose their controlled market. and since they have no way of knowing which indie film will be a success they can't justify marketing all of them and losing money on 50% of them.
if they buy all 100 movies and distribute all of them, only 20% will be successful, if they buy all 100 movies and only distribute 20 of them, they have a chance for 80% of them to be successful since there is that much less actual content for people to see.
makes sense from an accounting point of view right? well business is the only thing they really care about.
Though I posted him the idea that they could set it up in the collapse of the empire, where Inara is starting to be the negotiator between planets, River and her brother will become more mainstream acceptable (and end the series with River being a nearly normal special intelligence op and him as the head of the medical department), Zoey (?) goes steadily mad thinking about her dead husband, giving Alan some screen time as his ghost, possibly with a side order of maybe River seeing him. They stay on the ship because they're busy moving about trying to settle some sort of framework and agreement, and Zoey will not be removed from where Wash and the series ends with Firefly being set off on auto into the deep with Zoey on board and Wash with her as she dies peacefully and quietly.
I guess part of the reason for it not being done is getting them all together AND the money.
Netflix is a new network, nothing more or less. The same thing happened in the late 80s when Fox first debuted, things like The Simpsons obliterated mainstay programming like The Cosby Show. Can we please stop talking about streaming as though we've cured cancer? It looks more like traditional cable with every passing day. Eventually we won't be able to tell the difference.
Like newspapers, are to the internet. You don't have to go to a movie theater, to enjoy a movie. You can stream it from your own home and, hollyWEIRD hasn't had any good scripts, that I'd want to waste my money on. Reboots, remakes, part 4,5,6 of the SAME thing. Hollywood has become BORING with what they come up with, not to mention paying zillions to these "actors" that without memorizing a script, can't string 2 sentences together. TV/cable is the same problem. You DON'T have to get it from the "big three" or cable/satellite anymore.
Hollywood can die and be rebuild for all I care, it's slim pickings with huge cancerous tumors right now.
Think you want to pay to see movies that were in the Theater a year or more ago.
Fucking losers.
If the Studios has a choice of hiring someone for lets say $90million dollars compared to $1million dollars.
Who will they hire?
If you have a choice of paying $5.99 and $0.99, which price are you going to pick to watch your movie?
... is not a streaming service or a website with pirated movies or even physical movie pirates.
The monster that is eating Hollywood is the garbage they are producing. Just take a look at the garbage that was release just this week alone.
I hate it when i find an article that lists "10 cool netflix titles for your sunday night" and then i find only 2 of them in the EU version of Netflix.
What's up wit that? I use only 1 TV and i pay premium for 4 accounts (3 of which i don't use), and i still recieve a crappier service than if I was in the states.
I do however have super fast internet when compared to the US of A and local torrent sites like zamundanet and arenabgcom and global DHT seeding usually have literally ANY movie inside, even the stuff that is in the theaters nowadays (with Korean embedded subs though) - but i am too lazy to torrent after "entering the netflix and amazon prime era", even-though i have PLEX
I kind of prefer to be a part of the paid eco system and not be a "pirate".
So i would gladly pay premium for a beter service and to be able to find more movies but i am forced to search in external sites because netflix in Europe is different than the real US Netflix and the price is the same
Non-compete agreements that limit the ability of people to take jobs at competing companies are standard operating practice in tech and media companies. But Netflix and the TV division of Fox are based in California, a state that bans most such agreements. California labor law should therefore in effect, and under that law those contracts are indeed "unlawful and unenforceable".
The corporate offices of Fox are in New York, so they are presumably trying to claim that their contracts are based on New York law. But I expect them to lose that battle because Ms Flynn worked in California, for a division of Fox that is based there.
and this situation pretty much the definition. No laws being broken to "change the world" but an entrenched way of doing things being threatened by a "new" way of doing pretty much the same thing. Even better was years of warning as Netflix slowly made improvements to what and how it does things.
Welcome to real "disruption".