Netflix Stresses Business As Usual But Confusion Remains Over Budgets, Commissioning & Canadian Content – Analysis

deadline.com:

Amidst lower-than-expected subscriber growth and a subsequent round of circa-150 redundancies, Netflix was all anyone wanted to talk about at this week’s Banff World Media Festival, and while the streamer’s head honchos stressed Business As Usual, sources from outside reported confusing messaging coming from Los Gatos HQ.A series of panels and keynotes, including one from Head of Global TV Bela Bajaria, were intended for Netflix to stress to the 1,500-strong delegate list of commissioners, execs and journalists that the streamer is still doing what it has always done: commissioning the best producers, writers and directors to make the best shows.“Back to basics” was the message from Bajaria, who shrugged off the need for “radical change” within the streamer’s ranks.

More junior staffers were also pushing the BAU line in private, arguing that now is the time to cut through the noise and focus on what Netflix has always done best.But several senior sources from the production community were less sure, reporting confusing messaging from Netflix commissioners when it comes to budgets and the type of programing they are seeking.Execs reported business affairs-related difficulties when establishing how much is on offer for a particular show during contract negotiations, a reversal of the era when Netflix was seen as very much a blank-check company.Bajaria laid out the streamer’s plans on record to spend $17B this year but stumbled her way through a question on what direction that spend will head in if the lower-than-expected growth continues, eventually stating it will move “in parallel.”“This moment has felt a long time coming,” said an indie boss. “[Netflix] felt they could do anything they wanted for a long while and I