“It was like a palace of pitching. There’s never been any place like it.”An agent friend was describing the sprawling and frenetic Netflix reception lobby, which was an almost weekly destination for him and clients.
It was so packed with dealmakers that projects were often re-shaped and re-packaged even before the Netflix pitch took place.Given news of 450 layoffs at the streamer, the pitching palace has become a cathedral of calm.
With Netflix likely to lose 2 million global subscribers this quarter, its present priority is to trim costs while building an ad-supported tier to generate fresh revenue.The behavior of Netflix employees has reflected this change. “I’m taking pitches for shows all morning, then checking out job possibilities in the afternoon,” reports one Netflix executive I’ve known for years. “If I hear one more person lecturing me about ‘resilience,’ I’ll deck him.”Inevitably, turbulence in the job market has stirred speculation about the Hollywood version of “the circle of life.” “Who knows who you’ll be hitting on tomorrow,” reflects one female executive at Warner Bros Discovery, who like many is reviewing her own recent history of business manners.
Were calls returned promptly? Were the rejections delivered with empathy? Or is that even possible?Even CEO behavior is being critiqued more scrupulously at present.
Read more on deadline.com