Netflix may have won the streaming wars, but it certainly wasn’t because of the quality of its original movies. Sure, there have been some critical darlings and fun crowd-pleasers here or there, but in general, the streamer has earned a reputation for releasing a high volume of mediocrity. Talk to ten people about what they’ve watched recently, and you’ll probably hear at least several of them use the phrase, “well, for a Netflix movie…” For the first time in a long time, however, there may be reason for some optimism.
A few years ago, Netflix replaced the head of its original movie department Scott Stuber with Dan Lin, and this week, The New York Times published an extended profile talking about what’s changed. Under Stuber, Netflix’s prime motivation was reportedly to be taken seriously and to get premium Hollywood talent to work with them. Now that the OG goal has been accomplished, Lin is reportedly changing the mission to focus more specifically on genres.
