Hello, Insiders. It’s the penultimate international newsletter before the holiday season, but there’s no festive slowdown in TV and film news just yet. Jesse Whittock here taking you through. Read on and sign up here.
Netflix Metrics
Data dump: Since its inception — and especially since it became an original content player — Netflix has wrestled with releasing viewing data publicly. This week, its improving levels of transparency reached new heights with the release of What We Watched, a global report on 18,000+ titles from its library (equating to 99% of its catalog) covering the first six months of 2023. Data transparency was one of the key issues in the WGA and SAG-AFTRA contract negotiations, and while these new semi-annual reports aren’t the full picture, they provide insight deeper than anything released before. Katie Campione’s extensive analysis, on everything from data to the timing of the release, is well worth a read here.
‘Black box’ opens: Our Co-Business Ed Dade Hayes noted in his initial news report how the lack of transparency in streaming data is often referred to as figures locked away in a ‘black box,’ available only to the company mining them for profit. Netflix has been more open than its newer streaming peers, but earlier on it had been unenthusiastic about releasing data before its rivals had launched, effectively giving them a streaming blueprint. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos even admitted that an “unintended consequence of not having more transparent data” was the creation of “an atmosphere of mistrust over time with our producers and creators and press” (as a paid-up member of the press, I can confirm he’s correct). Now the market has changed, the need for secrecy has diminished. Netflix has hailed What We Watched as “a big step forward for Netflix and our industry.” While there’s still a way to go, it’s hard to see this as anything other than a watershed moment.
What We Learned: There were some fascinating insights: though Sarandos has said around 45% of all Netflix viewing is from licensed content like Suits, the top 100 titles were overwhelmingly original productions. The Night Agent was the most viewed single season (812 million hours viewed), though combining Ginny & Georgia‘s two runs put the comedy top (967.4 million — hat tip to Evan Shapiro for flagging that). Big hitter shows such as Stranger Things season 4, Squid Game and Wednesday, which had launched well before the data capture began, still performed admirably, while Deadline Editor-In-Chief for TV Nellie Andreeva clocked the performance of high-profile cancelations such as Shadow and Bone. While there are certainly other factors at play in every decision — strike delays and cost in many cases — the figures provide some insight into the thresholds of success at Netflix HQ.
Korea aspirations: Squid Game remains Netflix’s biggest hit to date, but the data dump showed that South Korea is doing some serious heavy lifting, with a wealth of well-performing shows. Third in the overall list was psychological revenge drama The Glory, while gameshow Physical: 100 also rated highly. I did some maths (all credit to my iPhone calculator) and learned that South Korean shows in the top 100 accounted for a whopping 3.71 billion hours viewed. Of course, the ‘hours viewed’ metric skews towards longer-running dramas — and Korean series average 17 hours compared with nine in the U.S., Netflix insiders tell me — but there’s no denying the country’s outsized power in the streaming world. No wonder Sarandos and co have committed to spending $2.5B in the country over the next four years.
“LOOFA!”: British originals, which have been so important to Netflix’s success, were also well represented in the data dump. Maybe a touch surprising was Luther: The Fallen Sun at number one. Not only was it a movie, and we’ve noted how the chart discriminates against features, but it was also met with much less acclaim than the BBC series on which it is based. The film, in which Idris Elba reprizes his role as a gruff East London detective, clocked up 203 million hours, streaks ahead of its nearest rival, as Jake reported yesterday. Black Mirror season 6 had just two weeks of data included but still managed 139 million, suggesting it would fly past Luther and other titles given more time. A personal shout out to Joe Cornish’s Lockwood & Co, which was canceled earlier this year despite easily ranking among Netflix’s top 10 British titles of the year. I enjoyed the young adult ghost caper despite having left the YA bracket behind many years ago and was surprised by its axing. Cornish himself noted the numbers on an Instagram post that prompted long-time friend and collaborator Edgar Wright to respond: “It’s almost as if they should have… no?”
All Change At Berlin
New broom: Things are moving fast over at Berlin. On Tuesday morning, ex-London Film Festival head Tricia Tuttle was named new director. Tuttle takes over from Executive Director Mariette Rissenbeek and Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian, who are due to step down after the 2024 edition. Tuttle was chosen by a selection committee chaired by German minister Claudia Roth including All Quiet on the Western Front filmmaker Edward Berger, and she will take over the directorship from April 1. Shortly after Tuttle’s appointment, it was announced that Dennis Ruh, director of the Berlinale’s European Film Market (EFM), would step down as head of the market after the 2024 edition. In an interview with Deadline, Ruh said he was being let go because incoming festival director Tuttle had decided to appoint a new EFM head for the 2025 edition. The market boss said he had not been given a chance to discuss the matter with the new incumbent. You can read the full interview here. As the Berlinale leadership continues to change, Chatrian has begun to unveil the shape of his last edition, which runs February 15-25. Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o will head the competition jury at next year’s edition, while titles featuring Saoirse Ronan and Danielle Deadwyler are among the first to be announced for the festival’s Panorama sidebar. See the full list of Panorama titles here.
‘The Crown’s Leaving Do Continues
The Queen abdicates: The buzz around the final season of The Crown isn’t dying down. The final six episodes of the Peter Morgan peak TV mammoth dropped yesterday, with column inches dedicated to everything from Prince William’s souring relationship with Prince Harry to three Queen Elizabeth IIs getting together for the first time, to a Golden Globes first. The noise will likely quieten shortly as the news cycle comes to an end and the fanatics consume and digest the final run. Whether you consider yourself a Crown stan or not, Bertie Carvel’s revelation during an interview with Baz about “nearly head-butting” the Queen, and Jake’s interview with the show’s producer, Andy Harries, are both worth your time. “Every season of The Crown has caused a reaction, that’s the nature of having a global success,” said Left Bank Pictures boss Harries in the exclusive chat.
In The BBC’s (Very) Hot Seat
Pulling no punches: New BBC Chair Samir Shah withstood a three-hour grilling in front of the UK’s Culture, Media & Sport Committee Wednesday and he pulled few punches under pressure. Walking MPs through the gamut of current and former BBC scandals and challenges, Shah — a UK news and TV production veteran whose appointment still technically needs rubberstamping (though this is just a formality) — was confident from the outset, never afraid to reveal his thoughts on where the BBC is currently going wrong, including his view that high-profile presenter Gary Lineker has probably broken social media guidelines and that the corporation should review its reporting of the Israel-Hamas War. Elsewhere, he didn’t hold back on speaking about his predecessor Richard Sharp, who was forced to resign several months back due to his role in the facilitation of a loan facility for Boris Johnson. His claim, that “you have to be honest and be transparent, and I bring those qualities,” felt just a tad barbed, and he even highlighted the “controversies of my predecessor.” But one area Samir wouldn’t be drawn on was the knotty controversy around BBC board member Robbie Gibb’s possible attempts to influence the Ofcom chair process, a claim that has recently caught fire following an accusation in the book of none other than former firebrand Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries. Shah was forced on several occasions to say he knew nothing of the situation and would only be able to address it once he starts in post, a defense that may become all the more urgent following this fantastic Jake scoop revealing the verdict of a source close to Dorries at the time. (Spoiler alert: her book tells the truth, says the source.) With funding challenges aplenty and reviews into Huw Edwards and Tim Westwood due back imminently, Shah will have plenty to get his teeth into once his appointment is given the green light. For now, he has made a confident start.
Gerwig’s Big In Cannes
President elect: First came Barbie and then came Cannes. Greta Gerwig was this week named Cannes Film Festival Jury President for the 77th edition next year. The fest called the director “a heroine of our modern times,” as she became the first American female director to lead the jury and the youngest overall since Sofia Loren in 1966. I barely need to tell you how successful Barbie was this year, but those wishing to dive a bit deeper into the Gerwig canon can check out the likes of Hannah Takes the Stairs, Little Women and Lady Bird. Start by reading Melanie’s report here.
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot One: Breaking Baz revealed the debuting Stranger Things stage play is planned as the first of a trilogy of theater shows.
🌶️ A second: Adivi Sesh and Shruti Haasan will star in a pan-Indian action drama from Annapurna Studios, as Liz revealed.
🌶️ Hot and spicy: Netflix, See-Saw Films and Picking Scabs have teamed for a limited series about Australian wellness industry scams.
🤝 Done deal #1: Michael Winterbottom’s Tel Aviv-set Shoshana landed a U.S. deal with Greenwich Entertainment.
🤝 Done deal #2: Skydance Entertainment took a minority stake in Médéric Albouy’s Scenario42.
🟧 Krishna exposé: Canada’s Sphere Media and director Jason Lapeyre are adapting a 1988 investigation into the Hare Krishna movement as a feature doc.
⬅️ Exiting: Ukrainian Content Club founder Kateryna Vyshnevska from Film.UA.
➡️ Returning: Luc Besson is back at the top of EuropaCorp after CEO Axel Duroux resigned.
➡️ Joining: Richard Bacon’s Yes Yes Media added a former X Factor showrunner and Hidden Light’s production boss to its ranks.
➗ Divided: Vivendi is considering whether to split Canal+, Lagardère and Havas into three units.
⛺ Festival: Jeremy Chau was named General Manager of the Singapore International Film Festival.
📹 Casting: Outlander star Lauren Lyle is joining Netflix series Toxic Town.
🖼️ Trailer: For Jordan’s Oscar entry Inshallah a Boy.
Zac Ntim and Max Goldbart contributed to this week’s Insider