The TV Shows Netflix Wants to Buy Now
Fresh intel about the execs with greenlight power and what to bring them
I write about TV from L.A. My Summer Sellers’ Guide revealed what ABC, Hulu & FX, Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon, HBO & HBO Max and Peacock want to buy, and I reported on Gen X Hollywood’s career crisis and the boom in microdramas. I’m elaine@theankler.com
Let’s start this week off with a little reader mail! After asking you all if my TV sellers’ guides have been helping you pitch, I got this lovely message from Chris, who gave me permission to share his feedback:
“I have a live-action kids’ show that was a finalist in a pitch competition. One of the judges, a well-known producer, really connected with it and has been taking it to production companies. Originally, we assumed it was a tough sell because the general narrative among producers was that Disney wasn’t looking for live-action shows for pre-teens currently. Then I shared your article about Disney+, and now he includes it whenever he sends out my script — and it even inspired him to target Disney directly. Your reporting has already made a difference!”
A motivated writer, an inspired producer. You love to see it. Anyone else getting traction on their pitches? Write me at elaine@theankler.com.
I’ve got one more sellers’ guide for you before I wrap this series: the Big Kahuna, the Walmart of streaming platforms, YouTube frenemy, the one and only Netflix. As my colleague Sean McNulty covered in his analysis of the streamer’s Q2 earnings call last month, the company continues to come in above projections on financial metrics and even said subscriber growth exceeded expectations (though it no longer discusses specific subscriber data on these calls).
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos also reeled off an impressive list of new programming — nearly three minutes’ worth, by Sean’s count — including series such as its Little House on the Prairie reboot (whose winding journey to the screen The Optionist’s Andy Lewis wrote about for The Ankler earlier this year) to the Duffer brothers’ upcoming supernatural series, The Boroughs, set to arrive in 2026, even as its creators are reportedly negotiating a massive new overall deal at Paramount.
Losing the Duffers would sting, but not much. After all, Netflix has an annual content spend of $18 billion and releases scores of new series every year, plus original movies, doc series, reality shows, a growing menu of live events and heck, why not, it now has a French broadcaster too — so by virtue of its sheer volume, even just in original series, pinning down this streamer’s appetites can be a little tougher. For the purposes of today, I am focusing just on the domestic buying team in the U.S. for original scripted series.
And I’ve got major intel for you.
Before I get into the details, it bears noting that selling a pitch is just the very first step in the process of getting a show all the way to the screen — and Netflix is different from other players in ways I’ll explain below. So much about the original concept can change in development; so much about the tone and visuals of a show can evolve once you get even further along into production. I was reminded of that this past week when Series Business partnered with the Directors Guild of America and Letterboxd to curate conversations with seven Emmy-nominated directors, from the legendary John Wells (The Pitt) to next-gen phenom Jessica Lee Gagné (Severance). I spoke with both of them, as well as Andor helmer Janus Metz, and Nicole Kassell (Watchmen, The Americans), who directed the first and second episodes of the Netflix limited series Sirens.
We’ll have more later this week about my convos, plus three other TV director chats moderated by our deputy editor Chris Rosen.
Now, on to cracking the Netflix code. Today I reveal:
Greenlight power: Who can say yes there (it’s way more execs than you think) under Bela Bajaria, plus I name names of rising development execs considered stars in the market
The devil in the details: Why it’s sometimes easier to get to yes at Netflix, but why it might turn into a sort of Hunger Games fight after that
Budgets: The exact range Netflix, which has “the deepest pockets,” will spend per episode — and which shows score the high end
The genres they want: What’s in demand now — and where the streamer is oversubscribed
The appetite for limited series: Why Netflix is still hot on the format as competitors pull back
…and comedy: The returning series that offer a template for success and the “innovative” show that could open doors for new creators
BONUS: The genre Netflix says it doesn’t want — but “you get in a room and they buy it”