The latest interview with Ted Sarandos started with a softball issue: “Have you destroyed Hollywood?”
“No, we save Hollywood,” said Netflix Co-PDG with a smile.
On Wednesday in New York, Sarandos embarked on a brief discussion with the editor -in -chief of Time Sam Jacobs magazine at Time100 Summit. The two jumped directly into the problems that afflict Hollywood and why Netflix succeeds in the middle of the production decreases, by reducing box-office numbers and a contraction industry.
“Netflix is a very consumer -oriented company,” said Sarandos. “We really care to deliver the program to you in a way you want to watch it.”
By using the world box office in difficulty as an example, Sarandos added: “What is it said?” What is the consumer trying to tell us? That they would like to look Films at home, thank you. Studios and theaters are unleashed while trying to preserve this 45 -day window which is completely out of step with the consumer experience to love a film. »»
Netflix is not entirely withdrawn from the cinema sector, because the company has the Bay Theater of Los Angeles and the Paris Theater of New York, which, according to Sarandos, says that Netflix “saved” to become a Walgreens: “We have not saved it to save the theater sector. We saved it to save the theatrical experience. ”
Netflix must also offer theatrical outings limited to the films looking for qualifications for awards, such as the “Knives Out” of 2022 “Glass Onion” and “Emilia Pérez” of 2024.
“We have these tailor -made outings … We have to make qualifications for the Oscars,” said Sarandos. “They have to run a little, it helps a little with the press cycle. But I tried to encourage each director with whom we work to focus on the consumer, focus on fans. Make a film they love and they will reward you.”
Sarandos also noted that “we are in a transition period”, saying: “People have grown up thinking:” I want to make films on a gigantic screen and that foreigners watch them (and have them) playing in the theater for two months and people cry and closed counters … It is an obsolete concept. »»
Specifically asked if the desire of filmmakers who wanted to make films “for cinemas, for community experience” is “an out of view”, Sarandos said: “I think it is – for most people, not for everyone. If you are lucky enough to live enough in Manhattan, and you can walk towards a multiplex and see a film, it is fantastic. Most of the country cannot.”
Sarandos insisted that he loves cinemas, but, of course, their decline does not “bother” him. Instead, he said he would be disturbed if “people stop making great films”.
He warned Hollywood not to be “trapped” behind wanting the public to see films in theaters because this is how the film industry wants the public to watch them. Instead, for entertainment, Hollywood should adapt to how the public wants to watch films, said Sarandos.
Elsewhere in the 15 -minute cat, Sarandos judged whether Donald Trump’s economic policies benefit Netflix (“he remains to be seen”) and if he preferred that his next job directs “Saturday Night Live” or Disney. “SNL,” replied Sarandos quickly, but said “I have no idea” when asked who should replace Bob Iger.
In finishing the discussion, Jacobs raised a quote from 2010 from the then CEO of Time Warner Jeff Bewkes, who rejected Netflix as a viable competitor in the entertainment landscape. “It’s a bit like, will the Albanian army conquer the world?” He told the New York Times in an interview.
When asked how he would answer Bewkes in 2025, Sarandos joked: “I would say it in Albanians if I could.”
