Netflix is ​​making more and more movies, but directors are worried

Lulu Wang, director of the Golden Globe Award-winning foreign language film The Farewell, and others recently participated in a roundtable discussion held by the American media The Hollywood Reporter. She pointed out the biggest problem brought about by the streaming revolution: too much content.

Another major streaming platform once offered a higher price for "The Farewell," but Wang Ziyi chose the smaller traditional studio A24. Todd Phillips, director of "Joker," said that "filmmakers like Wang Ziyi will get lost on Netflix." Martin Scorsese, the godfather of gangster films, also said that there is "too much content" on platforms like Netflix. Wang Ziyi compared large streaming platforms to Spotify and iTunes, which have almost unlimited music to discover, but in the end "if people don't know how to find you, then the number of users on the platform is useless."

“One thing we sometimes don’t discuss with the big streaming platforms is that it’s a different business model,” she said. “The platforms are building their brands. If you become an established filmmaker, then you’re a brand they want to work with, and they want to use your brand to build their brand. But with new filmmakers, new voices, you don’t have your own brand.”

Netflix is ​​sometimes considered a must-have for filmmakers, especially as blockbusters from Disney and Warner Bros. dominate the box office. Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said at a recent summit hosted by the Aspen Institute that Netflix is ​​not hurting theaters, but saving them. Netflix is ​​taking movies that other studios won't take and making more movies than any other company. For example, Scorsese tried to make "The Irishman" through the traditional studio system for 10 years, but it was Netflix that ultimately paid $160 million for the film. In 2019, Netflix released nearly 60 original English-language films, about three times as many as Disney.

More content is crucial to Netflix's strategy because it needs to offer something new every week. Industry observers believe that the overwhelming amount of content is hurting users. FX President John Landgraf said that airing a season of content at a time means that the show will lose public interest after two weeks. However, Netflix disagrees with this view.

Users have direct access to more content than ever before, which has important implications: more work opportunities for industry insiders, more viewing options for users, and more opportunities for new artists to break through. However, this also has some negative consequences: search and discovery of content needs to improve.