Credit: Getty ImagesAccording to a report from Bloomberg, Netflix is now restructuring its film studios, resulting in layoffs and a slowdown of its content release cadence.
Related: As Disney Fires Executives, Universal Studios Hires Two New Ones
Due to a restructuring announced by my Netflix management, two senior creative Team Members at the worldwide streaming giant are now exiting the company. Indie film and documentary executives Lisa Nishimura and indie film vice president Ian Bricke have both stepped down due to changes at the company’s highest levels.
Yesterday, it was reported that Netflix’s leading film executive Scott Stuber was given complete control of the movie division to help streamline the division for the company. Stuber would go on to say, according to a report from Variety, “Lisa Nishimura joined Netflix in the DVD days, and as the company moved into streaming, she built our original documentary and stand-up comedy divisions from the ground up and established Netflix as a powerhouse in both spaces.” Nishimura was responsible for some pretty high-profile and famous documentary work, such as American Factory (2019, My Octopus Teacher (2020), Making a Murderer (2015), and Tiger King (2020).”
In addition to Stuber’s praise for Nishimura, he would highlight Bricke’s success by saying to Variety that “building and leading our independent film team, attracting filmmakers like Tamara Jenkins, Nicole Holofcener and Mark and Jay Duplass. He championed fan favorites like The Kissing Booth (2018) and established our Emerging Filmmaker Initiative. We thank them both for their contributions to making us a world-class film studio and wish them the best for the future.”
The layoffs and restructuring from the streaming giant coincide at the same time as its fiercest streaming competitor, The Walt Disney Company, and Disney Plus are in the middle of laying off as many as 7,000 employees, which started this past week.
As the economy begins to slow and investors pressure media giants to cut costs in any way possible, it seems that layoffs and restructurings could become the norm for the foreseeable future.
Do you think Netflix will see a decline in content quality as the company looks to decrease costs?