Netflix lays off 300 additional staff
theverge.com
theverge.com
Having said that, in my experience their app and streaming quality is just perfect. Unlike hbo’s. It would be a shame if these layoffs would be among tech departments because i imagine their engineering is awesome. As a bonus i read somewhere that they use freebsd and that’s a huge plus in my books. Shows that they understand tech well beyond the basics.
It’s a pool with a lot of constraints on it, many of which are artificial.
Based on? There aren't even many good technical writers, which is a lot easier than writing fiction.
It really boils down to a few gatekeepers (mostly old white guys) giving the screenwriting jobs to the same idiots over and over again. For example, the guys who wrote Morbius have never written a successful film that made money back at the box office but already have 1 new screenplay in production and have been contracted to write several more; meanwhile the screenwriter of Crazy Rich Asians (which not only outgrossed Morbius but nearly grossed as much as Morbius' screenwriters' other films combined) has only been hired for a single film (Raya and the Last Dragon) since.
And the point is that while she had a major blockbuster success, this will only be her second film since that success; in that time, the losers behind Morbius will have worked on 4 films.
Also, Lim lists herself as a director of the film in her Twitter bio[0], so it seems like a lot more than a maybe at this point.
[0]: https://twitter.com/adeleblim?lang=en
Separate from all that, I don't understand your larger point about Lim. She went from Crazy Rich Asians which grossed over 200 million, and then went directly to work on Raya, which grossed over 100 million, and now is directing and producing her own movie with hand chosen writing talent. Where exactly is she struggling? And where are writers being forced on her?
How many other second-tier directors who could make great films are out there not getting funded?
I don't know, how many? Your example of Daniels is interesting because Daniels were discovered, so it doesn't help me understand how many people are out there that could do a great job but don't have the opportunity.
I've consumed a lot of amateur writing, music, and comedy. Most people just suck at creative endeavors. On the other hand, I once saw the most beautiful performance by a girl busking on the street. Fast-forward a few years, and now she's doing world-wide tours constantly and has a great musical career. With YouTube, Twitch, Spotify, and TikTok, it's never been easier for talented young artists, writers, and directors to rise up from obscurity.
In other words, they found a couple of plot recipes that stoners like, and are cashing in on that.
Which isn't reprehensible or anything in itself, it's just not worth so much of the hype it's getting, but that's hype after all.
But I do dislike the overall cultural dumbing down.
The entire structure and model of the business leads to produce exactly what Netflix makes. Season after season of mediocre TV that keeps people subscribing, using the same formulas over and over for more growth. Just like traditional TV at this point.
Occasionally they'll get a good indie hit but that's about it. It's telling that much of the best content, like Dark or some of the South Korean shows is not coming out of the typical studios.
Also you can buy the rights to old good stuff. Might not make good business sense (some (weird! senseless!) people will only watch new stuff) but it'd please me. My favourite stuff's all older than I am (i.e. I don't think you can claim it's just fond childhood memory or whatever) and there's plenty of greats I've yet to see, why restrict myself to this year's crap (and perhaps hit or two).
That's a business decision. They made a decision to go for quantity over quality, and that's fine for the short-term.
I think Netflix simply didn't find the right balance. It's okay to have cheap shows to fill in the blanks, I mean, I enjoy some of them. But the biggest problem is that they give up on pretty much every other more "artistic" work too easily; even when these can only become popular years later.
These days, I would not count on an expiring credit card to automatically cancel services.
There were some articles about the layoffs last time and the major backlash that resulted. Protocol covered this, noting "Protocol identified at least 40 people from marginalized backgrounds who lost their jobs in the latest round of cuts."
Interestingly, as I read this Meta announcement a settlement on similar discrimination claims:
"Discrimination in housing, employment and credit is a deep-rooted problem with a long history in the US, and we are committed to broadening opportunities for marginalized communities in these spaces and others," Roy Austin Jr., Meta's vice president of civil rights, wrote in a blog post.
Well played.