Scott Stuber, who built Netflix Inc. into Hollywood’s most prolific movie studio, will leave the streaming giant in March to start a new company.
Stuber will stay on as global film chairman at least until the Academy Awards in March to wrap up projects, before departing to produce films and TV shows on his own. He has secured financing for the new venture, according to people familiar with the executive’s plans. Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria will oversee the film team while the company searches for a replacement.
Stuber joined Netflix in 2017, when the company had just started to produce original movies, and expanded output to dozens of films in multiple languages. He oversaw the acquisition, development or production of hit pictures such as Bird Box, Red Notice and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Stuber will continue to produce projects for Netflix in his new job, thanking Chairman Reed Hastings and Co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos in a statement.
“Seven years ago, Reed and Ted offered me the amazing opportunity to join Netflix and create a new home for original movies,” Stuber said. “I am proud of what we accomplished and am so grateful to all the filmmakers and talent who trusted us to help tell their stories.”
In some years Netflix produced more movies than several major Hollywood studios combined. Many members of the Hollywood community felt the constant onslaught of new titles with little promotion made the movies feel disposable. Yet Netflix accounts for the majority of the most-streamed original movies every year and earned the most Academy Award nominations of any studio in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The company has worked with many of the biggest directors in Hollywood, including Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Greta Gerwig and Alfonso Cuarón.
Sarandos praised Stuber for attracting “unbelievable creative talent” and leading “a new paradigm” for how movies are made, while Bajaria said she hoped to keep working with Stuber in his new job.
Stuber at times clashed with leadership at the company over the strategy for distributing the movies.
A former executive at Universal Pictures and producer of hit movies such as Ted, he pushed for Netflix to release its biggest titles in theatres before they appeared on the streaming service. He also wanted the company to spend more money marketing its pictures. Stuber hoped to convince Sarandos to give Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery an extended run in theatres, for example. Sarandos demurred.
In going off on his own, he joins senior media executives like Peter Chernin in trying to build an independent studio to supply major media companies.
Bajaria will now look for a new studio chief who wants to make movies the Netflix way. Most studios put their films in theatres for weeks if not months before they go online. Even Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. have embraced theatres for certain titles. Yet few companies can promise as large an audience as Netflix.
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