The war of the Networks. According to American independent films distributor and Slamdance President Peter Baxter, “this is a positive war for the audience and the independent authors, who are the real beneficiaries of this conflict”, which is transforming into a real “opportunity for creatives”.
Traditional network (ABC, CBC and NBC) and the cable ones (HBO) start to feel the after-effect; they are supported only by commercials, talk shows and reality shows (Dancing with the Stars and Americal Idol). They give way to the streaming giant such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, that provide on-demand content making room for ideas and creativity of young filmmakers and screenwriters.
Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos states, “we are interested in everything except mainstream and “what’s already been watched”. We try not to be repetitive, we always think of the “never seen before”. Original ideas, however bizarre they are, don’t scare us, quite the opposite. Networks are afraid of innovations. They are subject to too many rules. Nobody tells us what we should or shouldn’t do, or what language we have to use. That’s the great thing of being off the radar”.
American TV series author and producer Shonda Rhimes, who is successful in Italy too (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder) left ABC for Netflix (with more than 100 million subscribers worldwide), as well as Martin Scorsese who left HBO. Next year, David Letterman will be on Netflix, too.
Six billion dollars of investments for original shows: that’s the figure announced by Netflix for its future content.
