Netflix’s Bela Bajaria Shoots Down Talk of a New Film and TV Compensation Model: ‘We’re Not Changing’

After weeks of media speculation that Netflix is looking to change the way that it pays talent in film and TV, chief content officer Bela Bajaria said that’s not the case. Speaking on Thursday at the Bloomberg Screentime conference, Bajaria pointed to recent stories about Netflix’s plans to unveil a new compensation structure “total fabrications.”

“We like our model, and we like our model in film and TV,” Bajaria said. “On the film side, even, which a lot has been written about, we are not changing our model. Our model works great for talent. It works great for filmmakers. It’s worked well for us. We like the model. It’s worked for a long time. So we are not changing our compensation model.”

Related Stories

VIP+

How YouTube Scares Away Viewers From Its Hottest Genre: Horror

China Box Office: ‘Transformers One’ Takes Top Spot on Quietest Weekend of the Year

Bajaria said there have been “a few bespoke deals” with talent on a handful of films in which talent “was interested in the opportunity of, we’ll take some risk, we’re going to share more upside, and they were interested in that.”

But Bajaria said that’s only happened twice. “It’s a very tiny thing that has blown up to this story of we’re changing our business. We’re not,” she said. “On TV, we have not done one of those deals. So that’s just not true.”

When it was pointed out that Netflix has previously said it wouldn’t change its model and then did (including getting into the advertising business), Bajaria did admit that Netflix has changed as the business evolves. “We understand the business and we change,” she said. “We’re willing to pivot and grow and evolve and innovate, instead of saying, ‘This has always the way it’s been done, and we can never change it…. The business has changed. So we’re gonna we’re gonna change. Maybe that’s the reason everybody wants to write stories that are not accurate. I just think there’s no story there.”

MORE TO COME