Netflix is Shifting Its Focus To Audiences, Not Auteurs

不再垂青导演 Netflix望向观众

Back in, say, 2019, if a filmmaker signed a deal with Netflix, it meant that he or she would be well paid and receive complete creative freedom. Theatrical release? Not so much. Still, the paycheck and the latitude — and the potential to reach the streaming service’s huge subscriber base — helped compensate for the lack of hoopla that comes when a traditional studio opens a film in multiplexes around the world.

若回到像是2019年，一名电影创作人与Netflix签约，这代表他或她会得到优渥酬劳并享有完整创作自由。要在院线发行？这倒未必。不过这笔报酬和自由度，加上可能触及该串流服务业者庞大订户群体，有助弥补其欠缺，也就是传统制片厂在全球各地影城上映电影时伴随的浩大声势。

But those days are a thing of the past.

但那些日子已是过去式。

Dan Lin arrived as Netflix’s new film chief April 1, and he has started making changes. He laid off around 15 people in the creative film executive group, including one vice president and two directors. (Netflix’s entire film department is around 150 people.) He reorganized his film department by genre rather than budget level and has indicated that Netflix is no longer only the home of expensive action flicks featuring big movie stars.

Netflix电影部门新主管林𬀩4月1日走马上任，他已著手改变。他裁撤了创意电影执行团队约15人，包括1名副总裁和2名主任。（Netflix电影部门全体约150人。）他将其电影部门依照电影类别而非预算等级重新编组，并指出Netflix不再只是主打电影巨星的高成本动作片产地。

Rather, Lin’s mandate is to improve the quality of the movies and produce a wider spectrum of films — at different budget levels — the better to appeal to the varied interests of Netflix’s 260 million subscribers. He will also be changing the formulas for how talent is paid, meaning no more enormous upfront deals.

林𬀩的要求则是改善电影品质，并以不同预算等级拍出更加五花八门的电影，以便更能抓住Netflix 2.6亿订户形形色色的喜好。他也会改变提供人才报酬的规则公式，这意味大型的预付合约将不复存在。

The company declined to comment for this article.

该公司婉拒对本文置评。

Lin’s predecessor as Netflix’s film chief, Scott Stuber, took the job in 2017.  To succeed, Stuber spent lavishly on talent, promising filmmakers near-complete creative freedom and hefty budgets. It worked — to an extent. The directors got to make their passion projects, and their films earned Oscar nominations (though few wins.)

林𬀩前任的Netflix电影部门主管斯图柏在2017年就任。为了成功，斯图柏在人才上挥金如土，承诺给电影创作人近乎完全的创作自由及丰厚预算。这达到一定程度的成果。电影导演得以满腔热血地拍片，他们的电影也博得多项奥斯卡奖提名（不过鲜少摘金）。

Under Lin, who once ran production at Warner Bros., the aim is to make Netflix’s movies better, cheaper and less frequent. Lin, who declined to comment for this article, also wants his team to become more aggressive producers — developing their own material rather than waiting for projects from producers and agents to come to them, according to two people familiar with his thinking.

曾管理华纳兄弟制作部的林𬀩，任内目标是让Netflix的电影更优质、成本更少并降低出片频率。林𬀩婉拒评论本文，而根据两名熟知林𬀩思路的人士透露，他也想让旗下的团队成为更具进取心的制作人，自行开发素材而不是坐等制作人以及代理商带著案子来找他们。

Netflix was reconsidering its pay structure before Lin’s arrival. Since the company began sharing performance metrics last year, there have been discussions about basing pay for filmmakers and actors on a film’s performance, similar to how the traditional studios reward them when movies perform well at the box office.

Netflix在林𬀩赴任前即在重新考量其奖酬结构。自从去年该公司开始分享绩效指标，就开始讨论基于电影绩效来提供电影创作人及演员报酬，类似传统制片厂在票房表现亮眼时奖励他们的方式。 

文／Nicole Sperling　译／高诣轩