Netflix won’t work with directors who insist on theatrical releases

After Netflix backed out of its bid for Warner Bros., the industry watched to see whether the streamer would remain committed to theatrical distribution as well as streaming, as company chief Ted Sarandos had suggested while courting the studio. Now that Netflix will remain solo, the company has implemented price hikes and scored big with several popular shows, developments that appear to have shifted its approach.

Dan Lin, chairman of the Netflix film division, recently told the New York Times his interest was not in theatrical releases. He said, "There [are] a group of filmmakers who still want theatrical. Those are filmmakers that we’ve accepted we just won’t work with." Lin added that one of his early mistakes "was that filmmakers always said to me, 'Please tell me the truth.' And when I told them the truth, they might not have wanted to hear it.

So now I’m learning how to better read people.

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