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Netflix‘s film division is getting a re-org under new head Dan Lin.
Several sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the features division at the streaming service will now be split up by genre — such as sci-fi, rom-com and faith-based. While Lin officially started his Netflix tenure on April 1, sources note that the re-org has been in the works for over a month, with Lin consulting with chief content officer Bela Bajaria, the streamer’s film heads, and outside partners.
Under the new structure, Ori Marmur will oversee action, fantasy, horror and sci-fi titles, while Kira Goldberg will handle thrillers, dramas and family films. Niija Kuykendall will oversee faith-based, young adult and holiday offerings, while Jason Young will handle comedies and rom-coms.
As a part of the re-structuring, there will also be some departures, with a source noting the number will be around one dozen, but that number could change.
Netflix’s film structure has long been a source of Hollywood confusion. Internally, the difficulty for the group has been one of sheer volume, with the number of projects far surpassing any other studio. How to manage Hollywood’s biggest slate, and its biggest content spend, has long plagued the streamer.
The film division under one-time heads Lisa Nishimura and Tendo Nagenda was split up according to budget, with project priced mid-to-high landing under Nagenda with Nishimura shepherding what the streamer considered mid-to-low budget, as well as acquisitions and non-fiction offerings.
After the departures of Nagenda (in September 2022) and Nishimura (in March 2023), the film division was run by Goldberg, Marmur and Kuykendall. (Prior to this, these execs were shoehorned into the various budget areas not falling under Nagenda and Nishimura’s respective domains.) At the time, the restructuring under Goldberg, Marmur, and Kuykendall was billed as an effort to curb confusion and streamline all film efforts.
A division re-org is a common Hollywood practice with the installment of a new cheif. The latest re-org was a result of a desire to better align internal structure with the needs of the Netflix film slate. According to insiders, the Lin-era Netflix film slate will be made up of a majority of midsized offerings, with the streamer having found its biggest hits with comedies, rom-coms and family films. Scattered in there will be a handful of big movies and requisite awards contenders.