Larry Tanz: Non-fiction key to Netflix maintaining production levels in EMEA
SERIES MANIA: Netflix has more than 40 European projects shooting in Europe this month and is looking to maintain high production levels by commissioning more non-scripted series, according to its EMEA series boss Larry Tanz.
Larry Tanz at Series Mania
While the entertainment industry contracts amid a commissioning slowdown in the aftermath of ‘peak TV,’ Netflix’s VP of content in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) underscored the firm’s continued commitment to the region at Series Mania in Lille, France, today.
Netflix, which recently added former Walt Disney Company EMEA executive Pauline Dauvin as its VP of content in France, will do that by offering different types of unscripted series alongside scripted originals that made up the bulk of its initial local offer in EMEA, Tanz said.
Dauvin began working for the streamer in January, after more than 12 years at The Walt Disney Company France, where she was most recently VP and previously director of programmes and acquisitions. She has also previously worked for NBCUniversal and France 2.
“We have a lot going on. In March we have 40 European projects in production in Europe and we’re working with over 400 producers. Ultimately, we have to work with the best people and have the best teams, which I feel really good about,” said Tanz.
“We can grow by expanding into new areas. Now we’re doing non-fiction all across the region,” added Tanz, who pointed to multiple EMEA versions of dating format, Love Is Blind in Swedish, German and Arabic.
“We’re all in and we will continue to invest,” said Tanz, referencing some of Netflix’s US-based competitors that have pulled away from the EMEA market after failing to reach profitability through streaming.
“The biggest evolution has been local series and films being pitched and developed and produced locally,” he told delegates. “When I started, everything was out of LA. [Money Heist creator] Alex Piña said something to the effect of, ‘I used to have to fly to Spain to LA to get a show made. Now I can be in Madrid and figure [it] out and go make my next series, which then gets enjoyed by the whole world.’ It’s really been [about] that migration, being driven out of LA to truly local teams who are programming for audiences.”
Netflix now has 11 country offices across EMEA, each home to a single team who are across a whole slate of films, series, non-fiction projects and acquisitions.
“What Pauline does for us in France is similar to our other countries, where we have a single content lead looking after films, series, acquisitions and non-fiction to really think holistically about that slate of local stories to bring to our members.
Tanz also discussed Netflix’s growing offer of sports-related content, with series such as Beckham and Tour de France: Unchained set to be followed by a docuseries about Spanish football league La Liga that delegates were shown a clip from.
“We need to be great partners and provide the best experience and support so that we can keep growing and maintain that level of quality,” said Tanz.
At one of the numerous Next on Netflix events taking place in Europe this month, Tanz told journalist Louise Ekland about new scripted projects coming out of France and the Netherlands.
Former Project Greenlight producer Tanz joined Netflix a decade ago and moved from the US to Amsterdam in 2019 to help grow the company’s originals slate in EMEA.
Some of the latest additions to this slate include an as-yet-untitled thriller from Itinéraire Productions/UGC in France, created by Nils Antoine Sambuc and directed by Marie Jardillier.
Starring Isabelle Adjani, it follows a young mother on the run, who finds an unexpected opportunity to bounce back by becoming a picker in a prestigious flower farm in Provence. But the mysterious death of the family patriarch of the company casts her under the spotlight as the prime suspect.
As she grapples with the mounting accusations, she uncovers a shocking revelation – she’s the unexpected beneficiary of the late patriarch’s estate, unearthing her deeply-rooted connections to this affluent lineage.
Meanwhile, crime drama Amsterdam Empire is set within the Amsterdam cannabis scene and will star Famke Janssen as an ex-pop diva who takes revenge on her unfaithful husband, a rich and notorious founder of a coffee shop empire.
Produced by Pupkin Film and coproduced by A Team Productions, it has been created by Nico Moolenaar, Bart Uytdenhouwen and Piet Matthys. It will be directed by Jonas Govaerts and the executive producers are Janssen and Moolenaar.
Tanz also showed previously unseen clips from upcoming originals such as The Cage, a French drama set in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA); German crime drama Crooks, which launches on April 4; dark comedy series Kaos, an English-language drama starring Jeff Goldblum that was made at Netflix’s production studio outside of Madrid.
Also shown to the audience were Turkish drama Istanbul Encyclopedia and Heweliusz, a documentary that tells the story of the sinking the Norwegian-built Polish ferry in the Baltic Sea in 1993.
Tanz said Netflix isn’t looking to “mix and match” nationalities in its series to try and appeal to multiple countries. Instead, Tanz said Netflix is finding success by “cutting across stereotypes” by offering audiences local programming in genres that they are potentially underserved from broadcasters and competing streamers.
For example, Tanz said in Sweden, a market where the received wisdom may have been that Nordic noir would be the most popular content on its platform, its most-watched series include Love Is Blind: Sweden and teen drama Young Royals.
The Lille panel followed similar events hosted by Netflix in key European markets such as the UK, Germany and, most recently, the Nordics, as the streamer looks to continue adding subscribers outside of North America.
