In a few weeks, Ted Sarandos will make his acting debut — playing Ted Sarandos. The co-CEO of Netflix is lampooning himself in an episode of the Apple TV+ series “The Studio,” Seth Rogen’s answer to “Entourage” by way of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” And given Sarandos’ reputation as a driven boss who hates to lose, it’s hilarious that he’s making a cameo on a competing streamer. In his big scene, Sarandos attends the Golden Globes, where he runs into Rogen’s freshman movie chief beleaguered
by challenges — among them, keeping up with Netflix.
“I said yes right away,” Sarandos recalls. Unlike the dead-eyed, condescending executive he portrays on TV, Sarandos is warm and relaxed today. He lights up when he talks about anything related to Hollywood, sounding more like a fan than a power player. “Seth sent it to me, and I thought it was really funny. I kept asking him, ‘Is this a heightened version of me?’”
He hustled to keep up with the professionals. “I was really super conscious about not forgetting my lines,” Sarandos says. “I just didn’t want to slow anything down and cost them money.”
Art Streiber for Variety
This is a rare admission for the man Hollywood knows by one syllable. “Ted” doesn’t have a reputation for being frugal. Over his quarter-century at Netflix, Sarandos transformed it from a DVD-by-mail company into a streaming Goliath. And Sarandos has transformed too: Once a brash party crasher in a town whose decision-makers had been established for decades, Sarandos now is the industry. He’s the man who gave us “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game,” convinced Adam Sandler to board the streaming train and transitioned Shondaland from linear TV legend to a bingeable juggernaut.
On this afternoon, we meet Sarandos, 60, at an unexpected location: a movie theater. Even though Netflix has undercut the filmgoing experience by keeping people glued to their couches at home, Sarandos still loves cinemas. Indeed, he engineered the purchase of the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood for Netflix and renovated the prized movie palace where the company shows its films on the big screen to awards voters.
Sarandos settles into a plush chair in the theater’s green room, stocked with king-sized chocolate bars and other tasty concessions that would make a real movie theater owner jealous. For the next 90 minutes, no topic is off-limits. He’ll answer questions about striking an overall deal with the Obamas, meeting Donald Trump and why he doesn’t get Apple’s content strategy. He’s also nostalgic and cheerful about his 25-year anniversary at Netflix. In the early days, the former chief content officer was tasked with wrangling vast supplies of DVDs of hit films that Netflix could then ship to customers in its red envelopes. It took years for him to even get his own office.
The service has skyrocketed to 300 million global subscribers and is expected to plop down $18 billion on content this year. Sarandos’ haters say that he’s destroyed the industry, turning audiences into zombies that binge-watch undifferentiated content on tablets and phones. They say he’s flattened Hollywood in his quest for global domination. The fact that Netflix has not won a best picture Oscar, despite several at-bats, suggests that the resentment still runs deep within the Academy.
But like any creation of the internet, Sarandos relishes the chatter. His real tests have been in front of shareholders. During his time at the helm, Netflix has experienced two life-threatening stock slides as a publicly traded company. The first was in 2011, when leadership decided to split the DVD mailing business and the streaming platform into two services, asking customers to pay for subscriptions to both. It backfired to an astounding degree; Netflix’s stock lost half its value in two months, and it recovered only after the company issued an apology and reversed course. The second came in April 2022, when Wall Street panicked over analysts’ predicting slow subscriber growth as Disney, HBO and NBCUniversal invested heavily in streaming. In a single day, Netflix lost $54 billion in market cap. The seismic drop reverberated throughout Hollywood, and Netflix film and TV executives had to mount a road show in the following weeks to assure the creative community it still had money to fund their projects.
Through it all, Sarandos has remained coolheaded and optimistic, taking the long view that building the world’s buzziest streaming library will win out. His vision has radically reshaped the way the world watches. It’s also made this former video-store clerk the king of all content.
Art Streiber for Variety
How has it felt to be at Netflix for 25 years?
Like a freight train. No two years are alike.
Was there ever a time you thought you might leave Netflix?
No.
What are you excited about this year?
Look, we have the return of our biggest franchises. We have the finale of “Stranger Things,” which is going to be incredible; a third season of “Squid Game,” which the world is waiting for; and the return of “Wednesday.” All three of the biggest shows in the history of Netflix and maybe in the history of television. And our film slate, with films from Guillermo del Toro and Noah Baumbach and a new “Knives Out” film. It is just an incredible embarrassment of riches.
How would you describe the “Stranger Things” final season?
There won’t be a dry eye.
Do you think it continues on beyond that?
So “Stranger Things,” I believe, is a gigantic universe — you see it in novelizations of the characters now. You see it in consumer products. You see it in the live stage show, the prequel “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.” That’s just playing hugely successfully on the West End, and it’s going to be opening on Broadway.
Netflix got into the original content business in a big way with “House of Cards” in 2013. But you didn’t start producing original movies that moved the needle until “Beasts of No Nation,” only 10 years ago. Are you surprised at how quickly the industry has embraced streaming movies since then?
I look back and we made these innovations in distribution. Some things from our early days don’t get talked about much, and some take on lives of their own.
Such as?
Like the idea that “House of Cards” was the biggest deal ever in content. By far, our Marvel deal [in 2013] was the biggest deal in the history of television. No one will ever touch it. We committed to five original seasons of TV with no pilots, 13 expensive episodes for each show centered around one character. And then a crossover season. Ultimately, we learned a lot about the entertainment business on that deal.
That deal included “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones” and “Luke Cage.” Do you think the TV shows that Marvel is producing for Disney+ are successful?
I think they are. I mean, I don’t know because they don’t release any numbers.
On our shows, we were dealing with the old Marvel television regime, which operated independently at Disney. And they were thrifty. And every time we wanted to make the shows bigger or better, we had to bang on them. Our incentives were not well aligned. We wanted to make great television; they wanted to make money. I thought we could make money with great television.
What did you learn from that experience?
You want to work with people whose incentives are aligned with yours. When people are producing for you, they’re trying to produce as cheaply as possible. My incentive is to make it as great as possible. That’s a lesson that I take forever. As producers, whatever [Marvel] didn’t spend, they kept. So every time we wanted to add something to the show to make it better, it was a fistfight.
Walk us through what it felt like to be in charge in April 2022. Netflix suffers a historic stock drop, wiping out $54 billion in market cap in a single day, thanks to soft subscriber projections. You guys rebounded in the three years after, but what was that day like?
That was our third time. It happened twice as a public company and one time before [in the rental-by-mail era], when we were going to run out of money. I had to figure out how to sell a bunch of DVDs to pay rent.
How did you do it?
We had never sold any of our used inventory. I found a broker to buy our dead inventory in bulk. That felt a lot more panicky than [2022]. It prepared us for later on, by asking ourselves the fundamental question, “Is our business model sound? Are the fundamentals of the business the same as they were yesterday?” They were, so everyone took a deep breath and played through.
It was a nonevent inside the company, [but] you don’t want to disappoint shareholders. My biggest concern was for investors who just saw a gigantic drop in value, and then it felt to me like it supercharged everyone’s excitement to bring it back and to prove the Street wrong, to look out for the people who believe in you. We had a leadership meeting in Mexico City with all of our vice presidents after the drop. We talked about “the four C’s” all the time: content, choosing, conversation and commerce, the things that really matter to the business. At the very end of that presentation, I said, “I want to add a fifth C, which is ‘comeback.’”
Art Streiber for Variety
When your suppliers, like Disney, became your competitors and started launching their own streaming services, especially in the early days of the pandemic, were you concerned they’d catch up?
I felt a lot more comfortable that we would do better at this than they would. Our advantage is the investment we’ve made in personalization. We are not a one-genre label. If you love documentary, Netflix is the doc house. If you love drama, it’s the drama house. As long as we have the ability to do that, we’re going to be fine.
Let’s talk about some of the other streamers. The last time you were on our cover, back in 2017, you talked about how you didn’t understand Amazon’s original content strategy.
This is just me as an observer. Sports has been very effective. And I don’t know if that’s their entire strategy.
Do you see them competing with Netflix when it comes to movies or TV production?
I don’t. It’s hard for me to say. I don’t know what their long-term plans are. They’ve been streaming exactly as long as we have. They’ve been making original content exactly as long as we have.
What about Apple?
I don’t understand it beyond a marketing play, but they’re really smart people. Maybe they see something we don’t.
You have long admired HBO as a viewer. What did you think when they dropped the “HBO” from “HBO Max” and went with “Max” as the name of their streaming service?
It was a surprise! We would always watch what HBO was doing, and at one point they had HBO, HBO Go, HBO Now and HBO Max. And I said, “When they’re serious, all those names will go away, and it’ll just be HBO.” I would have never guessed HBO would have gone away. They put all that effort into one thing that they can tell the consumer — it should be HBO.
The Oscars were just a few days ago. Are you disappointed Netflix has not yet won an Oscar for best picture?
It’s hard for me to say, “Do they have it out for Netflix?” when we’ve been the most-nominated studio for the past three years. There’s something about [the Academy] — you nominate the movies that you respect and admire, and you vote for best picture for the movie that you love. We have to make a movie that people love.
But many people did love your movie “Emilia Pérez,” which landed 13 nominations. Do you think that you would have won best picture if the movie hadn’t been struck with controversy over Karla Sofía Gascón’s tweets?
I hate that question, because it creates all of these what-if’s. It was the frontrunner, but it was never a slam dunk that “Emilia Pérez” — with all its innovation and thrills — would win best picture. It was a great movie, a great campaign, and I’m bummed we had all that what-if’s thrown at us.
Ted Sarandos, Nicole Avant and Zoe Saldaña at the Netflix Oscar after-party
Getty Images for Netflix
Will Netflix vet talent and social media in a different way now?
What we’re typically vetting for is mostly headlines. Did someone’s social media stuff create headlines before? Then again, I’m not on Twitter, so I’m not going to come in and look at someone else’s Twitter.
Would you work with Karla again?
Yeah. You have to have some grace when people make mistakes, and we have grace.
There was also controversy a few years ago with Dave Chappelle, when his stand-up offended the trans community and some of your employees. You defended him, but also apologized later for saying that “content doesn’t translate to real-world harm.” A lot of CEOs wouldn’t have said sorry. Why did you?
Because it was clumsy and it was wrong. Listen, you don’t often get your principles tested. Like freedom of expression and having a safe place for comedians — sometimes principles conflict with each other. We all cry at the same things, but what we laugh at is completely different. Censoring a comedian didn’t feel right. Comedy is an important art form, and it needs a pretty unrestricted place to play.
In 2014, Netflix signed a deal with Adam Sandler, and that became part of a foundation for your original films strategy. He was among the first A-list movie stars to forgo theatrical in exchange for headlining movies that streamed on Netflix only.
I’m a gigantic Sandler fan. They say whoever you grew up watching on “SNL” is your favorite, and I’ve always loved his movies. His film “Pixels” wasn’t so big in the U.S., but it was enormous internationally. I was looking for our next thing, so I asked for a meeting with him. He was receptive to trying it, and I told him we’d make the movies he wanted to make and get them in front of the right audience. We both leaned into the deal the right way. I remember, at one point after “The Ridiculous 6” came out, he said he was going on vacation in Europe. I thought he must get mobbed everywhere, but he said, “I’m not that big in Europe. They don’t even know me.” After his Netflix movies, he’s mobbed everywhere in the world.
Netflix continues to be in the business of splashy creator deals, but some have wondered if that’s a smart investment in this economic environment. Take the Obamas: Is that a partnership you’ll be renewing?
I don’t want to comment on anyone’s renewals. In general, the ones that we’ve had are bespoke and rationalized around output. I think of them as “show-verall” deals. We outline what we’re going to do together over the next five years and package it in a deal.
What about Amblin and Steven Spielberg, who has been a critic of streaming?
We have the “Thursday Murder Club” adaptation coming, which is so good. Also, Amblin did “Carry-On.” My validation point from Steven was, he said, “Having ‘Carry-On’ felt like when I have a big hit in the theater. I heard the way everyone talked about it, and that’s exactly what a hit movie feels like!”
What happened with Ryan Murphy? Some people were surprised that he left Netflix for Disney after his deal was up in 2023.
He made great shows with us. In general, I would say he had enormous commitments to 20th Century and his old deal that kept us from really realizing its potential. No one really had a lock on Ryan Murphy. I’m super pleased with “The Watcher,” and the “Monster” series has been phenomenal. I was just out to visit them shooting the Ed Gein series, and the performances are insane. It’s what Ryan does so uniquely. There was never any animosity or hurt feelings, and I will continue to work with him.
You just launched Meghan Markle’s lifestyle series “With Love, Meghan,” and you have a stake in her As Ever business. You are making and distributing physical products, from edible flowers to baking mixes. Is Netflix interested in e-commerce?
We’re a passive partner in Meghan’s company, and it’s a big discovery model for us right now.
Why was she the right person to bet on?
I think Meghan is underestimated in terms of her influence on culture. When we dropped the trailer for the “Harry & Meghan” doc series [in 2022], everything on-screen was dissected in the press for days. The shoes she was wearing sold out all over the world. The Hermès blanket that was on the chair behind her sold out everywhere in the world. People are fascinated with Meghan Markle. She and Harry are overly dismissed.
Is this something Netflix is serious about beyond a marketing play?
It’s good for marketing and branding. This is all expressions of fandom. I don’t really see us having theme parks, but I do see us having a lot of touch points with consumers like this. I admire the Topgolf model versus the Disneyland model, where people go more frequently through the year and you come back to check things out. We’re going to be much more part of our fans’ lives than going into Disneyland once every couple of years. And I’m not shitting on Disneyland.
Greta Gerwig will be making “The Chronicles of Narnia” for Netflix, but it will get an exclusive Imax release in November 2026. Why did Netflix want this?
We gave Greta a world-building job [on “Narnia”] before she had built a world with “Barbie.” Her script was fantastic, and we have a great relationship.
So this wasn’t something she demanded?
It wasn’t some giant deal we had to salvage. We wanted to support it and figure out something new. The one thing we haven’t really tried is a big Imax release. Imax is hugely differentiated from at-home watching. When I go to the theater, it’s getting closer and closer to at home. But Imax is super differentiated. The two-week run for “Narnia” will check all the boxes for awards qualifications and create a bit of an event. We’re happy to do it.
Do you think you could ever convince Christopher Nolan to make a movie for Netflix?
I talk to Chris all the time. We have a very good friendship, and I totally respect his desire to make movies for theaters and his lack of interest in making them direct-to-streaming. And I look forward to going to see them too.
There are other ways Netflix is diversifying. Gaming has been a big initiative, and you’re pushing big on live events.
I’ve always said that we need to be a company with one foot firmly in Hollywood and one foot in Silicon Valley. With live, I want to keep pushing on events. Everything we invest in, in the live space should be a contained, ownable event. Every time we buy a football game, I don’t think I’m after an entire season of NFL. I don’t want a season of football; I want the Super Bowl. With our Christmas Day game, we’re creating something like that.
Do you think Netflix could have the Super Bowl one day?
It’s a tough economic model to thread for them. They get so much money from the networks. But in general, with the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight, we were supporting a Super Bowl-sized audience. We can certainly support it technically.
Do you think you can get Taylor Swift on a Christmas Day football game before she does the Super Bowl?
That’s a good challenge! We did get her in the stadium this year.
Will the live-content spend grow exponentially?
I don’t know exponentially. Right now, we have WWE live weekly. We have Christmas Day football live. We’ve got the SAG Awards annually. We’ll have a few more we will pepper in annually. It will be a small part of total viewing, proportionally to budget, but they should all punch above their weight.
Were the SAG Awards a good investment, and will you continue to air it?
Yeah, our second show saw a big uptick from year one to year two. We’re excited about it.
You visited Mar-a-Lago in December. Is the president a Netflix subscriber?
I don’t know. He did tell me that Melania and Barron were fans.
What was that meeting like?
It was a private dinner.
Would you ever want to work with him creatively?
I don’t know what he does creatively. He’s got his hands full.
You began at Netflix when the company was based in Los Gatos, California, in the very early days. How soon after you started working at Netflix did you realize how much you love working at Netflix?
Within the first six months. But it was very disorienting. I was the only non-tech guy. And I was in a cube between engineers who were very unhappy with me all the time, because I’m so loud on the phone! I was making our early deals back then, direct with all the studios. I was on calls 10 hours a day.
Do you remember a movie that had an insane amount of demand for mail-
in rentals?
“Jurassic Park.”
Do you still own any DVDs?
It’s fluid. I used to own thousands. I have about 300 in a cabinet now. The one movie I can’t ever find on streaming, which I keep in my DVD tray, is Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts.” I’ll watch 20 minutes of it every once in a while.