Netflix announced Wednesday that producer Dan Lin will replace Scott Stuber as head of the streaming company’s film division.
Stuber served as head of Netflix’s film division for seven years before announcing his resignation last month. During his tenure, he brought a slew of Oscar-winning filmmakers to his Netflix and helped the company push the rest of the entertainment industry into the streaming era.
Lin, 50, who previously served as senior vice president of production at Warner Bros., is the founder of Rideback Productions, which produced Netflix’s recent live-action remake of “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” He was also the producer of the Oscar-nominated streaming film The Two Popes on his service, and also produced the film It and the Lego series. He will report to Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer.
“While I have been approached many times over the past 15 years at Rideback, I never could have imagined retiring until Vera reached out to me with this amazing opportunity,” Lin said in a statement.
Mr. Lin’s role is likely to be very different from the role played by Mr. Stuber. During Mr. Stuber’s tenure, the budget was huge but the oversight was inadequate. Currently, Netflix intends to significantly reduce the number of movies it makes each year and focus on quality control.
But the company is sticking to its streaming-first strategy and has no intention of pandering to filmmakers who want to release their films in theaters before Netflix subscribers can watch them.
