EXCLUSIVE: Video streaming juggernaut Netflix is becoming an original programming player. In what is probably the biggest gamble in its 14-year history, I hear Netflix has outbid several major cable networks, including HBO and AMC, for Media Rights Capital's drama series House of Cards, executive produced and directed by David Fincher and exec produced by and starring Kevin Spacey.
Negotiations are still going on, but I hear Netflix landed the drama project by offering a staggering commitment of two seasons, or 26 episodes. Given that the price tag for a high-end drama is in the $4 million-$6 million an episode range and that a launch of a big original series commands tens of millions of dollars for promotion, the deal is believed to be worth more than $100 million and could change the way people consume TV shows.
Ever since Liberty Media chairman John Malone in October drew a comparison between Netfix and HBO, industry experts have speculated whether Netflix would become the next HBO by venturing into originals. HBO, too, established itself as premium cable movie channel before hitting gold with original series that have now become its bread and butter. Netflix, which dominates the movie streaming market at 61%, had said in the past that it was not interested in branching into original programming. Until now.
Given the strong interest in House of Cards from multiple networks, observers had speculated that the project may get an episodic commitment, but a massive two-season order is pretty unheard of these days. Going straight to series itself is a risky proposition as attested by NBC, which recently tried it before reverting to the traditional pilot model. Besides the sandals-and-toga Rome, which was a co-production with the BBC, HBO has piloted pretty much all of its projects, including those with A-list talent such as Martin Scorsese/Terence Winter's Boardwalk Empire and Michael Mann/David Milch's Luck starring Dustin Hoffman. AMC went straight to series on The Walking Dead but with a modest six-episode order. Rome and Fox's CGI extravaganza Terra Nova started off with 13-episode orders. Starz, which has been going straight-to-series with its dramas, ordered 10 episodes of Camelot and 8 of Boss. Snatching a high-profile project like House of Cards is certain to put Netflix on the map. But by committing to air/stream and market a 26-episode original series, something it has never done before, it will also put the company to the test.
Despite its dominant position in the movie-streaming business, Netflix, which was just upgraded to "buy" by Goldman Sachs, has been feeling the heat from new competition, including Amazon.com, which last month announced it was entering the subscription streaming-media business, and Facebook, which last week announced a deal with Warner Bros. to experiment with streaming the studio's The Dark Knight directly through the social media service. In fact, on the day the Facebook/Warner Bros. deal was announced, Netflix's shares fell 6%.
Netflix has been looking to diversify beyond movies. The day Amazon.com announced its entry into the online video space, Netflix unveiled a $200 million deal with CBS for two years for nonexclusive rights to stream such shows as The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Family Ties, Twin Peaks, Cheers and Frasier. Adding original series to the portfolio seemed like a natural next step.
In August, Netflix shored up its core streaming business with a $1 billion, five-year pact for online streaming rights to movies from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM. (It also inked a pact with Relativity Media, while renewal talks with early movie partner Starz, which has provided Netflix with access to Sony and Disney titles, are still ongoing.)
Meanwhile, MRC has built its TV business on a direct-to-series model with such projects as animated comedies The Life & Times of Tim and The Ricky Gervais Show, the short-lived series for the CW's Sunday block and the Lifetime comedy Rita Rocks, which went through pilot but in a two-pilot deal with the network guaranteeing that one of the pilots will go to series.
In his TV directorial debut, Fincher will helm the pilot for House of Cards, which is based on the book and British miniseries of the same name. Fincher is executive producing with Eric Roth, Joshua Donen as well as Spacey and his producing partner at Trigger Street Prods. Dana Brunetti. The political-thriller novel House of Cards, written by Michael Dobbs, a former Conservative Party chief of staff, is set at the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as prime minister and follows a British politician with his eye on the top job. In 1990, it was adapted by the BBC as a miniseries written by Andrew Davies and starring Ian Richardson. Fincher's adaptation, set in the U.S., was written by playwright-screenwriter Beau Willimon (The Ides of March).
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Really shaking things up there, aren’t you Netflix? Wonder where the new LA offices will be…
Netflix has had a Hollywood office for at least 10 years now, that’s partly why they’ve been so successful landing content; Hollywood types know and trust them
Netflix is simply great. There streaming is very reliable. I find myself streaming content almost anywhere even abroad, with the help of a VPN connection of course.
this is insane! good for netflix!
By positioning itself in the same rubric as HBO and Showtime, Netflix becomes a more potent player, because it has home video releases ahead of ANY premium channel (at DVD release window). So this venture into episodic filmed entertainment (as we shouldn’t call it “TV” anymore is this succeeds), is a huge gamble, but a gamble that can pay-off. The source material is great, and without any kind of pressure from FCC or MPAA the content can be as challenging as possible.
I would wager that Showtime and HBO look to adjust the window from DVD release to premium channel premiere as a result of this…
this is big news for the entertainment business – Netflix is the HBO of its generation and will continue to spawn copycat businesses. The elephant in the room is how Netflix and other web-centric pay tv subscription businesses can work hand in hand with telcos who are looking to impose per GB caps (look at at&t announcement yesterday) – Fascinating !!!
That’s called pulling the rug out from the competition.
NetFlix should’ve known better than to get involved if MRC is behind it. Caution: creative geniuses at work!
boom. why does nothing they’re involved with ever live up to it’s talent? pattern anyone?
You guys are living in the past. Things were shakey at first as they began, but things are really starting to turn around:
Adjustment Bureau is overperforming…
They signed that mega-deal with Sony for Elysium…
Now this.
I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss MRC just yet. Things are really starting to look up.
This is considered one the seminal pieces of political drama in television history, it features an amazing cast and scripts, the original was a tightly written, well paced, sublime mini series, and turning into 50 hours of television sounds wrong, it one of British televisions greatest dramas, and there are many hundreds which have been produced over the years. I don’t know how they will change it, maybe to the US Senate, it just doesn’t bare thinking about.
You might well think that… I couldn’t possibly comment.
The license fees for high-end dramas are nowhere near $4M–$6M/episode. For a first season show on a broadcast network they may be 1/4 of that. I think you meant “budget” rather than lic fees.
After viewing the magic Fincher created with The Social Network, I have hearts in my eyes and will watch anything he creates henceforth.
The original British series was simply amazing- but it’s subtle, intelligent and shaded. Don’t know how it’ll play broadly.
So people would pay to stream or rent the DVD to the series from Netflix?
Wouldn’t that just mean the first direct-to-DVD television series?
This is pretty incredible news. Possible model for the future of the industry. The revenue from Netflix’s streaming business will not just minimize the risk of entering into the original content business, but it will encourage the production of TV and film with evocative content. Very excited to see what comes of this.
HOLY COW!
This is a game-changer for everyone involved. Amazing series & incredible talent attached. Will be watching this one from all angles.
Wow. Big piece of business. We’re going to see if auspices really do matter and the meddling infrastructure of network and studio execs do not. I’m betting on Fincher et al because one things guaranteed, it’s going to be interesting and it’s going to get a sampling. Netflix in the game in a big way. Love it?
This is pretty incredible news, foreshadowing what might become a standard model in the industry. Netflix’s revenue from streaming won’t just minimize the risk of entering the original content game, but will encourage the production of TV and film with evocative subject matter. Very excited to see what comes of this.
NETWORKS…be afraid…be very afraid.
Good luck NetFlix.
If you want to be HBO then this is your FIRST & TEN.
So the whole series is going go be streamed over netflix? Can someone clarify?
I wonder how long it will be before the corporations lobby to ban a movie rental service from producing shows/movies?
2048 would be appropriate
Never understood the Dana Brunetti/Spacey situation. Can anyone explain?
LOL
Sometimes you can ride the casting couch an awful long way.
Dear Chip,
You worthless internet troll, when I met Dana I had sold a couple of scripts and pitches but had not directed anything. He read my script, and relentlessly pushed my project forward until I was in the director’s chair. He did this by deftly leveraging all of Triggerstreet’s clout within WMA to make them pay attention to the material and FIND THE MONEY. That is what a good producer does. Then he found the book that became “21″ and “Social Network”.
What have you done, except fuck up my latte order?
Got the guts to post your name? Didn’t think so. Coward.
“What have you done, except fuck up my latte order?”
You had me, then lost me with that.
its like the John Palermo/Hugh Jackman situation, but with less hair
Not to cheer lead the guy but have you been paying attention to what Brunetti has done with their production company while Spacey is living out of the country running a theater? One of the brightest guys in the business and the talent he surrounds himself with including Spacey wouldn’t stick around him if he wasn’t.
Ditto to the above poster. DB is on his game and I’d be surprised if studios weren’t circling him like hawks. I’m always dumbfounded by the haters of those who are making it in this business.
For whatever it’s worth, Dana found the amazing author Ben Mezrich and has made two movies with him, one nominated for best picture. Not too shabby. From what I’ve read, he was Spacey’s assistant who then was asked to create and run the Trigger Street website, one of the first entertainment content sites, before YouTube, which grew and grew. Then they launched the company and have produced a handful of films, some bad, some good, some great – just like every producer’s track record. But it’s clear he’s more than a hanger on. And TSN didn’t have Spacey in it. Having met him once or twice, he seems like a really smart guy, and clearly works really hard. No idea about his deal with Spacey, but I’m pretty sure Dana’s straight.
I wonder if Kevin Spacey is going to a hundred takes. Also, the episodes are extremely modestly budgeted for a director like Fincher.
Can you imagine shooting entire season with Fincher? Would take two years to make an season.
This has to absolutely terrify the Studios and Networks… another domino falls. Only live sports is left.
nice paradigm shift and way to go in hard and show conviction!! I like it.
Dear Anonymous,
The situation sort of speaks for itself. I think Dana started as the assitant, but in this town there’s always more to the story than just that…
I don’t know if the subject matter is going to appeal to a large group of people. and I’m not a fan of TSN or Fincher
This just goes to show the forward thinking that goes on at a place like MRC. This is a seminal deal that Modi & Asif managed to pull off. Good for you Nikki on getting the exclusive on this one too!
Wow! This changes all the rules. I heard this all happened because Joe Hipps was inspired by ordering delivery from the Quiznos website.
This is at least a year away from shooting…before we all give up the traditional business models, where most of us make the real dollars, let’s see how this shakes out.
I love the Netflix service, but for original content delivery they are going to have to spend some serious dollars before I’m won over.
Remember the EPIX big announcement? Everyone raced over there to make deals because they said they had money, when Summner Redstone had zero intention of opening his wallet…and still hasn’t!
The Damages/Direct TV deal?
It’s easy to grab a headline…let’s see how it shakes out.
Does this mean the series isn’t eligible for Emmys?
Do you think Fincher cares about Emmys?
Modi Wycz(however the hell you spell his name)ik is a genius. Harvard MBA, the guy will revolutionize the business.
If he were a genius, he wouldn’t be an MBA of any kind.
Ooooh! A Harvard MBA! Wow! Genius! I’ll just up and leave town, I’m so scared!
This is very interesting, indeed. The fact that several big cable networks have eyed the project makes me hopeful that this will be the first of many successful TV series Netflix puts out. Netflix going with a 2 season order means it’s probably pretty darn good.
HBO, Showtime—please break away from packaging with cable and either offer your services standalone (hasn’t HBO been toying with distributing online?) and/or through Netflix streaming. VOD is here to stay.
Re two seasons, 50 episodes — isn’t ‘House of Cards’ the prequel to ‘To Play the King’ and ‘The Final Cut’? That’s really twelve 90-minute episodes.Twenty-six 45-minute episodes sounds perfect.
Have Fincher use film, instead of a digital camera and it will be a big hit. His digital movies look souless.
Question : Was TSN the first digitally-shot movie to be nominated for a “best cinematograpy” Oscar?
No, definitely not, there have been several films shot digitally that have been nominated, and Slumdog Millionaire, which was shot digitally, actually won the Oscar for Best Cinematography in 2009.
It hardly matters. Most films go through a digital intermediate process to do color timing and contrast corrections so they might as well have been shot digitally anyway. This has been going on for well over a decade so the notion that digital photography is anything new is naive. There have been enormous breakthroughs in digital technology recently, so the use of motion picture film is probably a thing of the past.
HBO isn’t “thinking about” (toying) with offering online: they do already: It’s called HBO GO (hbogo.com)…they just haven’t done a good job marketing it
Brilliant! Soon we won’t need the studios, major agencies and guilds to create premium content!
Agreed. Hollywood is so inefficient. All those agents, executives and stars making all that money. Netflix will make sure they are making minimum wage in no time!
Netflix is the future. No commercials, watch when you want, reasonable fee, reliable, decent content release, easy, no bullshit.
Who the fuck would pay 50$ a month for cable WITH COMMERCIALS when you can Netflix instant stream for less than 15$?
Cable is the new radio–and at least the radio was free.
great reporting, fascinating
Can any1 tell me if Kevin spacey did a movie called “house of cards “
why do i get the feeling this deal ain’t gonna happen?
“House of Cards” sounds like it’s going to be a great series, but what about those of us who don’t have the ability to access Netflix’s instant stream, let alone afford it?
Hope the series will be available on DVD.
If you can’t afford a $10 a month subscription to Netflix, how are you paying your cable bill with HBO?
Perhaps Netflix will someday soon also go into sci-fi programming. I am aware of quite a few browncoats who would pay for new episodes of Firefly, for example.
Interesting that they’ll have this high quality episodic right next to their shitty streaming content.
First off, Netflix is killing it. Excellent material, big balls.
Second, Brunetti is not known as a particularly good producer. He’s just buds with Mezrich. Rudin made TSN. He got Sorkin, Sorkin got Fincher, Fincher got the talent. Brunetti’s okay, but everybody in town knows he’s Kevin’s boy. But who cares? It’s not like everybody gets to where they are in this town on talent. Brunetti’s been incredibly lucky and smart about who he makes friends with. That’s show biz.