紐時賞析／Netflix電影部主管上任即裁10%員工 稱將不再只拍高成本動作片

Netflix電影部門新主管林𬀩4月1日上任，將改變日後電影部門的經營方向，以便更能抓住2.6億訂戶形形色色的喜好。 路透社

Netflix is Shifting Its Focus To Audiences, Not Auteurs

不再垂青導演 Netflix望向觀衆

Back in, say, 2019, if a filmmaker signed a deal with Netflix, it meant that he or she would be well paid and receive complete creative freedom. Theatrical release? Not so much. Still, the paycheck and the latitude — and the potential to reach the streaming service’s huge subscriber base — helped compensate for the lack of hoopla that comes when a traditional studio opens a film in multiplexes around the world.

若回到像是2019年，一名電影創作人與Netflix簽約，這代表他或她會得到優渥酬勞並享有完整創作自由。要在院線發行？這倒未必。不過這筆報酬和自由度，加上可能觸及該串流服務業者龐大訂戶羣體，有助彌補其欠缺，也就是傳統制片廠在全球各地影城上映電影時伴隨的浩大聲勢。

But those days are a thing of the past.

但那些日子已是過去式。

Dan Lin arrived as Netflix’s new film chief April 1, and he has started making changes. He laid off around 15 people in the creative film executive group, including one vice president and two directors. (Netflix’s entire film department is around 150 people.) He reorganized his film department by genre rather than budget level and has indicated that Netflix is no longer only the home of expensive action flicks featuring big movie stars.

Netflix電影部門新主管林𬀩4月1日走馬上任，他已着手改變。他裁撤了創意電影執行團隊約15人，包括1名副總裁和2名主任。（Netflix電影部門全體約150人。）他將其電影部門依照電影類別而非預算等級重新編組，並指出Netflix不再只是主打電影巨星的高成本動作片產地。

Rather, Lin’s mandate is to improve the quality of the movies and produce a wider spectrum of films — at different budget levels — the better to appeal to the varied interests of Netflix’s 260 million subscribers. He will also be changing the formulas for how talent is paid, meaning no more enormous upfront deals.

林𬀩的要求則是改善電影品質，並以不同預算等級拍出更加五花八門的電影，以便更能抓住Netflix 2.6億訂戶形形色色的喜好。他也會改變提供人才報酬的規則公式，這意味大型的預付合約將不復存在。

The company declined to comment for this article.

該公司婉拒對本文置評。

Lin’s predecessor as Netflix’s film chief, Scott Stuber, took the job in 2017.  To succeed, Stuber spent lavishly on talent, promising filmmakers near-complete creative freedom and hefty budgets. It worked — to an extent. The directors got to make their passion projects, and their films earned Oscar nominations (though few wins.)

林𬀩前任的Netflix電影部門主管斯圖柏在2017年就任。爲了成功，斯圖柏在人才上揮金如土，承諾給電影創作人近乎完全的創作自由及豐厚預算。這達到一定程度的成果。電影導演得以滿腔熱血地拍片，他們的電影也博得多項奧斯卡獎提名（不過鮮少摘金）。

Under Lin, who once ran production at Warner Bros., the aim is to make Netflix’s movies better, cheaper and less frequent. Lin, who declined to comment for this article, also wants his team to become more aggressive producers — developing their own material rather than waiting for projects from producers and agents to come to them, according to two people familiar with his thinking.

曾管理華納兄弟製作部的林𬀩，任內目標是讓Netflix的電影更優質、成本更少並降低出片頻率。林𬀩婉拒評論本文，而根據兩名熟知林𬀩思路的人士透露，他也想讓旗下的團隊成爲更具進取心的製作人，自行開發素材而不是坐等製作人以及代理商帶着案子來找他們。

Netflix was reconsidering its pay structure before Lin’s arrival. Since the company began sharing performance metrics last year, there have been discussions about basing pay for filmmakers and actors on a film’s performance, similar to how the traditional studios reward them when movies perform well at the box office.

Netflix在林𬀩赴任前即在重新考量其獎酬結構。自從去年該公司開始分享績效指標，就開始討論基於電影績效來提供電影創作人及演員報酬，類似傳統制片廠在票房表現亮眼時獎勵他們的方式。

文／Nicole Sperling　譯／高詣軒