EXCLUSIVE: The aftershocks of Thursday’s big shake-up at Netflix, which saw chief content officer Bela Bajaria replaced by Peter Rice, continued over the weekend, with film chief Dan Lin also letting go.
On the other hand, Jinny Howe, head of scripted series in the United States and Canada, made a big statement this weekend with a two-season straight order for the series. The excuses, a dramatic thriller from A24 and Cut To studio, starring Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love) in his first leading role on television and directed by Oscar winner Thomas Vinterberg (Another round) in his directorial debut on American television.
Netflix purchased the competitive project preemptively, Deadline has learned. The streamer declined to comment.
There is symbolic looping timing in the pickup. Netflix announced itself as an original programming player with its two-season straight-to-series order for house of cards, with another Oscar winner, Kevin Spacey, in 2011. Fifteen years later, the streamer is looking to reestablish its dominance amid concerns from Wall Street about slowing engagement growth and after a difficult week marked by the layoff of around 1,000 people and the ouster of Bajaria.
I heard that Rice, who officially started today, spoke with Howe, who is considered secure in her job, at least for now. Rice would not have been involved in the decision regarding The excusesabout which Howe communicated with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, sources said.
The excuses, written by Joe Murtagh (Say nothing), follows Evelyn (Paltrow) and Caleb Amspoker whose son was murdered 18 years ago in an unsolved case that gripped the country. When a stranger suddenly appears and confesses, justice finally seems possible – until they learn that the killer can get off with a reduced sentence. Faced with this unbearable truth, Evelyn and Caleb decide to take matters into their own hands.
Executive producers are Joe Hipps for Cut To, Murtagh who serves as showrunner, Vinterberg and Paltrow.
Cut To, based on Hipps’ A24, has become a top seller of large packages with top-tier talent attached. Since the company’s launch two years ago, Hipps has landed four direct series orders for the A24: Discretionwith Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, at Paramount+; Trigger point, headlined by Joel Edgerton, at Netflix; and a spy thriller starring Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbor from Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne, also at Netflix.
All four sales were competitive. Netflix landing three of the projects is indicative of how aggressive the streamer has been over the past year, winning a large portion of the big TV bidding wars.
This is Paltrow’s second series regular role following her supporting role on another Netflix show, The politician. She also had a recurring arc on Fox’s Joy. On the feature film side, Paltrow recently starred in Marty Supreme. She had largely stayed away from acting in recent years, while focusing on growing her lifestyle brand Goop. Paltrow is repped by Lighthouse Management + Media and CAA.
British TV writer Murtagh created the 2023 series The woman in the wall. It is replaced by UTA and Lark in the United Kingdom.
A24’s Upcoming TV Slate Also Includes Hulu’s The place and crime drama Peacock Superfake. A24 is behind Peacock’s breakout series Crystal Lake and the documentary Y by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheimou can see everythingwhich opened big with $15 million at the weekend box office. The studio is set to release a new Jesse Eisenberg series, written, produced by Eisenberg and directed by Eisenberg, executive produced by Rice under his A24 deal.
Vinterberg is repped by Gersh and Independent Talent Group in the UK.
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