Only yesterday, we reported on the Netflix lay-offs, as the organisation shed 6% of its workforce in one go. Now it seems more big changes are going to unfold at Netflix, and this time right from the very top. The company’s Chief Content Officer, Bela Bajaria, is out. She will be replaced by former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice.
Puck News first reported on the firing. Rice will lead Netflix’s entire global content organisation. That includes scripted series, unscripted series, film, and live events. As part of the shake-up, Film VP Doug Belgrad and Director of Film Sheroum Kim are also let go.
Bajaria was president of Universal Television. She joined Netflix in 2016 as Head of Unscripted and Scripted content. She then went, via Global Head of Television, to Chief Content Officer.
Rice comes with TV and movie studio knowledge from the start. He ran Fox Searchlight when they pushed through Slumdog Millionaire and Little Miss Sunshine.
Bajaria was once let go from NBCUniversal, where she had produced shows for Netflix such as Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Sarandos recruited her himself.
Bajaria’s watch included Bridgerton, Squid Game, Adolescence, Beef, Stranger Things, Wednesday, KPop Demon Hunters, and Frankenstein. They won numerous Emmy’s and other awards. So nobody can say with a straight face that her time at Netflix was unsuccessful.
Announcing the move in a memo, Sarandos said:
“I know this is a big change in a year that has already had its share. But I also see an opportunity to take our slate to the next level, especially in UCAN [United States and Canada] where we have an outsize impact in creating big, buzzy hits that our members love and drive conversation around the world.”
Rice was ousted in Bob Chapek’s Disney reign, and is known to be highly regarded in the industry.
