Netflix chief says ‘mistakes’ led to Cannes boycott
LILLE, France: Netfl ix CEO Reed Hastings said on Thursday the streaming giant had made errors regarding its spat with the Cannes fi lm festival over the platform’s dramatic withdrawal of its fi lms this year.
“Sometimes we make mistakes. We got into a bigger situation with Cannes than we meant to,” said Hastings, in Lille, northern France, for the Series Mania festival.
For 2018, Cannes banned from competition any fi lm from the streaming service which did not respect France’s strict 36-month window between cinematic release and availability on demand.
Last month, festival director Thierry Fremaux said he was hoping to heal the rift with the Silicon Valley giant after Netfl ix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos c l a ime d its fi lms were being “t r e at ed disrespectfully”.
Sarandos suggested Cannes were thereby putting distribution ahead of the art of cinema.
Cinema owners had protested last year at the inclusion of two Netfl ix fi lms, “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories” as they had not already been released in French cinemas.
Netfl ix, with some 125 million global subscribers, reportedly then pulled five fi lms in the running for this month’s festival after the three-year rule was brought in.
“I know we have a reputation as a disruptor,” said Hastings, adding that Netfl ix did believe Cannes was “very sincere at fi nding a model that works for them and us” eventually.
“We love Cannes. We’ve been many years and have buyers going this year,” he stressed, saying Netfl ix did not aim to derail a system he said had proved its worth for the French fi lm industry.
At the same time, he said the fi rm had to think of subscribers who would not want to wait three years to watch a new release which the company had produced directly, pointing out that Netflix treats fi lms as it does series, targeting subscribers rather than cinemagoers.
Hastings also said streaming companies should not be thought of as competition to cinemas, alluding to the difference between eating in and sometimes deciding to go to a restaurant.
In summing up, Hastings said that “regulation is essential” and Netfl ix had a responsibility to fi nd how to work within the system. — AFP