Inside The Binge Factory

Netflix IS HIRING Everybody IN AND OUT OF HOLLYWOOD to make more TV SHOWS THAN ANY Network EVER HAS, AND IT ALREADY KNOWS EXACTLY which ones you’ll like.

- Josef Adalian

“WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT GAS in the tank for the long term?” asks Cindy Holland, Netflix’s vicepresident of original content. It’s a Tuesday morning in May, and Holland and a handful of her direct reports are meeting in the 14th-floor San Junipero conference room of the company’s Hollywood headquarters. They’ve come to discuss renewal decisions for two existing shows, the Drew Barrymore– Timothy Olyphant zombie comedy, Santa Clarita Diet, and the recently launched remake of Lost in Space.

As Holland goes around the room, she stares at a laptop screen filled with the memos her team has prepared. She notes the mixed reviews for Lost in Space. “Do we care?” Not that much, it turns out. The show is renewed for a second season.

As they discuss story lines and other creative matters, there’s talk about “completion,” i.e., how quickly subscribers are moving through episodes to the end of the season. Holland quizzes the room about how the shows are doing internationally and if they’re under- or overperforming in certain territories. Someone mentions that Barrymore and Olyphant traveled to the Philippines to promote season two of Santa Clarita: “It’s the first time we took a show there,” she says, adding that the promotional support seemed to pay off: “We’re really, really excited about the fact that it’s traveled globally.” There’s enough gas in the tank, they decide, for a season three.

The conversation moves on to new projects, including Away, an unannounced drama from creator Andrew Hinderaker (Penny Dreadful) and executive producers Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights) and Matt Reeves (