Netflix Ousts Film Chief Dan Lin After Bela Bajaria Exit as Peter Rice Takes Over Content

Netflix is reshaping its creative leadership. About 1,000 employees were laid off across various divisions last week. Now the streamer is reportedly making sweeping changes at the top. The reported changes include the apparent firing of its head of film. His slate has included Apex, The Rip and Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Variety reports that Dan Lin, chairman of Netflix Film, is out. Two well-known Hollywood producers may step into the role. Variety describes his exit as “a major creative restructuring after months of headlines citing engagement problems and stock stagnation.”

Netflix’s streaming hits haven’t been enough

Lin joined Netflix in 2024 and has greenlit more than 80 movies in his two years there. Several of those films have yet to arrive on the service. They include the heist film Here Comes the Flood, starring Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson. They also include David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. Lin oversaw quite a few hits for Netflix in recent years, yet he is already out. He is still listed on the company’s leadership page.

Before Netflix, Lin founded Rideback and served as its CEO. The entertainment company produced The Lego Movie, Stephen King’s It and the Sherlock Holmes franchise. He had earlier worked at Warner Bros. Pictures, where he oversaw films such as Martin Scorsese’s The Departed.

Variety says two of Lin’s former Warner Bros. colleagues, Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, are rumored to be joining Netflix as part of the shake-up. Both are former heads of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group. Netflix also tried and failed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year.

Netflix’s chief creative officer also leaves

Lin’s exit follows the departure of chief content officer Bela Bajaria, who left after 10 years with the company. Peter Rice will replace her next week. Rice is the former chairman of Walt Disney Television and chairman of General Entertainment at The Walt Disney Company.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed the change in a message to employees. He said, “Peter is one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry. His business acumen is sharp, his talent relationships are exceptionally strong, and his experience across TV and film is deep and broad. He understands what makes stories resonate, and he’s spent his career helping talent do the best work of their lives. I’m excited to welcome him to Netflix as Chief Content Officer as we continue to scale and deliver members more of the stories they love.”

The overhaul comes after Netflix’s stock price tumbled over the past year. It also follows a widely shared Bloomberg report on programming problems at the streamer. Bloomberg found that Netflix’s biggest TV hits lose more than half of their audience after one season. The list includes strong debuts such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, Beef and One Piece.

Related: Ben Affleck’s new Netflix thriller is a massive global streaming hit. The film, Animals, is dominating the charts just about everywhere despite terrible reviews.

Source: Polygon