Dan Lin is out at Netflix, and the Asian titles on the calendar are staying
Peter Rice started this week as Netflix's content chief after Bela Bajaria and film chair Dan Lin left. Possible Love and the KPop Demon Hunters sequel are still on the calendar.
The Goldscene Desk
Dan Lin is out as chairman of Netflix Film, and the company has not named anyone to replace him. Peter Rice, who came from Disney and Fox, started Monday as chief content officer, the job Bela Bajaria left. He is covering film until Netflix hires a new head.
On Oct. 14, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters told staff the company was cutting about 1,000 jobs, roughly 6 percent of the workforce. Most of those cuts were in product, technology, legal, and human resources. The film group lost people the same day. Doug Belgrad, vice president of film and Lin's deputy, was let go, and so was Sheroum Kim, who ran independent film. Bajaria's departure was announced the next day. Lin's was announced on Oct. 19.
Lin is a Taiwanese American producer, born in Taipei, who came to the United States as a child. He founded Rideback, which still has a production deal with Netflix, and the company hired him in April 2024 to run film. Bajaria was born in London, to a family of Indian descent, and grew up around Los Angeles. She joined in 2016, built the local-language series business, and became chief content officer in January 2023. Sarandos has credited that international team with becoming one of Netflix's advantages.
Possible Love, from Korean director Lee Chang-dong, with Jeon Do-yeon, is still set for Netflix on Nov. 6. Sarandos named the film in the staff note about Bajaria, as one she had helped bring to the service.
The sequel to KPop Demon Hunters is still on, too. Netflix and Sony announced it in March, with Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans returning to write and direct under a multi-year deal. The first film won the Oscar for best animated feature that month. Sarandos has since said the sequel will get a broad theatrical release. Netflix has not walked that back, and the directors have not said the deal changed.
The Korean spending pledge is older than this month. In April 2023, Sarandos said Netflix would put $2.5 billion into Korean series, films, and unscripted shows over four years, which runs into 2027. The company has not said that number changed.
On the Oct. 20 earnings call, he told investors the strategy did not need a fundamental shift. Asia Pacific titles, he said, were driving viewing, growth, and profit, as were titles from Latin America and Europe. In India, viewing hours rose 24 percent in the third quarter, and revenue was up nearly 20 percent from a year earlier. He named South Korea and Japan alongside it.
He also said the US slate was not growing as fast as he wanted, and that Rice would be able to affect projects already in development, even in the short term. A title with a date, such as Possible Love, is not in the same spot as a script that only had an executive behind it. Rice has not named an Asian series or film he intends to drop, and the film job he is covering is still empty.
