Former Fox Searchlight head and senior Disney executive Peter Rice is joining Netflix as chief content officer, replacing Bela Bajaria who has b
Former Fox Searchlight head and senior Disney executive Peter Rice is joining Netflix as chief content officer, replacing Bela Bajaria who has been fired after nearly 10 years at the streamer.
UK executive Rice’s appointment is effective October 26 and marks the return to the corporate corridors of one of the most respected executives in the business. The longtime senior lieutenant at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox entertainment empire is known for his deep talent relations and broad film and television experience.
Bajaria’s departure comes during a tumultuous year for the streamer. On Wednesday it announced it was laying off 6% of its global workforce, its biggest cull to date. Top brass have seen sluggish engagement rate growth in the first half of the year, and in February Netflix gave up its pursuit of the Warner Bros studios, which observers had seen as an opportunity to bolster the film output.
The streamer’s stock price has plunged nearly 40% in the past year. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced the development to staff on Thursday and he and co-CEO and Greg Peters will be keen to talk up their vision for a recent chapter in the streamer’s extraordinary story when they face Wall Street analysts during Tuesday’s (October 20) Q3 earnings.
”He understands what makes stories resonate”
As chief content officer, Rice will lead Netflix’s global content business overseeing scripted and unscripted series, film, and live events. Sarandos called him “one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry”, adding: “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.”
Rice most recently served as chairman of Walt Disney Television and chairman of general entertainment for The Walt Disney Company overseeing ABC, FOX Broadcasting, Hulu, and FX Networks, among others. The Simpsons, American Idol, Modern Family, The Bear, Abbott Elementary, Shogun and many others aired under his purview. He also served as president of 21st Century Fox and CEO of Fox Networks Group, and was Fox’s lead executive on the Hulu board.
When Rice was president of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the company acquired a 50% stake in Slumdog Millionaire alongside Warner Bros and took it all the way to the best picture Oscar. Under Rice’s watch, Searchlight also championed titles like Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, and Juno. As EVP of production at Twentieth Century Fox, he shepherded Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet, and The Beach, and was supervising artistic executive on the first X-Men film.
His producer his credits include 28 Years Later and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Warfare, Chris Rock’s awards season hopeful Misty Green, and The Social Reckoning for Columbia. He is currently producing Alex Garland’s Elden Ring and Sonoya Mizuno’s Stages for A24 (with Focus on Stages), as well as the opening and closing ceremonies for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games
“Netflix has fundamentally changed the way stories are made, shared and experienced around the world,” Rice said. “They’ve shown again and again that they’re willing to take chances on distinctive voices and fresh ideas, and I’m excited to work with the team to help bring even more great stories to members everywhere. I’m grateful to Bela for building such a remarkable global team, and I look forward to building on everything she and the team have created.”
Bajaria championed KPop Demon Hunters – Netflix’s most-viewed film of all time – as well as the upcoming The Adventures Of Cliff Booth, and Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, and acquisitions like awards season hopefuls La Bola Negra from Los Javis, which opens theatrically this weekend, and Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love. In TV she shepherded Squid Game, The Diplomat, Queer Eye, and The Night Agent among many others.
Sarandos said Bajaria “led enormous changes at Netflix”, adding: “She helped broaden our content offering to include the large-scale expansion of unscripted programming and the launches of live events and sports, in addition to crafting and running a world class, global slate of films and series. I’m incredibly grateful for everything she’s done to help Netflix entertain the world.”
Sarandos’s internal email to staff appears below.
Hi everyone,
I have an critical update to share about our Content leadership.
After a phenomenal decade at Netflix, Bela is leaving the company. It’s challenging to overstate the impact Bela has had during her time here. From expanding our content offering to include the large-scale expansion of unscripted programming and the launches of live events and sports to helping shape the broadening of our content offering around the world. So much of what you see on Netflix today can be traced back to a Bela initiative: Insatiable, Queer Eye, Lupin, You, The Diplomat, WWE, YuYu Hakusho, The Night Agent, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, Squid Game, Tyson vs Paul, Cien años de soledad, the NFL. She also helped reshape our strategy to focus on fewer, bigger, better movies, championing films like KPop Demon Hunters, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, and Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, as well as bringing award winning films like La Bola Negra and Possible Love to Netflix.
A tremendous and diverse range of content (and that’s just a snapshot), bringing joy to our members across so many genres.
Bela has built and shaped a truly global Content organization, hiring brilliant people and empowering them to make good decisions. I am incredibly grateful to her for everything she’s done.
I know this is a substantial 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 where we have an outsize impact in creating substantial, buzzy hits that our members love and drive conversation around the world.
To assist us seize on this moment, I’m excited to share that we’ve hired a recent leader. Peter Rice is joining Netflix as our recent Chief Content Officer beginning next week. Peter is one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry. His business acumen is piercing, his talent relationships are exceptionally robust, and his experience across both TV and film is deep and broad. On the film side, running Fox Searchlight, he helped bring beloved fan favorite films like Slumdog Millionaire, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways and Juno to screens. And more recently, as Chairman of Walt Disney Television, he led one of the most successful television divisions in the world, where he was responsible for a massive breadth and scale of shows ranging from The Simpsons, American Idol ,and Modern Family, to The Bear, and Abbott Elementary, along with ABC News programming and major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and FIFA World Cup Finals. He’s one of the few people in our industry who has ever operated at the quality and scale that we do at Netflix every day. In the last few years, he has turned his attention to creating and has produced films with Alex Garland, Danny Boyle, Chris Rock, Jason Reitman and Aaron Sorkin at Sony and A24.
I’ve gotten to know Peter personally over the years, and I’ve always been impressed by his straightforward approach, the depth of his relationships and his exceptional artistic and business instincts. Talent should have the best experiences of their life here, and Peter and I both believe that Netflix can and should be the home of the best storytellers in the world.
It’s been an eventful series of days here, and I realize we’ve asked you to absorb a lot of news and a lot of information. But we all know change is what we do at Netflix. Greg and I will host a companywide town hall on Wednesday, October 21. I want everyone to hear how we’re thinking about the strategy and our execution amid this week’s changes, and to have a chance to ask questions. It will be informal and mostly Q&A, so please bring your questions about this week’s changes and anything else on your mind.
Please join me in thanking Bela, and welcoming Peter to the team.
Ted
