Netflix has continued to swat away criticism that the streamer behaved like a “TV tourist” in commissioning Emmy-winning series Adolescence.
In one of the talking points of the Edinburgh TV Festival last month, Channel 4’s news and current affairs boss Louisa Compton said: “We’ve developed and nurtured the talent that has allowed Netflix to come in as TV tourists and effectively commission [Adolescence].”
Anna Mallett, vice president of production in EMEA/UK for Netflix, was asked directly about Compton’s comments at the Royal Television Society’s Cambridge Convention. “We are not a tourist,” she said. “Adolescence is a great example of our strategy, which is to make local UK content for local UK audiences. And it’s fantastic that it’s resonated globally.”
She continued: “Netflix has been operating in the UK for 15 years. Over the last four years, we’ve invested £6BN, we’ve worked with 200 production companies, thousands and thousands of cast and crew. So we see ourselves very much as part of the ecosystem focused on audiences.”
Mallett pointed out how Netflix has itself cultivated talent for the benefit of public service broadcasters, noting how Ncuti Gatwa rose to stardom on Sex Education before being cast by the BBC as Doctor Who.
Mallett is not the first Netflix executive to respond to the “TV tourist” barb. Mona Qureshi was asked for her response to Compton’s comments in Edinburgh. “My initial response is consternation,” said the streamer’s UK director of scripted series. The former BBC executive added: “I don’t think I’m a tourist — I’ve been around.”
Qureshi added: “Nothing about where I am, where we sit, and the conversations we had about Adolescence comes out of anything other than us, within the UK network team, being solely about finding shows and speaking to our local audience.
“We are all part of the same ecosystem. Adolescence simply came out of something which is us reading a script and responding to this fantastic creative team and just being utterly compelled by delivering from the get-go… No one’s thinking global, let’s make something globally. It’s just about being in tune with what the local market wants, and what we as commissioners feel inspires and compels us.”