What Netflix is looking for.

Yesterday Roadmap hosted a chat with Pete Corona who is the Director of Original Series with Netflix. This was a free event and not recorded but many of us took notes.

First, Roadmap is a lovely organisation that helps writers get into the industry. That does not mean they ask for your script and then tout it around for a huge fee. Far from it. Instead, they help point you in the right direction, coach on your career path and give opportunities for you to present yourself.

You can find them here and they are a lovely bunch who are happy to answer questions. They are good guys. Oh and get them on twitter too at @roadmapwriters.

Second, these are my notes so are centred on the parts that were of particular interest to me and any points that particularly stuck in my memory. If you attended and think I missed something or misremembered, then please feel free to add comment.

Right. Onwards.

Pete, I hope he doesn’t mind me calling him that, is a very chilled and friendly bloke. It was a joy to listen to him talk and I would imagine pitching to him would also be chilled and friendly. Ok. That is my fan bit done. Now for the info.

Onwards again

• He is looking for worlds that are unique in their genres. That does not mean he is looking for space operas. Well, he might be but not just that. What he wants you to do is introduce the viewer to new ways of life. Great for those of us who write about outsiders. It can be something that has been done before but he wants a new twist to it.  Though completely novel is always good.
  

• Because they are not reliant on advertisers and schedules, they can give the writers a lot more freedom. You can vary episode duration and number to fit your story. You are also not tied down to fit into a particular timeslot. No pigeonholing. FREEDOM!!!!!!

• For example, they have episodes from 5 mins to 60mins. The average is 45mins for drama and 30mins for comedy. Number of episodes per series averages between 6-8 but have been as low as 3 if the story fits that.
  

• They do not do pilots. I repeat – they do NOT do pilots. If they like it then they commission a series. No messing around.
  

• They want to see the first episode in full. However, it does not need it to be perfect. They want to know you understand the story and characters and have your own voice. The first episode will be rewritten during development anyway.
  

• What they want to see in that episode, ideally early, is a personal moment with the main character so the viewer can relate to them and want to go along with their story. Also do not try and squeeze every character and piece of info into that episode. You have a series to introduce and develop them. Relax that pace.
  

• What they also want is a general storyline for the whole series. Not detailed plans for each episode but just key points like, for example, character B is killed in episode 3 and a new mystery guy turns up in episode 4. After all the development of that series will change it all anyway. This is also something I have heard from Yvonne Grace who is ex. BBC and a great coach for TV stuff. She has helped me a lot. Find her here.
  

• Keep a consistent TONE!!!! The audience is sophisticated and will feel cheated if your gripping horror turns into a slapstick farce halfway through.
  

• When pitching to them… ease into it. This is not an elevator pitch. Start with something personal “I wrote this story because….” It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Just something to show it is important to you.
  

• If the story is a metaphor, then say it. They love them.
  

• Then actually pitch it. Oh, and you can say it is A x B. I have often heard that these must be current series. For example, Squid Game meets After Life. But Netflix doesn’t mind if you reference an older series if it is closer to what you have. The comparison lets them see what you are aiming at so Buffy meets Captain Scarlet would be fine. Hmmmm. I wonder…..
  

• What they are not looking for. They provide escapism for their viewers so they want you to take them somewhere different from where they are now. They are not looking for something super-controversial. For example something aimed at a current personality or regime or particularly offensive. Though historical stuff is fair game.

• For example, I know but I like examples, they are not looking for Covid series because they believe the viewer wants to get away from that. Though Pete did say that something will always be made that will prove them wrong.
  

• Zoom working will continue in some form in the future. This allows writers outside of LA or even USA to take part. Zoom has really helped me because I am mostly housebound.
  

• On a sad point you do need to be represented to submit or pitch. Reasonable though or they would be flooded with stuff. They DO run several initiatives to help the under-represented get into the industry. Look out for them.

Phew. That was a long post. Hope you find something useful in it all. Go to the Roadmap site and sign up to avoid missing these sessions and other good stuff.

In Summary
Netflix gives the writer a lot of freedom to tell the story the way they want.
Show them your voice and vision. Not a slick script.