Netflix reveals slate of new shows and are grilled about Harry and Meghan, Stephen Colbert

On Wednesday afternoon, Netflix’s top brass braved something scarier than demogorgons or demons: a roomful of entertainment journalists.

The streamer’s annual “Next on Netflix” event, essentially an in-house upfront presentation, delivered an hour of slate updates from Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, film chief Dan Lin and scripted series head Jinny Howe. A marked improvement over last year’s content-palooza at the Egyptian, this year’s more intimate event at Netflix’s Hollywood offices was far more streamlined, prioritizing only the top titles and just two key project announcements: “Uncorked,” a scripted series from Darren Star and David Schulner, and the Jason Bateman-directed “The Cackling of the Dodos,” to star Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson.

But the most interesting part of the entire afternoon came during the Q&A. For some hardball journalists, that’s when the claws came out.

Deadline’s Anthony D’Allesandro wasted no time addressing the Warner Bros.-size elephant in the room: “After the pursuit of Warner Brothers and the potential promise of a 45 day window, what are your plans for theatrical? Actions mean more than words,” he scolded.

Bajaria discouraged the room from “conflating” the Warner Bros. theatrical business with Netflix’s model, while Lin quipped, “Anthony, give us some time. The Warner Brothers deal just ended, as far as our participation, and we had Academy Awards. So give us some time. We are a streaming-first company… Through the Warners process, we built a closer relationship with the theater owners. Had a lot of discussions. So just give us some time.”

D’Allesandro’s Deadline colleague Nellie Andreeva also ruffled some feathers by shoehorning in two questions when handed the mic. She asked for an update on the streamer’s relationship with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry following a report from Variety’s Matt Donnelly, indicating the pair are on the outs with Netflix.

“Don’t believe whatever you read. Maybe we should all do a little fact checking. We still have a relationship with them,” Bajaria said, just moments after fielding a question from Donnelly, who was in the room. “There’s no juicy story there.”

Longtime Variety journo Michael Schneider also held onto the mic a bit longer than expected, pushing Bajaria repeatedly about Netflix’s approach to talk series, and finally bluntly asking, “Are you interested in [Stephen] Colbert?” 

“I mean, he hasn’t come in and had a conversation,” Bajaria responded.

Thankfully, I did get to ask one question of my own — about the streamer’s recent deal to acquire Ben Affleck’s AI filmmaking start-up, InterPositive.

“He was experimenting on his own for many years as he built it. He built it from the vision of a filmmaker,” Bajaria said, adding that filmmakers who didn’t want to use the new tech would be under no obligation to do so. “Ben is talking to the filmmakers himself. He’s really speaking their language when it comes to lens and lighting and lots of different things. And so I’m excited about that. It really came from a creative point of view.”