Netflix boss Cindy Holland: Expect more New Zealand content

Netflix's VP of original content Cindy Holland says to expect "more New Zealand-centric, specific content". Photo / supplied

Kiwi content on Netflix is virtually non-existent. You can count the New Zealand-made films on one hand - Toa Fraser's The Dead Lands and Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones are the most recognisable - and there's zero local television.

Speaking exclusively to Timeout, Netflix's VP of original content, Cindy Holland, says that could soon change.

"We first get into a market, then we start to understand what resonates most locally and then we start to programme against that," says Holland.

"Our goal is to improve the service all the time and get better and better, so I would expect to see more New Zealand-centric, specific content coming in the future."

When TVNZ's deputy director of content, Andrew Shaw, called Netflix a "fad" earlier this month, he was swiftly ridiculed by TV critics and commentators across the board. Shaw's comments were a misfire - but others have pointed out the threat the US streaming giant poses to local broadcasters.

Netflix continues to pump out original content, with 1000 hours of original programming set to premiere on the site in 2017 alone. It was showing little sign of slowing down, until a recent wave of cancellations signalled the end for The Get Down, Sense8 and Girlboss. The cancellations drew heat from critics, who noted they were among Netflix's most diverse shows.

Netflix's The Get Down, created by Baz Luhrmann, was cancelled after just one season. Photo / Netflix

Holland says each cancellation was circumstantial - The Get Down creator Baz Luhrmann was focused on another film project - and that Netflix remains ambitious.

"It just so happens that the series that were canceled most recently are more diverse, and that's a function of the fact that we're creating more diverse programming," says Holland.

"We want to be swinging for the fences and... sometimes they're going to work spectacularly, and sometimes they're going to be great works of art, but not be financially viable in the long run."

Netflix's Glow looks at the lives of female wrestlers in the 1980s. Photo / Netflix

Netflix has won praise through shows such as Orange Is the New Black and Glow for telling female stories with a nuance and integrity that has been largely absent from scripted television in the past. Holland says while they never know what shows will be a hit, it's often the more refreshing ideas that work.

"I think [female-led shows] are successful because historically they've been pretty unusual. These aren't stories that you find on mainstream television, and sadly so.

"You have these amazing three-dimensional characters of women who relate to each other... And I think that audiences are hungry for those kinds of stories."

Holland says shows such as Orange is the New Black are successful because female stories have previously been "pretty unusual". Photo / Netflix

Kiwi content on Netflix may not be far off; the company has worked with TVNZ on Legend of Monkey, which was shot in New Zealand and will premiere in 2018. Holland says Netflix plans to continue expanding and taking risks - a freedom granted by its format.

"Our platform certainly allows for a lot more experimentation because we're not advertiser supported. We have the freedom to aggregate audiences of all kinds from wherever they are around the world," she says.

"Other networks have started to follow to some extent, and then we keep expanding our programming that's predominantly by, for, and about women."