Home Industry News The Netflix Lobbying Machine: Inside the Effort to Sway Policy Worldwide
Four weeks after this year’s Oscars, a mysterious letter arrived at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice had taken an interest in — of all things — the Hollywood awards season. In the preceding weeks, Netflix had earned 15 Oscar nominations, including its first for best picture (for Roma), incensing some of the streaming company’s traditional competitors. Executives at multiple studios began quietly discussing a proposed rule change for an upcoming meeting that would force Netflix to honor a more conventional theatrical release for its Oscar-contending films.