Netflix London base could boost UK power balance

The streaming giant is also set to launch a separate post-production facility at another UK location.

Netflix’s London plans suggest the company will be focussing more actively on European content, while also potentially hastening co-production deals between producers in the UK and other parts of the world, sources told Broadcast.

Emma Read is managing director of London production company Emporium Productions that made documentary series Inside The World’s Toughest Prisons for Netflix.

“For producers who have worked with Netflix before, Diego’s appointment opens up a different conversation with a different department and [suggests] Netflix does truly want global content,” said Read, in comments to Broadcast.

Last year Netflix announced it had spent $1.75bn on European content since 2012 and at the time said it was involved with 90 separate productions on the continent.

In the last few weeks the company said it would be spending around a billion dollars on original content in Europe in 2018.

The UK has long been established as one of Europe’s top production hubs, with London rivalling Los Angeles and Atlanta as a filming location for big-budget Hollywood studio shoots. A formal Netflix presence in London is a logical step for the California-based company.

Last September, Netflix announced that Netflix Canada would be established as its first non-US production company with a Canadian spending commitment of CA$500m over five years.

See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in the UK.

Images: FreeImages.com/Andrew Rigby/Elvis Santana