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Netflix executive Lisa Nishimura supported some of the streamer’s biggest hits — Tiger King, The Tinder Swindler, The Power of the Dog, Making a Murderer, and American Factory — but in an era of corporate cost-cutting, saving wasn’t enough for her Job.
Her imminent departure as vice president of independent motion pictures and documentaries after 16 years at Netflix came as a particular shock to the non-fiction film community, who saw her transform Netflix into a dominant force in the documentary space and, in the process, become , one of Netflix’s most visible executives .
(LR) Lisa Nishimura, Taylor Swift and Ted Sarandos attend the Netflix 2019 Golden Globes After Party Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Netflix
“Lisa was undoubtedly one of the most influential people in bringing nonfiction into the popular mainstream,” said award-winning filmmaker Jeff Orlowski-Yang, director of Netflix documentaries The Social Dilemma and Chasing Coral. “She championed documentaries and gave them the same status as scripted narratives. She has contributed massively to the growth of this industry.”
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney added, “I think Lisa is one of the brightest creative executives in Hollywood.”
Nishimura has weathered several previous reorganizations, but the cold wind of austerity that swept the industry enveloped her and fellow Original Independent Film VP Ian Bricke. The cold wasn’t limited to Netflix — last month Vinnie Malhotra was fired as EVP of non-fiction programming at Showtime Networks, and in late 2022 CNN Films ended its remarkable 10-year run of acquiring third-party documentaries (including this year’s Oscars). winner Navalny). That sent CNN Films SVP Courtney Sexton back to Participant, where she previously worked.
In a statement bidding farewell to Nishimura and Bricke, Netflix recognized Nishimura’s pioneering work in the documentary space, as well as her past oversight of standup comedy specials.
“Lisa Nishimura joined Netflix in the DVD days, and as the company transitioned to streaming, she built our original documentary and stand-up comedy divisions from the ground up and established Netflix as a powerhouse in both,” Scott said Stuber, chairman of Netflix Film, to whom Nishimura reported.
Bringing Netflix to Oscar glory
Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Lisa Nishimura attend the 94th Annual Academy Awards Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images
Nishimura joined Netflix in 2007 from Palm Pictures, where she was General Manager. At the time, PBS and HBO were virtually the only major documentary content providers. Under Nishimura’s tenure, Netflix became a major player in space, earning the platform’s first Oscar nomination for documentary The Square in 2014 and its first win for documentary The White Helmets in 2017. Netflix began the Oscar Doc race own and won for the features Icarus (2018), American Factory (2020), My Octopus Teacher (2021) and Short Doc Period. end of sentence. (2019) as well as nominations for films such as Virunga (2015), What Happened Miss Simone? (2016), Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (2016), 13th (2017) and The Edge of Democracy (2020).
“It was Lisa and Adam Del Deo who loved the first rough cut of the film I brought back from Ukraine in 2014,” said Evgeny Afineevsky, director of Winter on Fire, “and it was they who helped me with their notes, to finish him. I definitely learned a lot from Lisa working with her and Adam on Winter on Fire. She got great grades and it was a great school for me as a young filmmaker starting his way in Hollywood.”
Nishimura’s collaboration with the Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground, earned an Oscar for American Factory and a 2021 Oscar nomination for Crip Camp, the documentary that explored the rise of the disability rights movement.
(L-R) EP Priya Swaminathan, EP Tonia Davis, Director Nicole Newnham, EP Howard Gertler, Director Jim LeBrecht, Lisa Nishimura, Ariane Wu and Adam Del Deo attend the premiere of ‘Crip Camp’ during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Photo by George Pimentel/Getty Images
“We will forever be grateful to Lisa for her visionary contribution to Crip Camp,” filmmakers Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht told Deadline. “Working with Netflix and Higher Ground, we were able to make a film that marked a milestone in disability advocacy – dispelling misconceptions about disability and having a global impact.”
Newnham and LeBrecht added: “Without respect, listening and learning, such change is not possible. Lisa and her team listened to our team members with lived disability experiences and thought outside the box with us so we could bring Crip Camp to the world in a way that harnessed the potential of the story — including finding ways that Advance the industry Make streaming movies more accessible. We are so proud of the work we have done together.”
In the last two years, however, Netflix has backed away from dominating the Oscar documentaries race. The streamer failed to garner a single nomination in this category in 2023 and 2022, although this year it won in the Doc Short category for The Elephant Whisperers. Much of the Thunder has been stolen from National Geographic and HBO Documentary Films lately.
Netflix’s premier foray into docuseries
“A few years ago you would have thought Netflix would definitely be in the running [for Best Documentary Feature]said Simon Kilmurry, former executive director of the International Documentary Association. “It’s surprising … NatGeo has a number of big movies this year and Netflix not so much.”
Nishimura also oversaw documentary series for Netflix until joining the film group in 2020. Nowhere has their impact on the documentary field been greater than with series, as true crime has become essential to any streaming platform more than any other genre.
Netflix
“You watch the documentary series and it was really Lisa’s vision that Making a Murderer would be a breakthrough [in 2015]’ remarked Kilmurry. “That has changed the field for the better, and perhaps not so well because of the nature of the formulaic sprouting of true crime documents. But of course you can’t deny the effects.”
Nishimura’s sudden exit has increased concerns in the documentary community about the shrinking supply of content that streaming platforms and other distributors care about. Rather than relying on gifted filmmakers to develop compelling content, some industry leaders are seeing decision-making driven by algorithms that predict what will be popular with subscribers.
“I think under Lisa’s tenure, they had a well-earned reputation for supporting the filmmakers’ vision,” Kilmurry said, citing Oscar nominees Yance Ford (Strong Island) and Petra Costa (The Edge of Democracy). “I think that’s shifting. The nature of commercial pressures could narrow the scope for risk-taking.”
A senior independent PR executive, who asked not to be known so he could speak openly, said: “What a loss for Netflix. It’s becoming less and less shocking to see top talent disappear from the Netflix roster while continuing to navigate their ever-changing prioritization structure and content strategy. Lisa and Jan [Bricke] are amazing acts – incredibly talented, thoughtful and innovative leaders who are so highly regarded across the industry.”
Netflix cuts and Nishimura’s legacy
As Deadline reported Thursday, all Netflix live-action film content will now be overseen by Kira Goldberg, Ori Marmur and Niija Kuykendall, reporting to Scott Stuber. Deadline understands that Nishimura’s documentary responsibilities will be continued by Dan Silver for US and Canada and Kate Townsend for UK (Adam Del Deo – VP, Original Documentary Series – and Brandon Riegg – VP Unscripted and Documentary Series – who will continue to oversee episodic non-fiction ).
Just a year ago, Nishimura celebrated one of her biggest successes – the documentary The Tinder Swindler, which ranked as the most popular movie on Netflix, fiction or nonfiction, for several weeks in 2022. In an interview at the time, she told Deadline: “I used to be in a film studio that sold to Netflix [Palm Pictures]… I remember the earliest days of engagement [with Netflix] that, wow, that’s a place that really respects and understands the documentary form.”
Netflix stock has regained some of its shine after a precipitous fall last April that wiped $50 billion off the books in a single day (the stock has been trading at around $345 as of late). , down from a low of $166 on May 11, 2022). But that shower from last spring, combined with ongoing headwinds impacting the broader economy, has resulted in an industry-wide contraction. Taking a closer look at budgets, Netflix pulled a romantic comedy directed by Nancy Myers earlier this month because of skyrocketing costs.
Nishimura’s comment on Deadline just a year ago regarding budgets seems odd in retrospect.
“We’re really driven by what’s going to bring joy to audiences,” Nishimura told us last February, referring to both fiction and non-fiction content. “In terms of cost and value, cost is really driven by proportional audience size. Something like Don’t Look Up that has a massive engagement, a huge, huge audience is actually incredibly valuable to us as well.”
Their mark will still be felt on Netflix. Stuber referenced her role in the upcoming feature films They Cloned Tyrone, Rustin and NYAD in his statement. And many admirers predict bright things for her in the future after Netflix. One Oscar-nominated filmmaker wrote on Facebook, “This is a loss for Netflix, but I imagine streaming and premium competitors will be lining up with offers for them.”
Referrals won’t be hard to come by.
“It was always such a pleasure to work with Lisa,” Orlowski-Yang said. “She trusted us as artists to tell the story the way we wanted to tell it and always encouraged us to trust our instincts and allowed us to do our work the way we know how best. Working with her has truly been one of the highlights of the document industry for me.”