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HWI 378
🕑 Added 2024-05-16 16:30:57 +0000 UTCHollywood What If Chapter 378
Netflix, a famous online streaming service where you have to pay monthly to watch movies. In fact, Netflix was the first to popularize this business.
With the advancement of technology, Netflix followed the trend perfectly and started the monthly payment streaming service. Where you could watch movies in your home without buying DVDs and visiting Blockbuster.
Besides, who likes to visit Blockbuster anyway? The workers in your local Blockbuster store were an arrogant bunch of pricks.
Watching movies online was faster and easier, with no hassle at all. The biggest factor why Netflix became successful. After the success of Netflix other streaming services followed suit such as Disney+ and Hulu.
For around $7 per month(individual), a person could happily watch movies on Netflix.
You know the drill, Netflix and Chill, somebody's daughter getting drilled... Ahem, anyway.
The founders of Netflix were Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings. The two started the company with the idea of selling or renting DVDs by mail.
They made a profit, but not that huge either. Things started to change when the company used a new business method called online DVD rental.
Kazir stopped for a second and decided to turn around. He looked at the man who was arguing with the security... He had no idea about Marc Randolph's appearance but he indeed recognized the name.
"What's happening here?"
He decided to strike up a conversation. He was not sure why, but he decided to do it anyway.
The security realized that Director Grey showed up and respectfully explained the situation.
"I see. You can let him in, I can vouch for his name."
"Yes, sir."
The security left the two.
Marc Randolph was confused at first but then he recalled the director's name.
"Um, are you Director Grey? Kazir Grey?"
"That's right. That's me."
"Thanks for helping me."
"I heard that you have something to talk to Tom Rothman, maybe I can hear about it first?"
"R- Really? Give me ten minutes and I'll tell you about our company."
The two found a quiet place and Marc gave Kazir a business card with Netflix clearly printed on it.
"I'm Marc Randolph, CEO of Netflix."
Marc seemed nervous but he explained well how their company ran.
"A DVD rental through mailing, huh? That's an interesting idea. But I'm sure you have more reasons why you snuck to this party, right?"
"Sir... We're hoping that Netflix will be the sole distributor of 20th Century Fox."
"..."
Kazir just shut his mouth. That kind of business proposal was stupid. Not even 20th Century Fox, other studios won't easily agree with that.
So far, Blockbuster, Walmart, HollywoodVideo, and Movie Gallery are the major movie stores in North America, with Blockbuster being the most popular.
As for Netflix, it was nobody.
Even Marc Randolph was not confident, he was sweating a bit.
If Kazir didn't know the future, he would surely walk away after that statement.
"How many movies does Netflix have in their film library?"
"3... 300."
"300?"
Kazir was speechless... It was too small. For the record, Blockbuster had more than 10 thousand movies in its film library. With 70% of them being B-movies.
Don't underestimate B-rated movies. Even though they were lower quality compared to Hollywood movies, many people would still consume them.
A horror movie enthusiast might watch all kinds of zombie movies and slasher movies, just for the sake of it. And God knows how many horror B-movies were out there.
Even though these movies were not famous, there were still some people who would watch them.
In fact, Kazir's horror movies were getting popular lately, giving Kazir a few thousand dollars per month. These three horror movies were bought by Blockbuster, meaning they were the sole distributor of these movies. Being a director, Kazir still had a measly 3% of the sales and that contract would last for another decade.
Because Netflix only has 300 movies in its catalog, Kazir was disappointed. It means that Netflix had few products to sell, and these products were not even high quality.
'I guess that's why they are desperate to form a contract with 20th Century Fox.'
20th Century Fox has been in business since 1935. Their film library was massive.
Unfortunately, Kazir was not looking for that. What he wanted was the concept of online streaming. He was waiting for Marc Randolph to hook him with the idea.
Yet it seemed that Marc Randolph didn't have that on his sleeve.
'Perhaps it's still too early. Well, uploading a 5-minute video on the internet is already a hassle, the internet speed is limited. Furthermore, watching videos on the internet is also not optimized. I guess I'm asking for too much.'
It would be a lie if Kazir said that he was not interested in investing in Netflix, but he knew that Netflix's early history was full of losses. Kazir didn't want his investment to be wasted.
If he had to invest, then it should be around the time when Netflix started the online streaming service. He had no intention of joining the hardship of Netflix. What Kazir wanted was the easy and safe ways of making a profit. At the moment, Netflix was not worthy.
'I'm not interested in acquiring Netflix, I already have a lot of things to think about. I'm good with being a shareholder.'
Besides, he had no idea how online streaming works.
'I guess I'll wait a few years, huh.'
"It's nice meeting you, Marc."
Kazir stood up, showing that he lost interest in Marc.
"D- Director, can you please introduce me to Tom Rothman."
Marc also stood up, ready to grab Kazir's thigh.
"You should look for his secretary. Well then, see you next time Marc. Perhaps in a few years."
He excused himself, leaving Marc alone. It might look cruel but that's how business works. Even Tom Rothman won't listen to Marc's proposal.
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[Author's Note: This is my response to the possible plot of investing on Netflix. Netflix had the monopoly for a few years, but lately a lot of streaming services are fighting Netflix. And in my opinion, YouTube is still the best... Because it's free. There are not many movies though, but hey, I'm not a movie fan anyway.]
