As the streaming wars intensify, Netflix is aggressively courting not only Academy Award-winning filmmakers such as “The Irishman” director Martin Scorsese and “Roma” helmer Alfonso Cuarón, but also artists who haven’t yet broken out. Last year, Netflix released 19 original movies from first-time directors on its streaming platform; another 11 have already been announced for 2020. Viewing numbers shared with The Times for five 2019 films from first-time directors provide a rare glimpse into consumption data that Netflix famously keeps under wraps. Bristol, who says he was working a part-time job and was broke at the time, received financing from Netflix to make his project into a feature film. In 2019 Amazon had nine original films stream on its platform, two of which were from first-time film directors.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 25, 2020 12:56 UTC