• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

Netflix Priced Itself Out of the Nancy Meyers Business

Backend “buyouts” allow streamers to compete with studios for top projects and A-level stars. But that system has ballooned up-front fees to the point where Netflix said no to a bankable filmmaker and her $150 million Scarlett Johansson movie.

Netflix film chief Scott Stuber has passed on the rare opportunity to spend $150 million on a Nancy Meyers romantic comedy.
Netflix film chief Scott Stuber has passed on the rare opportunity to spend $150 million on a Nancy Meyers romantic comedy. Photo: Fred Duval/FilmMagic
Matthew Belloni
March 17, 2023

Wait, wasn’t CAA’s Bryan Lourd supposed to be able to bend studios to his will? That was the lesson of Scarlett Johansson’s mid-pandemic standoff with Disney over Black Widow, right? Johansson, a Lourd client, was forced by C.E.O. Bob Chapek to sue for her box office bonuses, and 18 months later, ScarJo got paid, Chapek was out, and Lourd was celebrating himself as dealmaker of the year. With CAA gobbling up ICM Partners and Lourd stealing Charlize from Ari Emanuel, he sent an unsubtle message to executives who dared to say no to him: Don’t.