Skip to content 
Dan Lin is out at Netflix, completing a complete change of content management at the mega streamer, TheWrap has learned.
Lin’s departure comes after Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria left last week just after laying off 6% of his staff. She has been replaced by respected veteran Peter Rice, who will now lead content strategy for the climber amid growth problems.
Netflix declined to comment.
Lin, a successful producer behind movies like the “It” franchise and “The LEGO Movie” series, was hired to run Netflix Film in 2024 after Scott Stuber’s departure. Lin’s tenure marked a shift away from Stuber’s most famous and expensive moves, which ranged from Oscar winners like “Roma,” “The Irishman” and “Frankenstein” to expensive flops like the Russo Brothers’ “The Electric State” and Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon.”
The news comes after Netflix Film vice president Doug Belgrad, who was Lin’s right-hand man, was also let go at the streamer as part of his moves across the company.
Lin took over as Netflix’s new Head of Film in April 2024, replacing Scott Stuber, with a mandate to spend less on fewer, better movies. Known for being blunt, he reorganized the film division by genre and pushed for more comedies, romantic comedies and book adaptations. He also kept a hard line on theatrical releases, which did him no favors for A-list talent. As recently as June, Lin told the New York Times that Netflix won’t work with filmmakers who want a theatrical release.
Netflix greenlit about 88 films in Lin’s first two years, according to the Times. His tenure brought in hits including “The Rip,” “War Machine,” “Happy Gilmore 2” and “People We Meet on Vacation,” which drew more than 17 million views in its first week, along with critical successes like the Sundance pick-up “Train Dreams.” Lin also made room for major theatrical exceptions. Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” is getting a full theatrical run before it hits the streamer in 2027, and David Fincher’s “The Adventures of Cliff Booth” is set for a two-week Imax run before its Netflix debut on Dec. 23.
One top talent agent who works with Netflix, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Wrap that Lin was running into the same wall as his predecessor.
“He had the same problem as Scott Stuber: quality,” the agent said. “Netflix’s business model and the financial structure of their movies doesn’t allow for consistently high-quality movies. You put that together with the amount of work Netflix has to do, and it’s a problem. That’s the same problem Bela had. Whoever takes over for Lin will have the same problem.”
Lin is the founder and CEO of Rideback, an entertainment company known for producing live-action and animated tentpole content for global audiences. Since founding his company in 2008, Lin has produced films that have grossed $6 billion at the worldwide box office. Prior to founding Rideback, Lin was senior vice president of production for Warner Bros. Pictures. During his eight-year tenure at the studio from 1999 to 2007, he oversaw the development and production of major motion pictures such as Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning drama “The Departed.”
Puck’s Matt Belloni was the first to report the news.
