Reed Hastings

But the art of business is doing both of those better than your competitors do.

That's 100% credit to Ted Sarandos.

Ted had been working with David Fincher and trying to develop some of these ideas.

The show was up for bid, and then Ted put in this two-season bid, which was unheard of at the time.

HBO had a precedent where they don't do that, so they didn't match.

Then that team, Media Rights Capital, went with us and it turned out fantastic.

But really all of that bravery is due to Ted Sarandos.

You know, there's some data, but I would say it's instinct that the thing you've got a partial script, you've got some casting, and you have to guess how good is that show going to be to figure out what it's going to comp against in terms of your data.

So there's no real data that tells you.

That was an instinct call.

Well, if you buy content that hits, you're implying that it's never been shown.

So the later it is in the pipeline, okay, the more it's just a sketch, boy, it's hard to tell.

The more it's a complete script, you can tell a little bit more.

The more it's a script and a cast, you can see a little bit more.

The more it's a script and a cast and some dailies, you can see a little bit more.

The more it's an edited, completed thing,

then you can really take a guess, okay?

But you still don't have that much public reaction.

The more you've done test screenings, you can tell.

So at each stage, you get more information and you're more likely to be right.