Via The Hollywood Reporter (Lesley Goldberg)
Bela Bajaria continues to shake up her executive ranks.
ABC Signature Studios’ Amanda Barclay has joined the streaming giant and will serve as director of comedy originals. She will fill the void created by the departure of Robert Prinz, who has left Netflix following a nearly four-year run.
Barclay, who will report to Netflix comedy head Tracey Pakosta, has spent the past year and a half working as exec director comedy development at ABC Signature Studios. Since joining the Disney-backed studio, she has helped develop series including the recently renewed Home Economics as well as pilot Black Don’t Crack and Adopted. Before ABC Signature, Barclay was a current development exec at YouTube Premium, where she had her hands on originals including seasons two and three of Cobra Kai and Wayne.
Barclay becomes the latest ABC Signature exec to depart for Netflix and joins Lisa Lang McMullen, who left the studio after a 12-year run. She now serves as a director on Jimmy Howe’s drama development team.
Prinz, meanwhile, was a key member of the comedy team that was previously headed by Jane Wiseman. Wiseman was among the senior execs who were hired by Cindy Holland, who herself departed the streamer following Bajaria’s rise to vp global TV. During his tenure, Prinz developed series including Family Reunion, The Crew, Country Comfort and Dad Stop Embarrassing Me.
Since taking on the top TV role at Netflix, Bajaria has restructured her executive ranks to break down many of the silos that existed under former vp originals Holland and consolidated many of the divisions into a more streamlined structure built around drama, comedy, event series, unscripted and overall deals.
Bajaria has also been busy refocusing the streamer’s originals, having recently canceled a number of comedies including the Jamie Foxx-led Dad Stop Embarrassing Me, Kevin James vehicle The Crew, Kat McPhee’s Country Comfort and Mr. Iglesias as well as dramas Jupiter’s Legacy, Cursed and Grand Army, among others.
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, who departed a rich overall deal with Netflix, said in a THR cover story recently that he opted to leave the streaming giant because it “became CBS” and wants to do “down-the-middle” shows.
It’s worth noting that the streamer’s four recent comedy cancellations were all broad-skewing originals.
