Netflix to throw some spaghetti at the wall with a series of 15-minute stand-up specials
Netflix will never tell us how any of its content is performing, but it has to be aware that some people out there will eventually lose their taste for sinking into the couch and watching the same thing for 15 hours every day. Now, in what seems to be an acknowledgement that there may be valid content distribution models that don’t involve dumping a dozen hours of something all at once, Netflix has reportedly decided to release a series of 15-minute stand-up comedy specials that will be dumped online in “bundles throughout the year.”
That’s according to Vulture, which says the streaming service had been looking for submissions from the New York and Los Angeles comedy scenes a few months ago, and it has now selected a big group of up-and-coming comedians to tape quick specials at Terminal West in Atlanta. Here’s the full list from Vulture: Aisling Bea, Michelle Buteau, Tim Dillon, JR De Guzman, Sabrina Jalees, Janelle James, Sam Jay, Josh Johnson, Ian Karmel, Jak Knight, Matteo Lane, Max Silvestri, Taylor Tomlinson, Phil Wang, Emma Willmann, and Kate Willett.
Vulture expects this system to give Netflix a reliable pool of comedians to pull from for future stand-up specials, and it will also give these young comedians a straight shot at their own eventual Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock-style multi-million-dollar paydays. (That’ll probably never happen, but it’s nice to dream.)