Anne Mensah, Netflix’s U.Okay. VP of content material materials, is no doubt one of many streamer’s most senior U.Okay. executives, overseeing scripted, unscripted, film and acquisitions. “Any content material materials that comes out of the U.Okay. slate I handle not directly,” she explains sooner than together with: “Or, additional notably, somebody who’s greater than me takes care of it and I cheer inside the background.”
It’s an announcement typical of Mensah, who all by means of our hour-long interview is always quick to supply credit score rating to the colleagues and creatives she works with every regionally and internationally along with being unabashedly enthusiastic regarding the content material materials. Sooner than I’ve even managed to hit “doc” on our dialog, we’re chatting about “The Gents,” which has been renewed for a second season, and “Love Is Blind U.Okay.,” which is almost to launch as soon as we converse. After I inform her I’ve seen the first 4 episodes beneath embargo, Mensah grins conspiratorially: “It solely will get greater and better.”
“I consider I’ve acquired the very best job because of the U.Okay. is just smart,” she says. “You’re working with such an unbelievable base of experience, so then the question is just how do you current them with the realm and the platform to do their most interesting work?”
Mensah was employed in 2019 from Sky, the place she’d labored on high-end distinctive productions akin to “Chernobyl” and “Gangs of London.” The streamer had already greenlit varied British reveals out of the U.S. – along with “The Crown,” “Prime Boy” and “Intercourse Coaching” – and Mensah was employed as the first U.Okay.-based commissioner. Her exercise was to create a mild “drum beat” of top-class U.Okay. content material materials to watch the benchmark that had already been set. “I’m not going to lie, it was scary coming off the once more of such well-loved reveals,” she says. “They show the differ of choice nevertheless they’re moreover extraordinarily properly appreciated inside the U.Okay. after which globally. So, yeah, that was a bit bit sweat inducing.”
Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall in ‘One Day’ (Courtesy of Netflix)
Teddy Cavendish/Netflix
5 years on, Mensah and her group can boast their very personal outsize hits, from the remake of “One Day” starring Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod, to teen fave “Heartstopper,” to Harlan Coben adaptation “Fool Me As quickly as,” which is Netflix U.Okay.’s most worthwhile current of the 12 months and one in every of many streamer’s most worthwhile of all time. Of Netflix’s 107 Emmy nominations this 12 months, 47 are U.Okay.-originated, along with nods for “Little one Reindeer” and “The Gents” (Mensah is quick to clarify not all the U.Okay.-nominated initiatives bought right here out of her group, akin to “The Crown,” which has garnered 19 noms).
Nonetheless, Netflix’s success inside the U.Okay. is testament to its funding proper right here, amounting to larger than £6 billion alone beforehand 4 years, along with in soundstages and talents teaching along with progress and manufacturing. And there usually are not any plans to decelerate. Whereas the U.Okay. TV panorama has contracted significantly over the earlier 18 months, with commissioning budgets at every PSBs and streamers slashed, after I ask Mensah if Netflix is slicing once more on commissioning she categorically replies “No.” “We take the enterprise critically,” she says. “So we do look to ensure that we’re delivering value for money, nevertheless no in any other case than we’ve always achieved.” Significantly, the U.Okay. group are centered on rising the native factual leisure offering, from the present “Selling Sunset”-inspired “Purchasing for London” to “At Dwelling With the Furys,” a docuseries about boxer Tyson Fury and his wacky brood and, in spite of everything, “Love Is Blind U.Okay.” (“I’m so tickled by the socials on that,” Mensah says.)
Mensah has moreover managed to lure varied cinema heavyweights over to the streamer, along with Man Ritchie and Keira Knightley, every of whom have labored on their first ever serialized initiatives at Netflix, Ritchie with “The Gents” and Knightley with upcoming Joe Barton-penned thriller “Black Doves,” which is at current in post-production. (“It’s smart,” Mensah says of the current, which hasn’t set a launch date however. “Like, appropriately smart.”) How did she persuade Ritchie and Knightley to decamp to the small show display screen? “I don’t suppose we’re having to influence anybody,” she replies. “That idea of authorship inside the mainstream is allowing daring voices to be themselves. And in actuality, it’s not massively dissimilar to what I was doing at Sky.”
It was at Sky, as an example, the place Mensah labored with “Fringe of Tomorrow” creator Jez Butterworth on “Britannia,” which ran for 3 seasons. “Typically individuals are pretty snobby concerning the place they suppose ‘good’ lives,” she says of her ambition to make every commonplace and critically-acclaimed reveals. “Good doesn’t reside on the fringes. It lives correct inside the center, because of our audiences are clever they usually’re varied.” And, Mensah is simply not shy about declaring, she’s had her share of losses too. “They don’t always come!” she says of attempting woo experience, revealing she had wished to adapt James Graham’s play “Dear England” at Netflix. “I went and observed it [at the National Theatre in London] inside the first week and I truly tried, and he chosen to go to the BBC. And that’s an excellent issue and it’s possibly totally correct for the current, because of he’s conscious of the current greater than I do.”
“I merely appreciated it,” she says. “After which I’ve to have a small cry after which I’ll cheer for it and that’s your entire stage.”
Theo James in ‘The Gents’ (Courtesy of Netflix)
Kevin Baker/Netflix
She’s not merely saying it. Mensah – who was as quickly as head of neutral drama on the BBC – radiates actual enthusiasm when talking about U.Okay. TV enterprise as a whole, collectively along with her rivals. Although she cringes on the phrase “veteran” (“I can’t bear it,” she jokes), over a decades-long occupation Mensah has labored at varied U.Okay. manufacturing companies along with Sky and the BBC.
“What points most is that the U.Okay. [industry] is flourishing,” she says. “Throughout the U.Okay., I take into account that media is massively crucial, so we’ve bought to assemble the infrastructure properly and we’ve bought to take it critically. I can get misty-eyed regarding the reveals, nevertheless I take the enterprise of it truly critically because of it’s supported me my whole life.”
The arrival of deep pocketed-U.S. streamers on the U.Okay. scene has been a finding out curve for everyone, nevertheless Mensah says “we don’t must wrestle, we merely should be fixed” — by which I consider she means being clear about Netflix’s operate inside the ecosystem, whether or not or not it’s investing in teaching initiatives or doing bespoke presents for every enterprise (a typical misunderstanding about Netflix is that they always buy out all the rights on a charge, which “merely isn’t true,” she says.) “Typically of us wrestle with us a bit bit, because of I consider that sometimes of us can’t reconcile the idea that we’ve bought a very U.Okay.-focused group inside the U.Okay. and it’s truthful and it’s precise and it’s fixed and we care regarding the enterprise,” she says. That care is why Mensah isn’t hesitating about “appropriately cheering” for lots of of her counterparts on the PSBs, whether or not or not it’s ITV’s head of drama Polly Hill (“She’s an earlier mate”) or Channel 4’s head of drama Ollie Madden (“He killed it on the BAFTAs!”). She moreover credit score Lindsay Salt – who was a colleague at Netflix sooner than transferring to the BBC as director of drama in 2022 – for initially pitching “One Day” because of she was such a fan of the e-book.
Part of the rationale Netflix has ruffled feathers is because of it normally punches above its weight on the subject of the cultural dialog, no matter have decrease than 10% of viewing inside the U.Okay. Even so, reveals akin to “Heartstopper,” “Fool Me As quickly as” and “Little one Reindeer” have become monster hits, dominating social media and newspaper headlines. “Is that because of we’re talking to the viewers?” Mensah muses. “Is that because of we’re hyper-focused on having a dialog with our members? On account of if we had been making truly boring reveals that no particular person watched, no particular person would write about us. The two points are totally linked.”
Typically, in spite of everything, that has its drawbacks, akin to inside the case of “Little one Reindeer.” Created by and starring former comedian Richard Gadd, the gathering grew to turn into most likely essentially the most talked about reveals of the 12 months sooner than being hit with a $170 million defamation lawsuit from a woman who claims she impressed one amongst characters. With the courtroom case ongoing, Mensah is proscribed in how rather a lot she’s going to be capable to say nevertheless she maintains she is “intensely proud” of the current and “the connection it made with its viewers.” The current has earned 11 Emmy nominations, with Gadd inside the working for most interesting actor and writing.
Netflix strenuously denies the claims inside the lawsuit. In a licensed declaration made remaining month as part of the case, Mensah averred: “The gathering comprises no characters named after precise people, and stars employed actors. Netflix would have in no way launched the gathering had it believed the gathering might be understood as stating exact information about anyone.” Fortunately, the experience doesn’t appear to have frightened Netflix away from assortment based on precise events. “We’re doing varied true tales and we’ve always been cautious,” Mensah says.
Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning in ‘Little one Reindeer’ (Courtesy of Netflix)
Netflix
Sooner than the licensed drama, one in every of many causes “Little one Reindeer” grew to turn into so profitable was because of it felt so up to date. Over seven sharply-observed, 30-minute episodes Gadd tells his story of sexual abuse, occupation failure and stalking with unflinching honesty. Netflix is normally criticized for kowtowing to its algorithm when deciding whether or not or to not charge or re-commission reveals nevertheless numerous its hits, along with “Little one Reindeer” along with the present “Supacell,” a few group of Black superheroes in South London, don’t seem like the type of reveals a laptop would spit out. After I put that to Mensah, she replies: “I’d say that none of our reveals are what an algorithm [would come up with] … Why would you do 5 Black superheroes in South London? It’s inside the specificity. It’s inside the specificity of ‘Little one Reindeer.’ It’s inside the specificity of [upcoming Jeff Goldblum-starrer] ‘Kaos,’ even if ‘Kaos’ is bonkers big and truly like nothing you’ve ever seen sooner than.”
Mensah moreover components out that every one broadcasters check out the data when greenlighting a enterprise. “I did at Sky, and I did on the BBC as properly, because you might be very, very short-sighted to suppose that every one the items,” she says, together with that most likely essentially the most worthwhile initiatives tend to return about because of someone is obsessive about them, pointing as soon as extra to Lindsay Salt’s love for “One Day.” “So I consider it’s passion first, nevertheless then passion that’s educated.”
Mensah’s private passion for the job is, in spite of everything, unwavering. “I get excited by what we’re doing,” she says. “I consider the potential of truly speaking and having a dialog, it’s what BBC does at its most interesting as properly,” she continues. “That idea that you could be converse to a nation, merely in a number of strategies. Nonetheless what’s very good is we are going to take that nationwide dialog to a worldwide platform.”
Quickfire Questions
Can you inform us one thing regarding the upcoming seventh season of “Black Mirror”? Casting presumably?
It’s wicked, you wouldn’t even take into account it. I would after which truly I’d be killed. Charlie’s a genius. On account of he’s a genius of us want to work with him. You acquired’t take into account who we’ve acquired on this assortment, and likewise you acquired’t take into account what he’s achieved, the several types of tales over once more.
Will there be a Season 8?
[Jokingly going into the third person] She appears to be intriguing and he or she says that they’ve irons inside the fireside.
Why did it take so prolonged to do a U.Okay. mannequin of “Love is Blind”?
I consider, to be truthful, we’ve solely, truly merely come collectively. When you take into account the timeline on the subject of what U.Okay. non-fiction has been, we’re merely on a growth path there. It merely takes time for these things to return by the use of and can be found by the use of properly.
Is the reunion episode going to be reside?
No, it acquired’t be reside. Nonetheless it should possible be good!
Did remaking “One Day” actually really feel like a hazard?
People focus on hazard in television regularly, and on one diploma, I consider every current is a hazard. So you then definately merely go, “OK, do you truly perception and take into account inside the of us and [production company] Drama Republic who had been on the coronary coronary heart of that current?” They fought for the e-book. They appreciated the e-book. They put collectively most likely essentially the most very good group. You’re merely trusting the parents to do what they do brilliantly. I keep in mind watching it and having to have a small cry, after which understanding that, whether or not or not it linked or not, it was gorgeous. Nonetheless then what’s very good, and that’s what I suggest about our viewers, is you type of knew it may.
Are you planning on working as soon as extra with “The Crown” creator Peter Morgan?
[Back in the third person] She locations a quizzical look on, after which she raises her eyebrows. Honestly, I don’t know if I would love anybody else additional, nevertheless truly, yeah. We is also talking.
Is one thing happening with the Roald Dahl Story Agency?
Certain. Pretty thrilling points.
What completely different upcoming reveals are you excited abut?
“Adolescence” [Philip Barantini’s four-part drama series starring and co-created by Stephen Graham]. Each episode’s 50 minutes, roughly, and it’s actually one shot. And it’s jaw dropping.
