Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer, and Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, were feted at the Museum of the Moving Image’s Industry Tribute June 20 at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. Sarandos was introduced by Ashton Kutcher, Uzo Aduba and Jeff Garlin, all of whom have projects at Netflix, and all who spoke of a network leader who offered full support for their creative pursuits.
Kutcher spoke of pitching comedy The Ranch to Sarandos and essentially had him at hello. “He said, go make that show,” said Kutcher. “It’s crazy to think that, in this industry, someone just trusts you.”
Sarandos said that pitch happened in “true new-media fashion”—a text message that turned into a 20-episode order.
Sarandos described himself as “a nerd—a superfan of media, of movies and TV,” who years ago, before the blockbuster success of Netflix, would’ve been asking the stars in the room for selfies.
Meyers had a handful of Netflix jokes at the ready. “I’m such a fan of what you do,” he told Sarandos. “I’m a bigger fan of Qwikster.”
Meyers also quipped about asking Sarandos to rate the gala, 1 to 10, which he said prompted Sarandos to respond, “We don’t release numbers.”
Jake Tapper, chief Washington correspondent at CNN, introduced Meyers.
The late-night host compared Sarandos’ glittery Hollywood entourage to his own. “Ted’s got Uzo Aduba and Ashton Kutcher and Laura Prepon,” he said. “I got [NBC Entertainment chairman] Bob Greenblatt. I got [executive VP of business operations] George Cheeks.”
The Museum of the Moving Image is located in Astoria, Queens, next door to Kaufman Astoria Studios.
