AAA<\/p>\n
When I gingerly broach the topic of Bela Bajaria\u2019s time at Universal Television, she brushes aside my polite euphemisms and gets to the point. \u201cWhich part of [my time at] Universal?\u201d asks Bajaria, whose role as Netflix\u2019s global chief content officer makes her one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. \u201cThe getting fired part?\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2011, Bajaria joined the television studio arm of NBC, then known as Universal Media Studios, which had been gutted by a previous regime. Her success in rebuilding it resulted in her promotion to president in 2015. But her success in creating and selling programs to rival platforms \u2013 also a key part of her job \u2013 became a sticking point.<\/p>\n
![\"Bajaria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/b1cad314694dcbb7e4259586bd7446c523e6fa49.jpeg\")
Bajaria started her career as an assistant at CBS in the mid-1990s. Today, she is one of the most powerful people in Hollywood.Joe Armao<\/p>\n
Among the hit series Bajaria helped bring to fruition at Universal are The Mindy Project<\/a> and Brooklyn Nine-Nine<\/a> for Fox, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt<\/a> and Master of None<\/a> for Netflix.<\/p>\n \u201cI always felt the decisions I made were best for the creator and best for the studio,\u201d says Bajaria, in an exclusive interview with this masthead. \u201cWhen you are the studio to a sister network and you sell outside to other places \u2013 and if those shows are successful \u2013 it causes tension.\u201d<\/p>\n Things came to a head in 2016, when Bajaria was sacked. At the time, it made no sense. After all, she\u2019d created a slew of hit shows, treated people fairly and made what she believed to be the right decisions for the business.<\/p>\n \u201cThen you realise that it\u2019s not so simple,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are definitely tensions and personality clashes and lots of other things that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Cliches about learning from failure, she adds, \u201clook nice stitched onto a pillow\u201d. But they do not preclude the self-doubt that comes with being dismissed from a high-profile dream job.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason I talk about the firing part is that some people look at me and my job now and go, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s all just great,\u2019\u201d Bajaria says. \u201cBut there were these big, huge lessons along the way. I definitely learned more from getting fired than I learned at any other time professionally. It gives you a sense of perspective about who you are and what you\u2019re made of.\u201d<\/p>\n During her subsequent \u201csummer of soul-searching\u201d, Bajaria had a conversation with Ted Sarandos<\/a>, now the co-chief executive of Netflix with Greg Peters<\/a>. He told her not to take another job without speaking to him first. Soon, he offered her a role as head of licensing, co-productions and unscripted content.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve worked in scripted TV for 20 years,\u201d she told him. \u201cYou\u2019re offering me a job, but I have no experience in any of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just hire smart people,\u201d Sarandos replied. \u201cYou\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s safe to say that Bajaria impressed her new boss: in 2023, she succeeded Sarandos as Netflix\u2019s global chief content officer. According to the London Telegraph, she is \u201cthe woman who decides what the world is watching<\/a> on TV\u201d, while Forbes magazine labelled her \u201cNetflix\u2019s Queen Of Screens<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n Bajaria and I are ensconced in a leather-upholstered booth at Maha, a moody, subterranean restaurant described by The Age Good Food Guide as Melbourne\u2019s \u201cgilded tiger of Middle Eastern fine dining<\/a>\u201d. We share several dishes including Turkish beef dumplings; roast zucchini and burnt red peppers; steamed warrigal greens with an olive oil and mustard dressing; and house flatbread with sumac butter and smoked hummus. The highlight is the slow-cooked lamb shoulder marinated in garlic sumac and cumin, so tender that it falls apart as we spoon it onto our plates.<\/p>\n Despite an impressive drinks menu, we opt for water \u2013 in part because Bajaria is on a flying visit to Australia, to promote the first American National Football League regular season game played in this country. The match between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers drew 100,000 fans to the MCG<\/a>, many of whom travelled from the United States. It was streamed live on Netflix and ESPN, and broadcast on Channel Seven.<\/p>\n \u2018When someone brought it up in an interview, I felt like some deep, dark secret was out.\u2019<\/p>\n Bela Bajaria<\/p>\n For Netflix, it marks a further dissolution of the once-solid boundaries between broadcast television and subscription video on demand. When the streaming giant launched in Australia in 2015<\/a>, it trumpeted its high-end, ad-free original programming (House of Cards<\/a>, Orange Is the New Black<\/a>, BoJack Horseman<\/a>) as its point of difference. Meanwhile, free-to-air networks played to their strengths: live sport, news and local programming.<\/p>\n These days, it\u2019s harder to tell the difference. Netflix now offers discounted subscriptions to viewers willing to watch ads, while investing heavily in reality shows, sport and other live events. In response, Australian broadcasters have beefed up their on-demand platforms. Two months before Netflix\u2019s debut, Nine launched Stan<\/a>, a direct rival that invests heavily in premium Australian programming. (Nine is the owner of this masthead.)<\/p>\n Related Article Globally, Netflix has more than 325 million subscribers, although household account sharing means its total number of users is significantly higher. While the company intends to increase its subscriber base, it can no longer rely on the rapid rate of growth it enjoyed in its early days \u2013 a situation made trickier by an international cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n This has prompted Netflix to seek revenue from other sources, such as games, short-form video and podcasts (all of which are more amenable to daytime use, allowing Netflix to move beyond its reputation as evening-based entertainment).<\/p>\n With all this in mind, would Netflix consider making a play for major Australian sports such as the NRL or AFL? Bajaria is not ruling it out.<\/p>\n \u201cI love that people in Australia love sports so much,\u201d she says, pointing out that the immense popularity of World Baseball Classic in Japan \u2013 the only country in which Netflix has the rights to the tournament \u2013 could provide a model for other markets. \u201cIf there was [a sport] in Australia that was \u2018right-sized\u2019 in that way, we\u2019re always going to look at it. It doesn\u2019t have to be global.\u201d<\/p>\n Much has been written about Bajaria during her 30-year career. But there was one element of her past she vowed to conceal: her stint as a beauty pageant queen. Having already won Miss India LA and Miss India USA, she was crowned Miss India Worldwide in 1991.<\/p>\n \u201cI hid it very deeply because I thought there would always be misconceptions about my work ethic, drive, ambition and intellect,\u201d she explains. \u201cWhen someone brought it up in an interview, I felt like some deep, dark secret was out.\u201d<\/p>\n She re-enacts the wide-eyed, frozen-in-fear expression that overcame her during that conversation. But as her career progressed \u2013 and she continued to defy the lazy stereotypes about pageant winners \u2013 she embraced her Miss India accomplishments.<\/p>\n Related Article Bajaria was born in 1970 in London, a city with established South Asian communities. When she moved to LA at the age of nine, it was a huge culture shock.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was definitely racism against Indian people in London,\u201d she says. \u201cBut in Los Angeles at the time, there just weren\u2019t any Indian people, so it was even weirder.\u201d<\/p>\n Her British accent amplified the unwanted attention, so she rid herself of it by studying popular American TV programs, from I Dream of Jeannie to Dallas.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up with very Eastern, Indian values of community and village versus the hyper-individualism of LA,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd [other children in LA] had a much more casual relationship with their parents \u2026 TV really helped me learn about American culture… it also showed me the power of film and television because we watched the same shows, which connected me with the kids at school.\u201d<\/p>\n Competing in the Miss India contests, she now realises, allowed her \u201cto become Indian on my own terms \u2026 I embraced my culture not just through my parents, but by meeting these Indian women from all around the world. I found my voice and learned to own my \u2018Indian-ness\u2019. By the time I entered the workplace, I\u2019d already been out there in the world, being interviewed on stages. It ended up being an asset.\u201d<\/p>\n Her work ethic is also informed by the sacrifices her parents made, including establishing a car wash business in LA while she lived with her grandparents in London, in a flat above their corner grocery shop. \u201cAs a kid, it was amazing,\u201d she recalls. \u201cYou\u2019d run downstairs any time you wanted candy or an ice cream.\u201d<\/p>\n In the mid-1990s, Bajaria joined CBS as an assistant. She took it upon herself to read every script she could get her hands on, even providing feedback in the form of \u201cnotes\u201d<\/a>: a task way above her pay grade. She also spent hours in the broadcaster\u2019s basement video library, watching old telemovies and miniseries.<\/p>\n \u201c[As an assistant], you can either just pass through or you can be a sponge and absorb everything,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n When CBS executive Michael Healy (not to be confused with the Nine TV director of the same name) accepted a job at Disney, he recommended Bajaria as his replacement. \u201cYou mean the assistant?\u201d his stunned colleagues asked. Bajaria was equally surprised.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea he even knew I existed,\u201d she says. \u201cBut he [said to the other executives], \u2018She read every one of my scripts and gave notes on every project; she could start tomorrow because she knows the material.\u2019 I wasn\u2019t doing it to be acknowledged \u2013 I just wanted to learn \u2013 but the lesson is that you never know who\u2019s watching you.\u201d<\/p>\n At the start of this year, Amanda Duthie (who has held senior positions<\/a> at SBS, the ABC and Stan) took the reins as Netflix\u2019s head of content in Australia and New Zealand. In her first few weeks, she had hundreds of meetings<\/a> with producers. \u201cWe wanted to open the doors and windows and say, \u2018Come and talk to us about your projects\u2019,\u201d Duthie said.<\/p>\n Related Article If Bajaria were to offer one piece of advice to those pitching to Netflix, it\u2019s this: do not market your series as \u201can international show\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does that even mean?\u201d she says. \u201cWhether it\u2019s Amanda in Australia [or her equivalents] in India or Mexico, we want each show to be really culturally specific, because that will resonate more than trying to do it through a US or global lens.<\/p>\n \u201cTake Boy Swallows Universe<\/a> or My Brilliant Career<\/a>, which is No. 2 in so many countries, or shows that we\u2019ve licensed like Fisk<\/a>, which is so clever and well done. Look at Squid Game<\/a>: it was made in Korea, by Koreans, for Koreans. If you try to make something for everyone, you make it for no one.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more great conversations over lunch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-893707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Twelve-hour](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/43349e8f1adb363326cbcdb0dd288d6cbec53b5b.jpeg\")
Twelve-hour roasted lamb shoulder served with crispy briwats, smoked eggplant, sticky lamb fat and lemony
\nza\u2019atar jus.Joe Armao<\/p>\n![\"Turkish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/c73bab481eef98f97401ad2656654ba8cd1989ee.jpeg\")
Turkish beef dumplings, braised beef shin, burnt butter with urfa pepper and smoked yoghurt.Joe Armao<\/p>\n![\"Roast](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ce1a69bebf93980e2c421e32ee643598c57897bd.jpeg\")
Roast zucchini and burnt red peppers, harissa and almond tarator.Joe Armao<\/p>\n![\"Netflix](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789535778_791_c2d95f68b55100926d6493414f5c1778efd99f93.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Que](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3cb5d0239459b4b79c4e181d238c2df9d7dcf28e.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Bajaria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2efcfdebb407bd9f3010eaf0b155a58eabc0cdc4.jpeg\")
Bajaria was dubbed \u201cthe queen of screens\u201d by Forbes magazine.Forbes<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/7cae3a8f17d15d9e390042bc1d05936efaf21d41.jpeg\")
The bill, please.Michael Lallo<\/p>\n![\"Amanda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/7de60747c0be5ec09460a604a88446a8fe9499bb.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n