Netflix has found some Oscars success on the documentary front, but everybody knows the streaming giant desperately wants that first Best Picture win. It'll bring the legitimacy they've spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to buy, and there's no question this year is their best chance. Alfonso Cuaron's Roma has been racking up Best Picture wins this season, including at last week's Critics Choice where it won both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language. Previous to that, the Golden Globes awarded it Best Picture with Cuaron as Best Director.
It's no surprise to me, and shouldn't be to you, that Netflix is throwing around historic amounts of cash on Roma's Oscar campaign. According to Fast Company, Netflix has crowding everybody out with the amount of money they are spending to ensure Roma not only gets an Oscar nomination but becomes a legitimate favorite to win. Here is a breakdown of what they showered voters with just to be a player at the Golden Globes...
"...a box of Oaxacan dark chocolates with a note signed by Yalitza Aparicio, the actress who plays the nanny Cleo in the movie. (The chocolates came with a list of all the categories that Roma was eligible in, including Best Actress.) The company also sent out a glossy Roma coffee-table book, and a Roma poster signed by Cuarón. Recipients were asked if they wanted it framed or rolled. Netflix also set up a Roma immersive experience on a Hollywood production stage; it hosted cocktail parties celebrating the film, including one led by Angelina Jolie; and it bought a slew of print, digital, and television ads, including a full two-minute Roma spot that aired during CBS Sunday Morning. According to one media buyer, the cost of that ad alone is about $170,000. "
You know me, I'm honest with you all. Roma has been my favorite movie of the year ever since I saw it at Middleburg, and I traveled up to New York to see it again a few weeks later at Netflix's expense. I was showered with pretty much all of those things listed above and just got the signed Roma poster in the mail a couple of days ago. It's damn near the size of my bedroom wall. We got a lot of stuff from studios when awards voting comes around, but Netflix sent so much it was overwhelming. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced in all of my years of doing this.
And in case you're wondering, no it didn't influence me. Everybody knows the way to my heart is to buy me Pop! Vinyls, not coffee table books. Hint hint.
Anyway, Netflix's Roma campaign is said to have surpassed Sony's for The Social Network, which topped out at around $25M.
Is Netflix just flushing money down the toilet or will it all payoff for Roma in the end? We'll find out when the Oscars are handed out on February 24th.
