Ryan Murphy is finally the king of Netflix with ‘Dahmer’ and ‘Mr. Harrigan’s Phone’

Between 2017 and 2018, Netflix sealed two multi-million dollar deals that caused an earthquake in the entertainment industry. He first signed Shonda Rhimesproducer of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ or ‘Station 19’, and then he did it with Ryan Murphy, author of fictions such as ‘American Horror Story’, ‘Glee’ or ‘American Crime Story’. The amounts they received were exorbitant (it is said that she 150 million dollars and he, 300, although the figures vary depending on the source and the industrial benefits) and since then she has remained in the air the question of whether it was worth it or if this hit on the table given by the production company would not have been the story of the biggest waste of money in Hollywood.

Both took some time to show the cards they had prepared for the platform, but while Shonda unquestionably found commercial glory with ‘The Bridgertons’, also establishing it as a lasting saga, and later repeated the achievement with ‘Who is Anna?’, Ryan was accumulating projects of uneven quality and little impact. Until now. Because ‘Dahmer’ has not only been a mainstream success, but this week it has managed to surpass ‘The Bridgertons’ and has placed itself, with 701 million hours viewed, as the third most watched series in Netflix history, only surpassed by ‘The Squid Game’ and the fourth season of ‘Stranger Things’. And it does not seem that it is a punctual feat, but the first of several successes.

While ‘Dahmer’ ranked number 1 in the platform’s series category, in the cinema, ‘Mr. Harrigan’s telephone’ was installed in many countries (including the USA), a film also by Ryan Murphy, based on a novel by Stephen King and produced with Jason Blum. And although it has finally added 35 million hours viewed in its premiere (a good figure although lukewarm), that coincidence in the tops of a series and a tape of his was certainly a reason for celebration for Ryan Murphy. And, beware, because ‘Vigilante’ was released today and its premise, cast and trailer smell like success.

Ryan Murphy’s Rough Road Here

The beginning of Ryan Murphy’s stage at Netflix was marked by two series that, in reality, were not created under his agreement but were developed from Fox 21 Television Studios, the creator’s former home, and sold to the platform: ‘The Politician’ and ‘Ratched’. But apart from that industrial detail, they did serve to measure if this was what the genius could offer to the platform. The first got buzz among the critics (with different opinions) although not so much among the public, while ‘Ratched’ had a certain initial pull but was diluted. So much so that none of them has guaranteed its continuity. ‘The Politician’ had two seasons and although two of ‘Ratched’ were signed, there is no sign that they are working on that second season, despite the fact that two years have passed since its premiere. Consider it finished.

Then came two mini-series, ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Halston’ (as well as several documentaries, the adaptation of ‘The Boys in the Band’ and the – allow me the qualifier – disastrous ‘The Prom’) that repeated the problem of the previous products: neither did they represent a boom among the public nor did they achieve unanimous applause from critics and awards from previous works by Murphy. In other words, Netflix wasn’t getting a ‘Glee’, ‘American Horror Story’ or ‘9-1-1’, nor was it getting a ‘Feud’ or ‘American Crime Story’. And swimming in the sea of ​​irrelevance was the worst thing that could happen to someone of his high profile with a $300 million check in his pocket. Now with ‘Dahmer’ it has completely turned it around: yes, it is a series that can enter the category of “prestige”, but at the same time it has achieved crazy numbers. And, perhaps more importantly, that “Monster” that has placed the title smells, although no one has confirmed it, that this is nothing more than the seed of a franchise true crime that could be the new goose that lays the golden eggs.

The end of Netflix mega-contracts?

Some analysts have been pointing out for some time that, to the extent that Netflix has entered a period of spending containment, these types of agreements are doomed to come to an end and that the company and other platforms could return to a system of studies and bids similar to the one that worked between the networks. It would be the end of the “era of irrational exuberance in streaming,” as Variety calls it. However, this prediction collides with two movements that the red ene company made just over a year ago.

In July 2021, an agreement was announced with the prolific producer Greg Berlanti (responsible for megahits like ‘You’, ‘Riverdale’ or the arrowverse) and his partner Sarah Schechter and that same month the contract with Shonda Rhimes was renewed for five years (although the previous one had not yet expired, but motivated by the success of ‘The Bridgertons’), adding an extra 100 million to its value to match it at the level of Berlanti and Murphy. So we can believe that the two realities, that of savings and that of millionaire agreements, can coexistbecause there are many other places to cut: from those series that nobody sees and nobody cares about and that are done haphazardly, for example.

Perhaps the question is not so much whether or not the era of waste and deals with industry bosses ends, but rather another: who is worth enough to keep you tied down? Or, put another way, who has made merits for us to continue paying such a high bill? Ryan Murphy, if he hasn’t done it already, he has little left.