Netflix VP Says Sports Programming Game Plan Is About ‘Access and Authenticity’

Gabe Spitzer has always known that he wanted to work in sports media — but he never could have anticipated receiving a call from Netflix.

Now, since 2018, the executive has helped develop the top streamer’s sports strategy from the ground up.

Spitzer first broke into the industry in 2005 as a production assistant for ESPN, where he cut highlight reels for “Sports Center.” A year later, he landed a job at HBO Sports through a former colleague and went on to produce the docuseries “24/7” and co-direct “Legendary Nights: The Tale of Gatti-Ward.”

Speaking with TheWrap, he credited his experiences at HBO — both in edit rooms and in the field — with teaching him about the art of making documentaries and “directing on the fly” — a passion he would explore further when he launched his own production company, Beluga Pictures, in 2013.

He later collaborated with ESPN on a 30 for 30 short called “Every Day,” which told the story of Joy Johnson, an 86-year-old who ran 25 consecutive New York City marathons. It went on to screen at Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest and Tribeca Film Festival in 2015.

In 2016, Spitzer moved from New York City to Los Angeles to become Fox Sports’ SVP of original programming, where he helped build out the division’s documentary unit. And that’s when Netflix came calling, tapping Spitzer as VP of its nonfiction sports division.

Spitzer joined the sports unit when it was in its infancy. “It was about as much of a dream job as it could get,” he said. “I’d been a massive fan of Netflix in those few years where they were building up original documentaries.”

Check out TheWrap’s full conversation with Spitzer below.

How do you find the stories that Netflix Sports covers?
It really comes down to access and authenticity. It doesn’t need to necessarily be the biggest name or the biggest league. You look for opportunity and those subjects who are willing to give it all and really be authentic because I think fans and audiences can see through it when it feels surface level. Beyond that, it really comes down to working with great filmmakers and finding those people who are going to have the unique point of view.

What were some of the lessons you’ve learned from building the sports division?
When I started at Netflix, we were in a bit more of a hyper-growth mode. So we had the ability and amazing resources to try out so many things. We didn’t really know what worked for our audience. Now I think we’re a bit more mature in that space and we’ve launched a lot of different things. Some have been incredible and work perfectly, some have not. You learn from the ones that miss as much as the ones that hit it out of the park. It’s about being nimble and being willing to shift along the way.

When we first heard the pitch for what now became “Full Swing,” only the PGA Tour had opened up access. None of the four majors — the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, the Masters, and the PGA Championship — were on board to participate just yet. We were intrigued by golf and investing in more series to complement “Drive to Survive,” but it didn’t yet feel complete to tell the full story of the world of golf. While we faced some pressure to commit, I let the producing team know that if they could get full access, we would move forward. It took another year, but they were able to secure it and “Full Swing” became a huge hit for us.

As a creative executive, you can have data at your disposal and you can solicit the opinions of others, but no answer is going to be completely cut and dry. Trust your instincts on projects, and if it doesn’t feel perfect, stay patient and think of ways to elevate it alongside your partners.

You recently produced the Netflix Cup (an event combining Formula 1 racing with golf). What were some of the takeaways from that experiment in live programming?
It was a really exciting project and more of an extension of stories we’re already telling. We’d seen success with “Drive to Survive” and “Full Swing” and this was a fun mash-up of that. We’re always looking for ways to bring our shows to life in new ways, so this was really an attempt at that and we’re excited to see what happens next.

Ted Sarandos has said Netflix would not get into live sports rights unless the company could make the economics work. Given upcoming media rights opportunities like the NBA, could that view change down the road?
Ted Sarandos has been pretty specific. We’re not anti-sports, we’re pro-profits. It’s not something that we plan to change in the near future, as far as I know.

We’re focused on where we can add the most value — through storytelling, the drama of the sport. We have found a lot of success in what we call “sports shoulder programming,” which digs deeper into these intimate stories of who these athletes are and how they deal with successes and setbacks.

What is your advice to someone breaking into the industry versus a professional looking to advance in their career?
If it’s someone breaking in, you have to get on the ground and learn what it takes. That can be shadowing someone, it can be cold calling someone who went to the same school as you, it could be falling in love with a documentary and looking at the credits at the end and seeing the production company that made it.

I got the most experience traveling and being in the field or sitting in an edit room with an amazing director and editor and learning how the puzzle pieces are put together. That’s really important for someone starting up — just get that hands-on experience.

For someone who’s been in the business and trying to rise through the ranks, be curious. The most important thing is asking questions, be willing to learn, be willing to try something out that you haven’t. The entertainment industry is so big and far and wide. You have to take chances and try different things to really understand where you can excel.

This interview has been edited for lengthy and clarity

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