Netflix VP of Original Film Niija Kuykendall is leaving the company after a three-year stint, TheWrap has learned.
The exec will leave at the end of the year following a transitional period. Kuykendall joined the streamer in 2021 and oversaw faith-based, young adult and holiday features.
“Niija’s creative relationships with established and upcoming filmmakers, like Tyler Perry, Denzel and Malcolm Washington, and David Yates, have had a great impact on our film slate,” Netflix VP of Film Doug Belgrad said in a Wednesday statement to TheWrap. “I want to thank her for her many contributions, including films such as ‘The Piano Lesson,’ ‘The Deliverance,’ ‘The Six Triple Eight,’ ‘Pain Hustlers’ and ‘Mea Culpa.’”
Before she joined Netflix, Kuykendall worked for more than 13 years as EVP of Film Production at Warner Bros Pictures. She is the latest senior executive to depart Netflix in recent months, following film chief Scott Stuber in January and vice president of ad sales Peter Naylor in July, among others.
While Netflix reorganized its film division earlier this year, resulting in layoffs of around a dozen employees, streamlining of the company’s workforce has been less severe than that of its legacy media competitors like Disney, WBD and Paramount Global over the past several months as part of efforts to cut costs.
