Spike Lee pacts with Netflix on multi-year creative partnership for feature films

US film director Spike Lee has forged a creative partnership with Netflix through which he will direct and produce narrative feature films for the streamer.

Spike Lee

The multi-year deal, set to begin in January, comes on the heels of several successful collaborations between the filmmaker and the streamer. Lee wrote and directed the feature Da 5 Bloods and series She’s Gotta Have It, in addition to directing Rodney King and producing See You Yesterday.

Projects made under the new agreement will be produced via Lee’s production banner 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks.

On top of the creative partnership, Netflix said it will invest in and provide financial support for Lee’s ongoing mission to develop new talent and increase representation in the entertainment industry.

“Throughout Spike’s incredible career, his writing and directing have remained searing and insightful about our times, while still being incredibly entertaining,” said Netflix’s head of global film Scott Stuber.

“We’re privileged to enter this new partnership with Spike and look forward to bringing the next chapter of films from Brooklyn’s very own to the world.”

Next up for Lee and Netflix is Gordon Hemingway & the Realm of Cthulhu, an adventure film set in East Africa in 1928. The project, announced earlier this year, is produced by Lee and directed by Stefon Bristol.

Other recent titles from Lee include NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½, a four-part HBO documentary focusing on the city of New York over the 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The project was produced and directed by Lee and premiered on HBO and HBO Max earlier this year.