Derren Brown has opened up about bringing his live shows and specials to Netflix, revealing that the opportunity to connect with a wide new audience was just too good to turn down.
“It was such an exciting offer,” Brown explained to over the phone last month ahead of the premiere of his latest special “Sacrifice,” which was his first original piece of content for Netflix.
“It felt like an amazing thing to have their interest, and that they knew me and their shows.”
“Then we had to find an idea that we all agreed on. But it was just an exciting, new chapter that opened up the shows to a much wider audience. Then that allows me to tour in different countries. That’s a really exciting thing about it, too.”
Brown then teased that his planned new Broadway show will be released on Netflix, too.
“I have 20 years of doing shows in the UK. We knew we would make a brand new special for Netflix, which is what ‘Sacrifice’ is.”
“So we thought it would make sense to pave the way with a couple of shows that I had done to tease ‘Sacrifice’.”
“Hopefully I am doing a Broadway show next year in the spring, too. But that is a different entity to shows like ‘Sacrifice.’ So we thought let’s give people a recent special and a recent stage show.”
Brown is particularly excited to bring his shows and specials to a new American audience, as it allows him to once again experience the outrage and controversy that his English fans have long become accustomed to.
“Things have grown organically in the UK. Now it is interesting to meet a new audience and see them get their heads around my stuff.”
“I experience outrage and controversy again, because UK audiences have long been accustomed to what I do. It is fun and will open the content of the shows wider and to the world stage more than I am used to. So that will be fun.”
But is Brown working on anything brand new for Netflix at the moment?
“I am not working on anything new yet. Because we want to see how well this one does. But hopefully the relationship will continue.”
“I don’t like to plan too far head and have ambitions for things. I just want to do stuff that feels worthwhile and is fun and interesting at the time.”
“Hopefully it will open up some new and interesting opportunities, like live shows across the world and on Broadway.”
Derren Brown’s "Miracle," "Sacrifice" and "The Push" are now available on Netflix.
