One of the consequential Paramount+ dramas proper now isn’t one you possibly can stream—it’s unfolding behind the scenes, with Cindy Holland within the starring position. The previous Netflix unique content material chief helped rework her former employer right into a status powerhouse with hits like Mindhunter and The Crown. Now, after her abrupt 2020 ouster following an 18-year tenure, she’s making a high-profile return to streaming as head of Paramount’s direct-to-consumer division. Her comeback comes at a pivotal second: Paramount’s merger with Skydance has simply closed; the streamer faces deep value cuts and a inventive reboot; and Hollywood is watching intently to see if Holland can pull off her magic once more—this time at a smaller, scrappier platform.
The $8 billion Paramount–Skydance merger ended the Redstone household’s long-running management of the media large. And the brand new Paramount can be relauched round Skydance CEO David Ellison’s tech-forward imaginative and prescient—one that features A.I.-assisted manufacturing and a rebooted Paramount+. In a mission assertion shared Thursday, Ellison emphasised plans to scale up each Paramount+ and Pluto TV—a free, ad-supported service with tons of of stay channels— into “highly effective, worthwhile world gamers.”
Paramount is betting {that a} trusted inventive power like Holland can revive its struggling streamer whereas navigating the impression of roughly $2 billion in finances cuts. Whether or not she will replicate her Netflix-era success stays one of many largest questions looming over the corporate’s future.
Primarily based on her observe report alone, hiring Holland was a coup that might pay large dividends for Paramount. She was the Netflix govt who acknowledged the potential of status originals lengthy earlier than it was customary for streamers to construct deep libraries of their very own. At Netflix, she additionally signed Shonda Rhimes to a $100 million deal that produced Bridgerton and oversaw a slate of originals that not solely made Netflix a family identify but additionally reshaped the best way Hollywood does enterprise.
Journalist Gina Keating, whose e book Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America’s Eyeballs tells the story of Netflix’s rise to streaming dominance, says Holland was central to shaping Netflix’s early status as a cutting-edge, creator-friendly studio. “She presided over content material creation at an important time for Netflix. Her selections of character-driven reveals like Home of Playing cards, Orange Is the New Black, and Narcos confirmed that Netflix was aiming for one thing completely different—richer and riskier storylines than most studios would try in these days,” Keating instructed Observer.
With practically 78 million subscribers and a library anchored in CBS staples plus greater than half a dozen Taylor Sheridan–created dramas, Paramount+ continues to be one thing of an underdog in a crowded streaming market. Holland’s arrival indicators ambitions to intention greater towards the form of status programming she as soon as championed at Netflix.
Even earlier than her official appointment, Holland was already shaping Paramount’s course. As well as consulting Skydance throughout its takeover, she had reportedly influenced renewal choices on reveals like Showtime’s Yellowjackets, per The Ankler. Her present mission is to steadiness confirmed hits with riskier originals, giving Paramount+ the inventive id it has lengthy lacked.
To vault Paramount+ into the highest tier of streamers, Holland must navigate lean budgets, battle rivals with deeper pockets, and win over an viewers far tougher to impress than in her early Netflix days. Attaining that might mark a shift within the platform’s ambitions, from enjoying it protected with acquainted franchises to swinging for the fences in quest of the subsequent cultural phenomenon, not simply the subsequent Yellowstone spinoff.
Paramount+ at a look
- Launched: March 4, 2021 (rebranded from CBS All Entry)
- Mum or dad firm: Paramount, now a Skydance Company
- Subscribers: round 78 million (as of mid-2025)
- Unique hits: 1923, Tulsa King, Halo, Particular Ops: Lioness
- Sister service: Pluto TV (free, ad-supported, 250+ stay channels)
