How Richie Mehta Gets Emmy-Winning Shows Made

Writer-director Richie Mehta doesn't quite follow the rules. The way Richie operates and creates stand-out streaming shows is far from conventional. Rather than pitching to a streamer and having a series commissioned, he finds independent producers to fund the entire series and only Then finds a home for it. That's how the clutter-breaking benchmark-setting Emmy-winning first season of Delhi Crime ended up on Netflix, and it's the same story with Richie's new series Poacher which is releasing on Amazon Prime Video. Poacher is also the first series produced by Hollywood-based production company QC Entertainment, which is behind films like Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.” At the recent press junket of Poacher, Richie spoke to me about his unconventional way of getting shows made, why he prefers to engage with platforms only when the shows are shot and ready, the bleak state of the streaming ecosystem at present, and his thoughts on Delhi Crime being turned into a franchise when it was only ever meant to be a one-season story.