Netflix has spent upwards of $18 billion annually on content, and according to US-Canada scripted series head Jinny Howe, that’s not changing any time soon. Howe spoke to an industry crowd las wee as she held a keynote conversation at the Banff World Media Festival.

“Our volume is not slowing down,” she told the audience, without getting into specific numbers. “We are very fortunate to still be in this growth mindset. I think we’re so about satisfying our members, and we know that their appetites are robust and that there are many, many types of shows that they hope for and expect from us.”

Howe, who was named to her current post in August, has been busy reorganizing some of her team, getting to know some of the genres she was less familiar with (like comedy) and building a studio entity inside Netflix. “We evolved some of our structures, just to make sure that we’re being as aggressive in places that we want — the studio being an opportunity to help build up from the ground floor some of the things that we aren’t seeing coming from the marketplace and just have a little more hustle in that way,” she said.

Howe has also been busy looking to diversify Netflix’s slate. “Rather than being more reactive to projects that were coming and packaged from the marketplace, we were looking to think on how to get more competitive with key IP and also just with key talent that is emerging,” she said.

Young adult continues to be an important audience that Netflix and Howe are pursuing, with shows like “Ginny & Georgia,” “Forever,” “XO, Kitty” and “My Life With the Walter Boys.” Howe  took advantage of Banff to announce “Icebreaker,” which is based off of Hannah Grace’s bestselling hockey romance novel. “I know there’s a lot of hockey romance,” she said. “This is the book that was meant to really ignite and supercharge the genre, so we’re very excited about that. Stay tuned for more there.”

But Howe said she’s also looking at finding more projects geared toward the younger male audience as well.

On the IP front, coming up for Netflix are new takes on “Little House on the Prairie,” “A Different World” and “Scooby Doo” (“Scooby Doo: Origins.”) Howe said she’s very deliberate on determining with properties deserve to be a reboot/remake/revival.

“IP on its own is not enough to make the best version of a television adaptation,” she said. “It’s really writer and take dependent. What we are trying to be thoughtful about is maybe not just chasing the hottest IP in the marketplace, but really, in combination with somebody who feels inspired by the source coming in with a really original take, or just something that feels like it’s going to cut through… It doesn’t have to all be based on IP. Projects don’t all have to be heavily packaged for us. It’s we’re equally excited about something that feels wholly original.”

What’s the best way to pitch Netflix these days? Is it true that shows need to pitch out stories through Season 4? Does the opening episode need an inciting incident within the first few minutes to draw in audiences?

“No one knows what’s going to happen in Season 4,” she said. ”It’s looking to understand that you know what the show is, that you really are in this pitch conversation, presentation, getting us excited and giving us a glimpse of how the audience is meant to feel as they watch your show.

“Some audiences love slower,” she added. “They love that the episode takes a little longer to get into, like I would say with some of maybe like The Prestige audience is expecting to marinate a little bit in the world before the plot really takes off… I guess some big opening, some cold open teaser at the start will intrigue people, but there isn’t a formula in terms of how we grab audiences. It is so bespoke to who you’re speaking to. So that is not something that we’re asking for, by any means.”

Coincidentally, Howe’s Banff conversation came as the box office success of the films “Backrooms” and “Obsession” opened up a conversation about the new generation of young filmmakers targeting a Gen Z crowd.

“I find it really inspiring,” Howe said. “I think that in the history of art and the history of making any form of content, there’s always someone new that talent is emerging from. So this just feels like another new avenue and we are paying attention again because we’re really interested in what people culturally are interested in and what is resonating.”

What does she deem a hit for Netflix scripted series?  “I think like anyone, we are looking at viewing relative to cost,” she said. “But I do think that, depending on when they talk about audience and saying we want to have every audience member’s favorite show, obviously a ‘Stranger Things’ is a phenomenon on its own — so you can’t stack everything up against one type of show, one type of audience. So we are trying to be as thoughtful about making sure that the intended audience, whatever that size is relative to who they are, is being satisfied and served. And it’s not necessarily always going to be apples to apples in that way, but in general we say every show that we launch is an event for someone and it should feel special. It should feel original. It should feel like the best in class version of it, that you can only find it at Netflix.”

Meanwhile, with Howe in Canada, she had the opportunity to tout her Canadian team, which is busy commissioning and greenlighting projects like “North of North” and “Wayward.” (Next up, the team has the thriller “Below” with Josh Hartnett, Charlie Heaton and Mackenzie Davis.)

“Last year the Canadian team launched their first slate and it was really incredible,” she said. “13 Canadian Screen Awards recently flowed across their slate, which we’re tremendously proud of. This is a really thoughtful, passionate team of leaders that I think are being very, very focused on Canada first in terms of their programming.”

Howe, who joined Netflix in 2018, coined the now ubiquitous phrase “gourmet cheeseburgers” to describe Netflix’s programming strategy — wide appeal but premium production and quality.

“I’m tremendously proud that this term has actually pierced the culture in any sort of way,” she said. “It’s been really sort of bizarre but very cool and anyone who knows me well knows that I do tend to speak in food metaphors and analogies. I talk about cakes not rising. I talk about the temperature or the cake not being cooked all the way through. It’s just the way that I speak.”