‘Queen of the South’ producer David Friendly ponders his place in a changing industry

Veteran producer David Friendly’s many film credits include “My Girl” and three “Big Momma’s House” movies. But as Hollywood became less friendly towards his type of mid-budget pictures, he pivoted to television. Now with his USA TV series “Queen of the South” wrapping up after five seasons, he is finding that adapting yet again in an industry obsessed with streaming is hard, even after years of success.

Friendly says he used to know every buyer at every studio, and who to take comedy to and who to take drama to. But now, he says, “Good luck at Netflix. You’re talking about hundreds of different people on different teams. That makes it quite a bit more difficult.”

Friendly joins KCRW for a frank discussion about another moment of transition in his career.