Francis Mallmann lives off the grid. Way off the grid. To find him, you’d have to fly to Argentina, drive 100 miles down a dirt road, and enter the Lago La Plata. You'd cross your fingers, row across the lake, and hope to stumble onto his island. If you found him, he'd be drinking red wine, watching an open fire, and grilling the best lamb you've ever eaten.

"My big draw in life,” Mallmann might tell you, “since I was very young was freedom. The freedom of believing only in myself and not letting myself be led by anybody. I wanted to be my own. I wanted to do whatever I wanted.” He lives in Patagonia, cooks over an open flame in the snow, and encourages dinner guests to eat outside under a blanket. Mallmann is a badass—and he’s one of the most renowned chefs in the world.

He's also one of six incredible chefs featured in Netflix’s first original non-fiction series, Chef’s Table, that launched at the end of April. You might not be able to fly to Argentina, but you can certainly hear his story on the show. Each episode centers on one chef’s life, style, and artistic inspiration. There’s no host, very little shouting, and a lot of artful close-ups of exquisitely designed meals. It’s unlike any cooking or food show you’ve seen on network TV.

That’s because it comes from Netflix.

The company aspires to become a paradise for filmmakers by offering big budgets, artistic freedom, and access to a massive audience of subscribers.

As Netflix expands rapidly beyond the US and increasingly develops its own original films and shows, nonfiction is its newest ambition—and it wants to be different. Traditionally, documentaries have targeted niche audiences, defiantly unconcerned with commercial success. They don't attract nearly as many viewers on the big or small screen as their commercial-minded Hollywood counterparts.

Netflix thinks it can change that dynamic, drawing big audiences to nonfiction fare using the same algorithms and data it's relied on to engineer hits like House of Cards. In the process, the company aspires to become a paradise for filmmakers by offering big budgets, artistic freedom, and access to a massive audience of subscribers trained to watch what Netflix tells them they'll like.

Telling the Story

Documentaries always have been a part of Netflix’s offerings. The streaming giant has licensed hundreds of nonfiction features, some of which may not have been as widely watched or discussed had they not made their way onto the service. Seaworld takedown doc Blackfish made a big splash in headlines when it first aired on CNN in the fall of 2013, but it continued to dominate our conversations and collective conscience after it landed on Netflix later that year. "People who have never watched a documentary in their life are watching them on Netflix," chief content officer Ted Sarandos boasted at a recent conference.

Thanks to its unique ability to put new content in front of huge numbers of potential viewers, Netflix is betting it can get you to watch more documentary film and television—and it's using your streaming habits to help it choose what it offers you. In the past two years, the streaming service has gone beyond licensing nonfiction features to aggressively acquiring new originals to distribute. After releasing The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir Friday, it will add Hot Girls Wanted to its slate later this week. And now it's developing its own original documentaries from pitch to premiere, including Chef’s Table and the upcoming What Happened, Miss Simone?

Like Mallmann, legendary American singer and songwriter Nina Simone was a free spirit. What Happened, Miss Simone?, an original from Netflix launching on June 26, pieces together the artist’s rise to fame in the mid-20th century, her participation in the civil rights movement, her complicated family life, and her later self-imposed exile. Simone's story is told largely through archival footage of her concerts, TV interviews, letters, and diary entries, as well as more recent insights from friends and family. “There had been so much appropriation of Nina, and that was something she struggled with her whole life," director Liz Garbus says. “I wanted to go to her, listen to her, and find from her how to tell her story.”

World-renowned chef Francis Mallmann roasts chickens over a pit in the Patagonian countryside in Chef's Table. Netflix

When Garbus brought a pitch for Miss Simone to Netflix, she says, they aggressively pursued it and emphatically signed on to produce and distribute the feature before it had even been written. Garbus sees Netflix as an exciting new model for producing and distributing documentaries. “Studios are making very particular kinds of movies. There are a couple of genres that work for them, a couple of price points that work for them," she says. "But some of the best filmmakers in the world are working with these new kinds of distribution models. They’re filling a necessary hole.”

David Gelb, the creator of Chef’s Table, says Netflix provided him with more creative freedom than he had experienced before. On TV, shows are dependent on advertising and pressured to seek high ratings from the outset. Gelb says Netflix's business model allows greater flexibility under fewer pressures. “With Netflix, it’s all subscribers," he says. "It costs you nothing to click on a show and see if you like it. We’re able to settle in and find our audience without having to pander. Netflix is able to take a risk on something a little different."

Secret to Attention

But Netflix isn’t choosing what originals to produce based purely on the tastes of its own executives. The company sits on a vast amount of data that helps guide it in determining what to try—and what their subscribers might like. "It’s a cross-section of art and science," says Lisa Nishimura, vice president of original documentary and comedy programming at Netflix. "We’re going to be really smart about engaging what we know, utilizing it to help directionally guide us." Nishimura says Netflix has seen huge interest in its food shows and features, so it knew Chef's Table had strong potential to attract viewers. Data isn't everything—Gelb had directed Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which became hugely popular after it was licensed by Netflix, which meant Nishimura already admired Gelb's work and had a good sense of how viewers might respond to more of it.

Rare archival footage reveals the inner life of legendary artist and activist Nina Simone in Netflix's new original documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? Netflix

Netflix's algorithm also plays a distinct role in how Netflix users find what they will watch. “Our algorithm is really a beautiful part of our secret sauce," Nishimura says. "Our ability to recommend documentaries at the right time on the right device following the right preceding programs is very exciting." That sauce, whose exact recipe is highly protected by Netflix's team, determines what genres pop up in users' Netflix feed, what shows are recommended, and what pairings are made. “The hope is that the way the metrics work, if you’re interested in music, and watched, say, Walk the Line, maybe Miss Simone will come up. Or if you’re interested in a film about Nina then you might get drawn into a film about the civil rights movement," Garbus says. "It creates a really individualized interest-driven experience. I think it’s great that as a viewer you can come across things you never expected."

And you can end up places you might never expect. Mallmann is cooking at the tip of Argentina. Simone runs off to live in Liberia and France. Chef's Table also features chefs from the US, Japan, Italy, Australia, and Sweden. This cultural mix is not coincidental. Netflix has been clear that it has ambitions far beyond its American roots, already expanding its service to more than 50 countries and 20 million international subscribers.

What's more, Netflix often releases its new originals at the same time for everyone, everywhere, meaning Swedes and Chileans alike can follow Simone's story simultaneously. “It’s cool having them all come out at the same time," Gelb says. "If you do a search on Twitter, you see people are enjoying it in all different languages.” It's also more cost efficient for Netflix to fund a show or feature that viewers all over the world can enjoy. Everyone everywhere, at any time and any place on any device, can sail away with Mallmann and sing with Simone. And, if everything goes according to Netflix's plan, that's only the start of its journey into nonfiction—an excursion that only ends when its audience runs out of appetite.