Perhaps the biggest challenge Lisa Nishimura-Seese has faced, since relocating from New York to Los Angeles last October on joining Netflix, is that there are not enough hours in the day.

In her newly created role of vice-president of independent content acquisition in a new department, she is charged with acquiring domestic video rights to independent and small studio films for Netflix, the world's largest online DVD rental service.

Since she started, Nishimura-Seese has been talking to any independent studios with films available. "I've been meeting all the studio heads, finding out how to collaborate and partner with them," she says.

She says her strategy when looking to acquire individual films fits with Netflix's aim to offer everything available - from foreign-language classics to the latest documentaries - to its subscriber base of, according to the company, more than seven million video viewers.

Recent acquisitions include the Red Envelope Entertainment/Magnolia Pictures documentaries No End In Sight, about the occupation of Iraq, and Maxed Out, about the US debt crisis, as well as the features The World's Fastest Indian (Magnolia Pictures) and The Wind That Shakes The Barley (IFC Films/IFC).

Netflix's goal is to go for "completeness", says Nishimura-Seese. The company already carries 90,000 titles.

Netflix's decision to create a new independent content-acquisition department, she says, proves the company recognises "the uniqueness of indie studios".

"There's a very collaborative energy from Netflix towards the studios, which have different needs, and releases. This means we can work with them to support their titles and create unique demand through the website. And we work with the studios to provide day-and-date electronic and DVD releasing, and make the titles available in as many ways as possible," she says.

Before joining Netflix, Nishimura-Seese was general manager of New York-based Palm Pictures, and before that she was with San Francisco-based Six Degrees Records.

"My background has always been on the creative side, so deciding to join Netflix was a big decision," she admits. "I wouldn't have done it for any other retailer."

She believes Netflix deals with brand content in a different way to other retailers. And she calls the company's recommendations system, which helps find the right audiences for niche films by matching a subscriber's likes and dislikes, "the best in the business".

"It's changed the way of connecting people to the films they like. And it allows films to be discovered nationwide, regardless of their size and scope."