Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke teases ‘The Idea of ​​You’ sequel

Last week, Amazon Prime Video hosted a number of events across Europe, including a Prime Video Presents Trailblazers event celebrating women on and off screen, featuring appearances from Octavia Spencer, Priyanka Chopra Jones, Amy Pascal and more. demonstrated international power. “Citadel” was also held next. :Diana” Italian premiere.

During a whirlwind European tour, two of Amazon’s most senior female executives, Amazon MGM studio head Jennifer Salke and Prime Video international vice president Kelly Day, sit down with Variety to talk about celebrating women and transforming the industry. talked about. The past five years, the future of international strategy, and what’s in store for some of the biggest franchises including The Lord of the Rings: Ring of Power and Tomb Raider.

We’re meeting at the end of a pretty spectacular Amazon’s Trailblazers event in London. What was your inspiration for the day?

Jennifer Salke: Our team (in the UK) was really focused on the work we’ve done on women’s programming over the last few years. This was a demonstration of who we are and what we are trying to achieve. He suggested it to us.

Kerry Day: We’ve been very intentional about really building this female-led framework. Like Priyanka in ‘Citadel’, we now have great characters with female protagonists doing big action sequences or leading big action series. I think it’s great to be able to celebrate because it feels exciting and it feels like we’re really breaking new ground.

JS: Big global genre pieces, big action pieces for men — we know those things work. There is a wealth of data to support those decisions. But I’m like, let’s go out and cultivate relationships with women and see what happens. And it’s happening. There’s an Anne Hathaway movie (The Idea of ​​You with Nicholas Galitzine) that had 50 million people in its release period alone. There should be more by now. I think that’s what it really meant. It’s not a wake-up call for us. Because we just keep building. But for everyone else, it was like, “Wait a minute!” We have something like a tiger’s tail.

Given that The Idea of ​​You, based on the novel by Robin Lee, did so well, could a sequel be in the cards?

(Salke and Day exchange meaningful glances)

JS: Maybe! It has been announced that a sequel to “Red, White and Royal Blue” (also starring Galitzine) is in the works. So when you have something like this that’s been a huge success, look for us to give you even more. But we’re definitely in business with (“The Idea of ​​You”) director Michael Showalter. Even though he’s not a woman, he certainly did a great job of highlighting a very feminine story. And we’ve seen him as a preferred partner in several movies and others in the romantic comedy space.

(Editor’s note: Director Lee has also hinted at the possibility of a sequel.)

At the Trail Blazers event, you revealed that Maria Sten’s Reacher character Frances Negley will be getting her own spinoff. How did that happen?

JS: I knew from the feedback on the show that people loved her. And her character is really, really interesting. She is very alert and very scary.

KD: There was a survey that said people wanted to know more about her.

JS: So when[Reacher creator]Nick Santora and Skydance came to us with the idea of ​​building something out of her, they wrote the material and we worked on it. I thought it was wonderful. It was especially exciting that the main character was a woman.

Since Amazon’s acquisition of MGM, some British drama producers have expressed confusion over which division of the company they should pitch to. Could you please clarify something about that?

JS: I think there was a bit of confusion here in the UK as to which entrance was the correct one to go through. I think over the next few years you’ll see a bigger investment in the footprint that we’re building here in terms of infrastructure and teams, and we’ll get clarity on that.

As part of that investment, Amazon-MGM Studios recently acquired Bray Studios, where “Rings of Power” is filmed. Could this be an indication that the show, which filmed its first season in New Zealand, will stay in the UK?

JS: I think you can. Why not? There are no plans to relocate. I’m very excited.

What’s your reaction to season 2?

JS: Obviously, the marketing level and everything else is very different[from Season 1]. But that being said, over 55 million people have joined as of now since the start of Season 2. And if you look at the long-term trajectory, how this company views such assets, this becomes a long-term investment in that franchise. (…) Well over 150 million viewers watch and engage with the show. So I feel really good. I think everyone does.

Will there be any changes to the promise of 50 episodes?

JS: I don’t think so. (That) commitment is in no way what drives our work. We’ll keep making the show as long as we see customers all over the world love it enough to watch it and call it business. Obviously, we need a lot of people to attend. And with so many spectators, there’s no debate as to whether the show will continue.

After a turbulent 18 months, Embracer now owns the majority of Tolkien’s intellectual property. Can you think of a situation where Amazon could acquire the company?

JS: We always talk about those opportunities, but we don’t have anything to share (as of now).

Embracer also owns Tomb Raider, which Amazon has revealed will be rebooted with Phoebe Waller-Bridge at the helm. What do you think?

JS: Tomb Raider is really exciting and Phoebe is really into it and working closely with (Tomb Raider general manager) Dallas Dickinson and the game producers, so it’s going to be very exciting. But there’s nothing (new updates).

We’ve also heard that Amazon, like other streamers, is moving away from a cost-plus model to a more traditional regional acquisition strategy. Is that accurate?

KD: It depends. In fact, we want to preserve our rights as much as possible around the world, but we are particularly flexible in Europe. We have a number of rights-sharing agreements with broadcasters. Recently in the US, some game shows with Fox have actually done that. Or, in some cases, we have a deal where we leave it up to the producers and only select some of them. The region can then be distributed to other locations around the world. So I think being flexible about these deal structures gave us a lot of great options and access that we were looking for.

The past few years have been a roller coaster for the industry, thanks to the streaming boom and subsequent so-called “Netflix fix.” How do you see the past five years and the current situation?

JS: I feel like we need to be more disciplined with our spending across the board right now, and that’s happening in every company. So I think it was helpful to make sure that you were working on your slate and shooting in economically friendly locations, and really having your creative partner talk to you up front about what the parameters were. There is a clear need to contain costs, and that is reflected in the overall deal. It’s not like someone can ask for a specific thing and go “walk down the street and get it.” That’s because all of these companies operate in much the same way. And that was a big change.

The boom was characterized by an overabundance of first-look and overall deals, especially with talent and creatives. Has that changed too?

JS: I think there was a real battle for the biggest rainmaker creators, but there was a limit to how much those people could be paid. We drove these deals very strategically. But overall, there is no doubt that a correction is occurring in the market across trades. And it’s another place where you can see the whole thing calming down.

One of the most talked about deals at the time was Amazon’s rumored $60 million partnership with Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

JS: Yeah, but given our long-term commitment to a creator like Phoebe, we’re very happy right now that we retained her. Because she’s obsessed with Lara Croft/Tomb Raider and grew up playing it. The fact that she’s the creator and bringing this character to life, we think it’s going to be a big series for us. She went out to shoot a movie. A lot of things happened. There’s probably still a lot of work to be done if you want to go and find out which trades people were able to get value from. But I think we’re looking at converting a lot of those deals into a very performance-based model based on their outcomes. It is very popular because it has to change with the times.

From the outside looking in, the streamer also appears to be leaning toward unscripted content. Is it true?

KD: We’re probably leaning a little more towards international originals and unscripted. Those kinds of stories and shows tend to resonate on a local level rather than a global level, but obviously a lot of the stuff we’re producing, like “Fallout,” is really meant to be from the beginning. . To appeal to a large audience around the world. (Original comedy format) “LOL” Germany, which is hugely popular in Mexico, probably won’t resonate there. So there is a real tendency to see unscriptedness as the basis of local strategy, which is complemented by global standards.

Amazon is also restructuring its operations in Europe, cutting funding in Africa and the Middle East earlier this year to focus on original European products. Can you give us an update on your strategy there?

KD: We operate in over 200 countries. Our teams are located in 20 countries. We’ve continued to focus our investments over the last few years based on where we think there are opportunities to serve these customers. There were a few areas where I jumped in a little earlier than I should have. We are in the process of rolling out Prime in some of these countries. I think it tends to work best when you have the benefits of both retail and delivery, plus video programs and all the other benefits. In many places around the world, Prime Video was the first service to arrive. Therefore, many places actually operate a service before launching a retail operation (e.g. Brazil). And it’s been incredibly effective for us and a great gateway to many countries. But in terms of the investment we made, there were some areas where we could have gotten a little bit more bang for our buck than the skis. We haven’t stopped operations in those countries or pulled out of those countries, but we’ve scaled back our investments a little bit and moved parts around.

JS: But that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy original and licensed film and television from around the world.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.