Georgia Brown, head of European originals at Amazon Studios in the U.K., has said that even while the cost of living crisis continues to bite, and other streamers, such as HBO Max, have halted their local originals, Amazon Prime Video has no intention of cutting back.
“We’ve always had a very different strategy,” Brown said during a panel at the Edinburgh TV Festival, before saying she abides by head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke’s mantra of offering a “really curated” slate.
Brown emphasized her commitment to local productions, saying: “It was really critical to us that we have these local productions on the ground. Our strategy has always been ‘local for local.’”
“And actually, what we saw when we can launch globally in 2016 was all of our audiences were crying out for the content.”
“Our strategy in that sense hasn’t shifted and won’t shift,” she added.
Brown wouldn’t comment on Amazon raising its subscription prices, which comes amid a cost of living crisis, saying she represents the studio rather than the platform. “What we’re tasked with is delivering maximum value to our customers through the content that we’re curating and producing,” she said of her team, but admitted that operating costs had increased.
On Amazon’s acquisition of MGM, Brown said she couldn’t comment because “I’m not across MGM” but said the addition is “hugely exciting.”
“People have grown up with some of their incredible movies, we’re all really excited about having them join the family and I’m really looking forward to what that means for us.”
Amazon have already begun integrating some of MGM’s IP with, for example, the commissioning of “007’s Road to a Million,” a game show based on the James Bond franchise. Unscripted development executive lead Fozia Khan, who was also on the panel, said the studio is “looking for more shows like that: bold, innovative and more reality shows for our younger customers.”
Khan and unscripted exec Harjeet Chhokar also announced two new Amazon Original docu-series: “The Greatest Show Never Made” and “Fake Sheikh.”
The former, from Factual Fiction, is about a strange con that took place in the early 2000s when thirty people were invited by a mysterious producer to come to London and take part in a reality TV show – which turned out not to exist. The contestants, some of whom had quit their jobs to take part, decided to film their antics anyway – and try and track down the man who had brought them together.
Meanwhile “Fake Sheikh,” from Voltage, is about the legendary tabloid reporter Mazher Mahmood who brought down royals, celebrities and athletes by posing as a sheikh and getting them to spill their secrtets.
Brown was also joined by the U.K.’s head of originals Dan Grabiner, scripted originals development exec Daisy Mount and scripted originals lead Johnny Lewsley, who previewed upcoming drama shows “Jungle” and “The Rig.”
