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Amazon MGM Studios

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Amazon Studios is Amazon.com's division that develops television shows, movies and comics from online submissions and crowd-sourced feedback.[1] It was started in late 2010.[1] Content is distributed through Amazon Video, Amazon’s digital video streaming service, and is a competitor to services like Netflix and Hulu.[2]

Film and television

Scripts for television and film are submitted through the web.[3] They are reviewed and rated by other readers in a crowd-source fashion, and/or by Amazon staff.[3] Scripts may be submitted with the option to allow other people to modify them.[4] In addition there is a separate submission method for professional writers (Writers Guild of America members) with separate rules.[4]

Amazon has 45 days to choose a submitted script. If a project is chosen for development, the writer receives $10,000.[3] If a developed script is selected for distribution as a full-budget movie, the creator gets $200,000; if it is selected for distribution as a full-budget series, the creator gets $55,000 as well as "up to 5 percent of Amazon’s net receipts from toy and t-shirt licensing, and other royalties and bonuses." [5]

In 2008, Amazon expanded into film production, producing the film The Stolen Child with 20th Century Fox.[6] In July 2015, Amazon announced it had acquired Spike Lee's new film, Chi-Raq, as its first Amazon Original Movie.[7]

Amazon Studios had received more than 10,000 feature screenplay submissions as of September 2012,[1] and 2,700 television pilots as of March 2013.[8] 23 films and 26 television series were in active development as of March 2013.[1][3]

Comics

Amazon Studio's first and only comic book series was Blackburn Burrow released in 2012 as a free download.[1] It contained a survey allowing Amazon to collect feedback to determine if it was worthwhile to make the comic into a film.[1] The survey was incentivized with an Amazon gift certificate.[1]

Television pilots

1st pilot season (April 19, 2013)

Greenlit

Not picked up

2nd pilot season (February 6, 2014)

Greenlit

Not picked up

3rd pilot season (August 28, 2014)

Greenlit

Not picked up

More scripts ordered

4th pilot season (January 15, 2015)

A pilot episode of a series based on the Philip K. Dick novel, The Man in the High Castle, was released by Amazon Studios on January 15, 2015,[10] and was the franchise's "most watched pilot ever" according to the studio's vice president, Roy Price.[11] Adi Robertson,[12] reporting on a press release from Amazon,[13] writes that the pilot had been greenlit by Amazon to run as a series, describing it as being "set in an America that's been colonized by Japan and Germany after Axis powers won World War II," and as a "deeply flawed, but… decent-looking and moderately faithful adaptation of… [the] 1962 novel."[12]

Greenlit

Not picked up

More scripts ordered

5th pilot season (June 26, 2015)

Greenlit

Not picked up

Pilot mini-season (August 7, 2015)

6th pilot season (November 5, 2015)

Greenlit

Not picked up

Filmography

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Ben Fritz (September 12, 2012). "Amazon Studios going into comics". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  2. ^ Sarah Perez (May 2, 2012). "Amazon Studios Now Funding Original Content Series For Amazon Video Service". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d Edward Moyer (June 23, 2012). "Amazon's 'Studios' effort picks first TV shows to develop". CNET. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Chip Street (June 1, 2012). "Amazon Studios New (Old) Deal for Screenplay Options". Chip Street. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
  5. ^ Kelly West (May 2, 2012). "Amazon Studios Invites TV Writers To Submit Comedy And Children's Series Ideas". Cinema Blend. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  6. ^ Marc Graser (February 21, 2008). "Amazon, Fox nursing 'Stolen Child'". Variety. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
  7. ^ The Associated Press (July 15, 2015). "Amazon Studios acquiring Spike Lee film as its 1st release". Associated Press. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  8. ^ Tom Vanderbilt (March 28, 2013). "The Nielsen Family Is Dead". Wired. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  9. ^ Cynthia Littleton (January 5, 2015). "Amazon Studios Scraps Series Order for Chris Carter's 'The After' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  10. ^ Amazon. "The Man in the High Castle: Season 1, Episode 1". Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  11. ^ Hilary Lewis, 2015, "Amazon Orders 5 New Series Including 'Man in the High Castle'," The Hollywood Reporter (online), February 18, 2015, see [1], accessed February 27, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Adi Robertson, 2015, "Amazon green-lights The Man in the High Castle TV series," The Verge (online), February 18, 2015, see [2], accessed February 27, 2015.
  13. ^ Amazon.com, 2015, "Amazon Greenlights Full Seasons of Mad Dogs, The Man in the High Castle, The New Yorker Presents, Children’s Shows, Just Add Magic, and The Stinky & Dirty Show," Seattle (Business Wire), February 18, 2015, see [3], accessed February 27, 2015.
  14. ^ Nancy Tartaglione (February 18, 2015). "Amazon Orders 5 Original Series Including 'Man In The High Castle,' 'Mad Dogs'". Deadline. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  15. ^ a b Nellie Andreeva (September 2, 2015). "'Sneaky Pete' Gets Amazon Series Order; More Scripts For 'Casanova'". Deadline. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  16. ^ a b c d e Elizabeth Wagmeister (December 18, 2015). "Amazon Picks Up Slew of Comedy, Drama, Kids Series". Variety. Retrieved January 24, 2016.