Jennifer Salke out as head of Amazon MGM Studios

by Thinus Ferreira

Jennifer Salke is out as head of Amazon MGM Studios 7 years after she joined, with Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon MGM Studios announcing that Jen Salke is being given a so-called "first-look" TV and film production deal with Amazon.

Amazon MGM Studios notoriously jettisoned all African and South African production, as well as development deals, at the beginning of last year, leaving South African and Nigerian producers aghast.

Talk is however swirling within the South Africa industry that Amazon MGM Studios is working on "re-entering" the South African space, where Amazon Prime Videe remains available as a streamer alongside MultiChoice's Showmax, Netflix, Apple TV+, Disney+, VIU and some others.

Amazon MGM Studios apparently wanted back by April 2025 but this has been pushed later, according to industry insiders.

In a memo, Mike Hopkins writes that Jen Salke's position is being eliminated and won't be filled, with Courtenay Valenti as head of film and Vernon Sanders as head of TV who will now report directly to Mike Hopkins, with Sue Kroll who will continue with her position of global marketing across film and TV. 

"We've decided to flatten our leadership structure a bit and not fill the head of studios role. In line with Amazon's recent work to streamline reporting lines and accelerate decision making, we felt this was the best direction for our studio, which will now operate as distinct film and television studios."

More Amazon MGM Studios reorganisation is coming.

"We will be taking a couple of weeks to have thoughtful conversations with Jen's directs and others to finalise the ideal long-term structure for the Amazon MGM Studios organisation as a whole, and we'll have more to share on that work soon," Mike Hopkins wrote.

He noted that "Jen will step down from her role as head of Amazon MGM Studios in order to start a new production entity, and we’re so pleased that she'll continue to make her home right here on our lot via an overall first-look deal across both film and TV".

In a prepared statement, Jen Salke says "As I've been considering my next chapter, I've always been searching for that moment where I was positive that our work had set up Amazon MGM Studios for even more success in the long term."

"When I look at the teams we've put in place, our amazing leaders, and the incredible slate of films and shows we've got in the pipeline, I realised now is that moment.  I'm looking forward to continuing doing what I love, cultivating talent, supporting their vision, and bringing compelling stories to audiences around the world."

Amazon Prime Video's The Rings of Power renewed for season 3 with big time jump planned to midst of the War of the Elves

by Thinus Ferreira

Amazon MGM Studios has officially renewed The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for a third season with a major time jump that will occur placing the story at the height of the War of the Elves.

Filming of the third season of the Tolkien show will start in a few months at Shepperton Studios in the United Kingdom.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to captivate audiences worldwide, and we're thrilled that a third season is underway," says Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon MGM Studios.

"The creative team has an extraordinary vision of what's to come with stories that have left us enchanted and enthralled. We look forward to continuing this epic journey, for our global customers, delving even deeper into the legendary tales that shaped Middle-earth."

"Jumping forward several years from the events of season 2, season 3 takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war and conquer all Middle-earth at last," Amazon MGM Studios says.

The third season is currently in pre-production.

In the sprawling The Lord of the Rings saga, the War of the Elves took place during J.R.R. Tolkien's Second Age which marked the first big battle against Sauron.

In its press release, Amazon Prime Video says the third season will have three directors, two returning and one new: Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Stefan Schwartz.

Charlotte Brändström, who served as co-executive producer and directed multiple episodes in the first two seasons returns as executive producer and director for the third season.

She is joined by returning director Sanaa Hamri, who helmed several episodes in season two, and veteran director Stefan Schwartz, marking his first involvement with the series. Each director will oversee multiple episodes in the upcoming season.

According to Amazon Prime Video the first season remains the biggest TV premiere in the history of Amazon Prime Video with the second season the most-watched returning season by hours watched.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is produced by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. 

They are joined by executive producers Lindsey Weber, Justin Doble, Kate Hazell, and executive producer-director Charlotte Brändström. 

Matthew Penry-Davey is producer and Ally O'Leary, Tim Keene, and Andrew Lee are co-producers.

The Expanse creators developing The Captive's War sci-fi series for Amazon Prime Video under their new Expanding Universe content banner

by Thinus Ferreira

The team behind The Expanse science fiction series on Amazon Prime Video is developing a new science fiction series with Amazon MGM Studios based on The Captive's War book trilogy in which prisoners in a galaxy of civilisations destroy the totalitarian society from within.

The new multiplatform content company, Expanding Universe, has a development deal in place at Amazon MGM Studios and is developing The Captive's War into a TV series.

The first book in The Captive's War trilogy, The Mercy of the Gods, was launched in August.

Expanding Universe is led by showrunner Naren Shankar, director Breck Eisner and novelists and screenwriters Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck who publish under the pen name James S.A. Corey.

The Captive’s War is set in a distant future of galactic empires and alien civilisations. 

It is inspired by the Bible book of Daniel and follows a group of prisoners "who rise from the ashes of catastrophe to destroy their conqueror's society from within. It is an epic tale about the transformative power of individuality in a totalitarian world". 

The Captive’s War is executive produced by Naren Shankar, who also serves as writer and showrunner; Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who will also write; as well as Breck Eisner, who will also direct. 

The series is produced by Amazon MGM Studios. 

"Expanding Universe is focused on developing sci-fi narratives with sweeping world-building and elevated storylines, geared toward multi-platform expressions in filmed entertainment, gaming, and publishing. The Captive’s War is a perfect launchpad for our model," says Breck Eisner.

Naren Shankar says "On The Expanse we built a deep, immersive universe filled with great characters and intense, emotional stories - on a budget that wasn't insane. And now we're bringing that expertise to new storytelling universes and platforms".

Ty Franck says "The Expanse was originally created to be a video game, then it became an RPG, then a novel, then a show and then a couple of video games. In a way, it was a roadmap for how Expanding Universe is developing projects now."

Daniel Abraham says "Our track record has already attracted some exciting material: original features, adaptations by other novelists' work, and even legacy IPs, which would be a blast to reimagine in a modern context. In success, we have the opportunity to bring a new generation of science fiction to the screen."

Former M-Net and Amazon Studios exec Kaye Ann Williams jumps to Primedia Studios as content boss, rejoins Jan du Plessis to oversee SA coprods and series.

by Thinus Ferreira

The former M-Net content executive Kaye Ann Williams - who jumped to Amazon MGM Studios and was part of Amazon's brutal wholesale layoff of its entire South African and African development team - has reunited with her former M-Net boss Jan du Plessis at Primedia Studios.

Kaye Ann Williams has been appointed as vice president for content at Primedia Studios. 

At Primedia Studios the talented and respected Kaye Ann Williams will now develop and oversee its growing slate of South Africa co-productions and format series.

Primedia Studios has a burgeoning slate of co-productions and reality competition format shows like Deal or No Deal SA, Wheel of Fortune SA, MasterChef SA, The Masked Singer SA, SA's Got Talent, Raid the Cage SA and Ready, Steady, Cook SA it is currently producing for the South African public broadcaster's SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 TV channels, with more in the pipeline.

Kaye Ann Williams was the head of M-Net's local productions and independent films and was at M-Net in Randburg for seven years before she joined Amazon MGM Studios in October 2022 when Amazon went on a head-hunting and hiring spree to bulk up its local content development teams in South Africa and Nigeria.

The South African and Africa content team expansion formed part of Amazon's big aspirations and promises to ramp up its own local African Originals slate.

It's a plan that came crashing down after just two years when Amazon Studios in America decided to drastically cut spending which meant the downsizing and evisceration of its entire Africa content rollout and expansion plan and that saw dozens of people who were appointed for the task lose their jobs and producers with existing development contracts getting cancelled.

Now the highly experienced Kaye Ann Williams has reunited with her former M-Net boss Jan du Plessis at Primedia Studios.

With Primedia Studios already described as "the new M-Net", Jan du Plessis and Kaye Ann Williams - who have years of shorthand rapport between them, together with an extensive diary of contacts and deeply forged industry relationships - are setting about building out its slate of shows with both new and well-proven South African production companies and producers.

ALSO READ: Former M-Net exec Kaye Ann Williams now heading up Amazon Prime Video South Africa's scripted series and movies division.

ALSO READ: Amazon slashing content funding for Prime Video Africa, retrenching staff including Prime Video Africa director Gideon Khobane with no new South African series or films to be commissioned.

BBC Studios shutters its BritBox video streamer in South Africa after 3 years.

by Thinus Ferreira

The BritBox video streaming service is shutting down in South Africa and exiting in August just three years after it launched in South Africa and forms part of the ongoing trend of global streamer operators closing the taps on their money-guzzling video-on-demand plans for the African continent.

BritBox SA, run by BritBox International as a joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV, launched in South Africa in August 2021 as the fifth territory and only African region it expanded to. 

Earlier this year BBC Studios bought out ITV's share and took over full ownership of BritBox, also shutting down BritBox as a standalone service in the United Kingdom. 

BBC Studios runs the existing portfolio of BBC branded linear TV channels like BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Earth and CBeebies on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service.

In a statement, BritBox SA says "Sadly BritBox will be closing. Subscribers can watch all their favourite shows until August". BritBox joins the list of failed streamer attempts in South Africa like Altech Node, PCCW's OnTAPTV, Cell C's Black, Telkom ONE and Vodacom's Video Play. 

BritBox SA's PR company in South Africa in response to a media query says "BritBox is refocusing on its more established markets and the areas of the business that will have the highest opportunities for growth".

"A large proportion of the content on BritBox has been exclusive to the service in South Africa; however, we expect some of this great British programming will find a new home on other platforms and channels in the territory in the future. There is also a suite of BBC Branded channels on DStv - BBC Earth, BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC UKTV, CBeebies and BBC World News".

It's unclear with how many subscribers BritBox exits South Africa and why BBC Studios felt that continuing with the investment into BritBox for the territory wouldn't bear fruit.

A year after BritBox launched in South Africa, Reemah Sakaan, BritBox International CEO, noted that the company was pleased with the performance of BritBox SA, that it had "a really fantastic start" in the country and had "thousands and thousands" of users. 

The shuttering of BritBox SA comes after the abrupt exit of AMC Networks' Acorn TV, another British streaming service, from South Africa in November 2022 after four years.

The shuttering of BritBox SA is part of a larger trend of the ongoing funnel of investment into streaming services in South Africa and across the African continent being markedly decreased.

It follows after a reset and decrease in budgets for content spending for streamers in the United States and with these decisions rippling outwards globally.  

Earlier this year Amazon MGM Studios shocked producers in South Africa and elsewhere on the African continent when all further projects and all TV and film projects already under development for its Amazon Prime Video service were abruptly cancelled. Amazon also retrenched its South African and Nigerian content commissioning teams.

Last year Netflix also said that it's decreasing its investment on content spending for African Originals, while Disney+ - which is only operational in South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa - also saw the culling of already-commissioned and filmed projects for the EMEA region.

MultiChoice's relaunched Showmax streamer as a joint venture with Comcast's NBCUniversal and Sky is the one African streaming service that has upped its capital expenditure and content investment over the past year to try and radically increase subscriber acquisition on the continent.

Paramount Global, which is struggling and under immense financial pressure in the United States, took too long to launch in South Africa and shelved plans to launch Paramount+ as a standalone service in the country. 

Instead, it recently opted to partner with MultiChoice and become just a branded studio tile destination within the relaunched Showmax service. Warner Bros. Discovery is yet to indicate when or whether it still plans to launch its streaming service Max in South Africa.

Showmax, Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+ are the main video streaming services aggressively trying to scoop up subscribers in South Africa. While battling each other, they also contend with smaller services like SABC+, eMedia's eVOD, PCCW Media's VIU, Marquee TV, PrideTV and CineMagic all trying to make inroads into the space.

EbonyLife's Mo Abudu slams Amazon for axing African originals: 'shows a lack of respect for our continent'.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Nigerian producer and CEO of EbonyLife Group, Mo Abudu, is slamming Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios saying it shows "a lack of respect for our continent" after Amazon's shock decision to cull its Nigerian and South African content teams  and to abruptly cancel further African original content creation.

Amazon Prime Video has retrenched multiple content executives and staff it lured to join its video streaming service in Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa as for Nigeria, based in London, after it rapidly ramped up plans over the past two years to create, produce and roll-out localised African Prime Video Originals.

Gone is Gideon Khobane who officially joined Amazon Prime Video Africa 7 months ago in July 2023 as director of Prime Video Africa. The fate of other executives who all jumped from MultiChoice to join Amazon Prime Video in Africa is still unclear.

Amazon is not willing to confirm whether Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu (head of Nigerian originals), Kaye Ann Williams (head of scripted series and movies for South African originals), and Candice Fangueiro (head of planning and programming for Africa) have also been let go, although insiders said that is the case.

Stephen Barber, head of PR for Amazon in the UK, in response to a media query, said Amazon can't provide "names of team members who have left the company".

Meanwhile shocked and angry producers in Nigeria and South Africa who have been developing and producing content are furious with Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, saying "promises were made and not kept".

A longtime South African producer said Amazon "damaged producers' trust and trust in the streamer".

"Nobody will trust them when they come and present plans again in future about wanting local content. People sat through presentations in South Africa and Nigeria where Amazon laid out their plans and promised to be different; to do things better and differently. Turns out – not."  

While Amazon Prime Video is drastically reigning in content spend in Africa and on African original content, insiders said that Netflix as part of a global realignment has also quietly started to reign in its content budget for Africa. In contrast, MultiChoice has however massively ramped up content spending for its new Showmax done in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal's Peacock, which is rolling out from today in app stores as a new video streaming service.

For the relaunch of the new Showmax, MultiChoice has 21 Showmax Originals that will debut over the course of February to lure potential subscribers to the revamped streamer.

Meanwhile, Mo Abudu who has produced African content for Sony and Netflix over the past few years is slamming Amazon Prime Video for deserting Africa and reneging on promises to ramp up spending on African originals.

"In recent times, we have witnessed the unfortunate departure of several international organisations from Nigeria and Africa, some marked by press statements that have, regrettably, shown a lack of respect for our continent," Mo Abudu says.

"In the face of these challenges, it is imperative that we, as Nigerians and Africans, rise above and build our own infrastructure, creating and serving our markets with pride and resilience. I firmly believe in the potential within us, and in the face of challenges, see opportunities for growth and self-reliance."

She's also praising video streamers and global players who have decided to stay in Africa and continue to invest in Africa's film and TV industry.

"To the international organisations that recognise our worth, we extend our heartfelt appreciation. Your decision to stay, partner, and collaborate with us is a testament to the shared commitment to not only growing the continent today but also for the generations that will follow."

"Let us embrace the challenges, celebrate the opportunities, and collectively contribute to the thriving and resilient future of our beloved continent. With hope and determination, we move!"

ALSO READ: Amazon slashing content funding for Prime Video Africa, retrenching staff including Prime Video Africa director Gideon Khobane with no new South African series or films to be commissioned.

ALSO READ: 'Promises were made and not kept' and 'a very sad day for the industry': South African producers devastated and dismayed in Amazon Prime Video Africa over canning original content creation.

ALSO READ: Amazon cutting hundreds of staff at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.

Amazon cutting hundreds of staff at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.

by Thinus Ferreira

Amazon is cutting hundreds of staffers worldwide, starting in North America, at its Amazon Prime Video streaming service as well as its Amazon MGM Studios American trade publications and Reuters report.

In 2023 Amazon got rid of over 27 000 workers and confirmed it will let several hundred more go.

"We've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact," Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, emailed staffers on Wednesday.

Jennifer Salke, Amazon MGM Studios head, in an email told staffers that "like any organization, we continue to look deeply at our business, self-reflect on our strategies, and be insightful about our investments across Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video and Freevee".

"While we will continue to make significant content investments and deliver a robust slate, it’s also important that we continue to focus on becoming more operationally efficient and coordinated in driving success across our business. As Mike shared this morning, we have made difficult decisions to eliminate some roles across Amazon MGM Studios."

She added "we have taken a deep look at our Local Originals business and are focusing our resources in the places where we believe they can have the largest impact for customers".

"All impacted employees in the Americas have been notified this morning (PST), and most other regions will be notified on these headcount reductions and changes in strategy by the end of the week."

"We are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies, possibly resulting in longer timelines to communicate in some countries. I know this news is difficult and impacts you all in different ways."

"Change is always hard and decisions to lose valued employees are not ones we take lightly," Jennifer Salke wrote.

"As shared this morning, we remain very optimistic about the long-term future of Amazon MGM Studios and continue to make significant investments towards making Prime the most loved entertainment hub for customers globally."

"For those teams who have been impacted by these strategic changes and headcount reductions, I want to thank you all for the hard work and results you have driven for our business."

It's not yet clear how Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Prime Video staffers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa might be affected.

Amazon Prime Video plans to introduce and roll out its ad tier on 29 January to all Amazon Prime Video subscribers with advertisements which will appear in scripted programming for the first time. Subscribers who don't want to see ads will have to pay more for a higher subscription tier.