While at INTV to deliver a keynote, Georgia Brown, Amazon Studios’s head of European Prime Original Series, said Amazon is preparing to ramp up its slate of unscripted shows in France, Spain and Italy and will be announcing format adaptations in those markets in the next few months. During the session, Brown also said Amazon Studios will be making its first U.K unscripted original with “The Grand Tour” star James May.
Titled “Our Man In… Japan,” the show will be a six-part travelogue across Japan. The unscripted series, which has just started shooting, has been commissioned from Plum Pictures and will roll out on Amazon Prime Video globally. Amazon recently greenlit season four of “The Grand Tour.”
During the session, Brown said Amazon was currently staffing local teams in Europe, including Spain, France, Italy and Germany, and plans to have scripted and non-scripted commissioning executives in each market by April 1.
On the scripted side, Brown said Amazon was primarily interested in serialised content and locally-grounded shows. “We want to make local shows that can have a huge impact on those (local) markets, but also travel,” said Brown.
She said Amazon was looking to have a flexible model in terms of distribution and allow producers to work with other partners in foreign markets when it makes more sense. “We don’t have one size fits all” model, said Brown.
Brown cited “Power” has a series which will boast strong female characters and illustrates Amazon Studios’s ambition to “diversify but not only (in terms of) male and female but also with voices on screen.”
Most producers overseas are still trying to figure out what Amazon Studios is looking for to feed its originals pipeline, but Brown said the primary criteria was the story, not necessarily the IP or talent. “Of course, (the IP and talent) can elevate a show… but some of the worst book I ever read made a great show,” said Brown.
Brown is one of the top-level industry players attending the INTV conference in Jerusalem which takes place March 11-12.
More to come.
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