Speakers:
Roy Price, Director, Amazon Studios and Tara Sorensen, VP, Children's Series
Development, Amazon Studios. JJJohnson of Sinking Ship Entertainment moderated - v funny. (Also he won a
commission with Amazon with Tumbleleaf)
Amazon
going into its first pilot season.
Roy studiously avoided any comment
on how much money they have.
Tara
focusing on preschool, transitional preschool and 6-11. Looking at core curriculum outcomes in content and
mixing it up a little. Music and
maths, for example. Less educational material in older
demo. Sweet spot - 8-10s
Traditional
pilots 11 and 22 minutes. Tumbleleaf is one. Androids and Creative Galaxy are others. Also doing a series based on
Wizard of Oz. Henson doing Teeny,
Tiny Dogs for them.
What is
pitching process? Online and meetings.
$10k option payment. Looking for animatics to take to focus groups. Will look for global rights but this
might be on a case by case basis.
Distribution of finished product? Will go on amazon.com and be in Prime
Video service, through portable devices and set-top boxes. In UK will be part of Love Film
service.
Random
hilarity moment where delegate volunteered to Gangnam dance for a Kindle! Bit
of a break in the serious business discussion, there...
Tara and
Roy both totally blanked on 'What about the Online component?' question. Ironic
that a web company is now moving into TV content (and movies) but hasn't thought about the web
element!
Overall,
Amazon Studios seemed a little unfocused around their offering. Maybe a little early to put them in
front of a room-full of media executives who are hungry for info? It feels like they want to be
'disruptive' and challenge traditional
media. But they're not
quite there yet.
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