Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, spoke about how she is doing her job Tuesday, October 23 at Fast Company Innovation Festival panel in New York. She is doing things differently than other streaming services by choosing to focus on creative work rather than the profit that work will make.
With her new-found freedom, which doesn’t rely on ratings like her position at NBC Universal, she says that Amazon is “more interested in curating and building a home for talent. We’re helping them build their businesses and we are creative partners as well as strategic partners.”
So far her time at Amazon, has been busy as she has signed deals with Jordan Peele (Get Out), Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies), David Fincher (Mindhunter), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead), Lena Waithe (The Chi) and so many more exciting creatives.
“I don’t want to speak about other places, but we’re creating something that stands apart. We offer this human experience to talent where we can roll up our sleeves and amplify something we all love and believe in,” Salke said.
Since she is not motivated by money when signing these deals, she can focus on privileging art over profit. Jason Blum, head of Blumhouse Production, also attended this panel agreed, “We’re in this business not just to tell the stories, but have the stories be seen and talked about. Some of them are bad and some of them are good. But you want them all to have a chance.”
Her belief and effort that she is putting into the stories that Amazon Studios will make offers more than just a chance for those who are creating content for this streaming service, but it will also open up the possibilities for viewers. With shows like the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Amazon has proven that dedication to stories can be successful among viewers and critics alike.