Amazon’s Studio Head Firing and the Prime Video 7-Year Report Card.

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 847 Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matt is joined by The Entertainment Strategy Guy to look back on the Jen Salke era at Amazon MGM Studios and dissect their television and movie strategy, what performed, what didn’t, and what lessons should be taken as they usher in a new era at the company (02:54). Matt finishes the show with a prediction on who will replace Jen Salke as the head of Amazon MGM Studios (27:24). For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ click here. Email us your thoughts! [email protected] Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Entertainment Strategy Guy Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, it's Amy Polar, and I'm launching a new podcast called Good Hang.
0:05.0	In preparation for that, I asked some of my friends to send in some videos and give me some advice.
0:10.0	Just be yourself and the guests will come.
0:13.0	Don't be the celebrity that this is their like six things they're doing.
0:16.0	I love true crime and cooking podcasts. Is there any way you could combine the two?
0:21.4	Well, everyone has an opinion and a podcast.
0:24.4	So, join me for good hang.
0:26.5	It's rough out there.
0:27.7	We're just trying to lighten it up a little.
0:31.6	It is Friday, March 28th.
0:34.3	We had a studio head firing yesterday.
0:37.0	Jennifer Salkey, who's been the head of Amazon
0:39.0	Studios since 2018, now called Amazon MGM Studios. She stepped down yesterday, following a time-honored
0:45.7	tradition. She said in a prepared statement that she really wants to be an independent producer,
0:49.8	not leading a mammoth content operation that is expected to spend more than $9 billion on film and TV this year.
0:57.3	That budget had made Salkey one of the most powerful people in Hollywood for the past seven years,
1:01.6	but as I reported in my Puck newsletter, you can get the whole backstory there.
1:05.5	Her boss, Mike Hopkins, the head of all prime video, he'd become pretty frustrated with the programming out of the studio.
1:11.4	Lots of expensive, misfires and disappointments, wasted overall deals, changing strategies at the
1:16.7	movie studio, which Salkey also oversaw despite no previous experience in movies.
1:21.9	She alienated the James Bond producers, which ended with Amazon buying them out with a massive
1:27.0	check.
	...

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