David Farnor | On 26, Oct 2019

Amazon Studios has inked an overall deal with John Carney.

The writer and director broke out onto the global stage with bittersweet masterpiece Once, which announced him as a filmmaker with an eye for low-key, realistic romance and an ear for honest music. That has since been borne out by charming follow-ups Begin Again and Sing Street.

This year, though, Carney got his biggest screen project to date with the commission of a TV series based on the New York Times’ Modern Love column.

It was testament to the pull of his name that a host of impressive star names signed on for the half-hour anthology, including Anne Hathaway, Dev Patel, Sofia Boutella, Olivia Cooke, Tina Fey, John Slattery, Catherine Keener, Andy Garcia and Andrew Scott.

The series marked a notable push from Amazon chief Jennifer Salke to find a show that played wider than just male audiences. It was one of the first projects picked up to series under her time at the top of the table. Just a week after its debut, it has already been renewed for Season 2.

“Since its debut just last week, the reaction to Modern Love from viewers has been incredible. It’s a show with so much emotion and warmth – every episode touches the heart in a different way,” said Salke. “We’re so excited we’ll be able to bring our global Prime Video customers more of the beautiful stories of romance, friendship, and family from Modern Love.”

“Being given a green light to proceed with Modern Love is a great opportunity for us to continue to tell stories of love, while opening up the series into new cities and worlds. The possibilities are truly endless,” added Carney.

The other strategy at Amazon Studios has been the increasing move to keep talent on its books; like Netflix, it has signed a raft of deals directly with creators to make original, exclusive shows and films for Prime Video. Carney, who created, wrote, directed and exec produced Modern Love, is the latest to join that list to develop projects for Amazon. He joins a list that includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Patrick Moran, Blake Lively, Rachel Brosnahan, Robert Kirkman, John Krasinski and Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.

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