David Farnor | On 03, Oct 2018

Amazon Studios is stepping up its investment in European content, as the online giant looks to expand its reach.

Amazon hosted its first Prime Video Presents showcase in London yesterday at the Curzon Mayfair. Creators and stars from a host of projects were in attendance, as Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke unveiled a series of new commissions and previews of shows, all of them designed to reinforce Amazon’s commitment to talent on the continent.

Homecoming, Carnival Row and Marvelous Mrs Maisel were all part of the line-up, alongside Matthew Weiner’s The Romanoffs, which premiered its opening, Paris-set episode, and British fantasy Good Omens, plus French comedy Deutsch-Les-Landes. German series BEAT was also featured, alongside Deutschland ’86, a sequel to Deutschland ’83, with Deutschland ’89 announced as in development.

Salke noted that Amazon are looking for series with “great original voices and high execution level” from around the globe, making her third trip to London since she started in the role six months ago – a trip she plans to make every 6 to 8 weeks, as she coordinated with Georgia Brown, Vice President of Prime Video Europe.

Brown revealed that Amazon is now developing projects in Spain with producers such as Boomerang, Atres Studios and the Academy award winning Tornasol. Development of TV projects in Italy are also underway with writers such as Gomorrah’s Leonardo and Maddalena Fassoli, and producers such as Lux Vide and the “very talented” Wildside. TV projects in development in France include producers such as Gaumont, Kwai, producer/writers Carma Picutres & Elza Marpeu. Projects with JD productions and Jean DuJardin are also on the way.

“We want to establish Amazon Studios as the best home for talent, as a place that isn’t solely focused on the quantity of what we do, but the quality. We’re building a curated home for talent at the studio,” said Salke.

“It’s so important to us and we’ve said this from out the gate that we create a global home for talent. It’s not just abotuw hat’s in our front yard or our back yard, but it’s about the world, really starting with the European territories.”

Amazon also announced Eco-Challenge 2019, a series based on The Wheel of Time novels and an overall deal with British author Neil Gaiman, who will work with Amazon Studios to create new TV shows for Prime Video.

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