Exclusive Interview: Amazon Studios’ Roy Price

PREMIUM: Roy Price, the director of Amazon Studios, talks to World Screen about the unique pilot system used for greenlighting original series.

WS: What have you learned from submitting pilots to subscribers?
PRICE: We’ve learned that customers around the world are very eager to try out new shows, certainly in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. They give us a lot of feedback. We get feedback in various ways and it’s been a very helpful process allowing us to try out different things.

WS: What considerations go into deciding whether or not to take a pilot to series and how are your considerations different from those of a linear network?
PRICE: A network has to take into account more contextual issues. They have a linear schedule so they have to look at their lineup or what’s happening Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., while we look at shows more in isolation. We do see them as part of a lineup but we don’t specifically have a limit on the number of one-hours or half-hours we can do, [and we’re not thinking] we need the next one to be a half-hour, or anything like that. We just want the greatest show we can get and there are no other considerations. Because we don’t have lead-ins and because it’s an on-demand environment, we really want to have a show that is going to stand out and be somebody’s favorite show. I think everyone wants their shows to be someone’s favorite but there is a slightly different problem you are trying to solve if you do have a lead-in and are looking for a Wednesday 9:30 p.m. show. It’s a slightly different analysis. If a network has a show that 80 percent of the people like, that might make sense because it can hold an audience. But we are focused more on having that show that, I don’t know if 80 percent of the people like it, but if 30 percent of the people love it and are fanatics about it [that’s good for the subscription model].

WS: Woody Allen will be making his first TV project for Amazon. How did Amazon and Allen come together?
PRICE: We are always looking for super talented people who are innovators, have a voice, create things that people care about and break new ground and Woody Allen has always been the archetype of one of America’s greatest filmmakers. So we reached out to his representation and wound up having a couple of meetings in New York with Woody over the course of a year or so. We talked about what we were trying to do and it all came together that way. We are delighted and looking forward to the show.

WS: Does the momentum the studio has gathered, the critical acclaim and Golden Globes, all play a role in being able to attract A-list talent?
PRICE: Yes, it feeds on itself. We are trying to give each creator the opportunity to make a statement. We are not trying to get people to make a certain show that we have a model for. We want them to make their show with their voice—do that show they’ve always wanted to do and we really support that. We want every show to be unique and different and memorable and pushing television ahead to a new place. That is where we can add value in the television environment. There are a lot of shows already out there, so it doesn’t really help for us to make four or five or six more TV shows that are just fair. We’re looking for people to do something fresh, and we try to give people all the resources they need to do that.

WS: You’ve announced that the studio will be producing and distributing feature films.
PRICE: We’re just getting started but the goal is to release six to 12 movies next year here in the U.S. We are probably just going to take the U.S. rights on these movies. Some we are going to acquire, some will be fully funded and produced by us. We want the best movies that we can get for Amazon customers. In many ways we are following the same principles that we do on the TV side, which is we want every movie to be memorable, worth talking about, special and make a statement. We are looking to work with creative visionary filmmakers, because, again, the problem isn’t that there aren’t movies, there are, there are lots of movies. We can do something worth doing if we really support innovative filmmakers who are looking to do something important and that people will care about. That’s our priority. I’d rather have something try to be great and fail than to have something that is just [average] or low risk. We’re looking for films that are interesting and worth talking about by visionary filmmakers.

WS: And you will be releasing movies six to eight weeks after their theatrical release?
PRICE: Generally our movies will come to digital six to eight weeks after theatrical. We really want to support a robust theatrical run, as robust as each film can support. Today, the SVOD window is usually nine to 12 months after theatrical. Then there are some people who say movies should come out in digital first or come out in digital the same day as theatrical. We’re trying to find a happy medium where the theatrical experience leads off and people get the opportunity to see the movie in great movie theaters, and then it comes to us after that. We think there is a good opportunity to work with theaters and devise a release pattern that will work for everybody. If we bring the digital distribution up from where it typically is today, we can make the whole pie bigger, which will benefit filmmakers. It also benefits customers because if they see a trailer, or read a review, or hear about a movie and they want to see it, we’ll make it available while they still remember it. If it comes to digital a year after theatrical release, that’s way too late, they will have forgotten about it by then. We’re looking to strike a balance so that movies have a strong theatrical run but shortly thereafter consumers can see them in their homes.

WS: As viewers of all ages are increasingly watching content on demand, how do you see the future of linear channels?
PRICE: I don’t do a lot of speculating about that sort of thing, but however things evolve, a lot of the linear channels have very strong brands that people care about and will continue to care about even if things evolve considerably. I know the business will keep evolving but I’m sure a lot of these very successful content brands will adjust and evolve along with it and they will still be meaningful to customers because of what they stand for.

WS: What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for Amazon Studios in the next 12 to 18 months?
PRICE: The biggest challenge and opportunity is to separate the good from the great. The challenge is not separating the bad from the good, that’s the easy part. The challenge is separating the good from the really meaningful—shows that people will be talking about for a long time and that will really add value to the television environment. That is always the ongoing challenge. Something that is really new and different often can seem non-intuitive at first, so you have to stay open-minded. Throughout the history of television one can make the case that a lot of groundbreaking, interesting shows have come from new networks or networks that were trying to turn themselves around and were in a particularly open-minded place. But then when they become more successful, one could make the argument that sometimes they become more conservative and protective of what they have built, and somebody else gets the groundbreaking show. But the challenge once you’ve had a little bit of success is to retain the hungry, open-minded, creative and experimental attitude that you need to really bring to customers the shows and movies that people are really going to care about and are really interesting.

WS: Does the fact that it’s not only your team making decisions, you also get feedback from your customers, help you remain open-minded?
PRICE: I think that’s right. If you do it all in a bubble it’s inevitable that, for example, you would wind up betting on people’s past track records. Sometimes that will work, but it makes it a little more difficult. You have to really be bold to go against that and order the show that really doesn’t have the same auspices but is brilliant. But if you do have the opportunity to try things out and get feedback then I do think you can be more experimental.