Amazon Studios Plans for First Pilot Season of 2015

LONDON: Amazon has unveiled the lineup for its first pilot season of 2015, with projects from acclaimed creators such as Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Ridley Scott (Blade Runner).

The pilots include Cocked, created by Sam Baum (Lie to Me) and Sam Shaw (Manhattan TV series). It stars Sam Trammell (True Blood) as Richard Paxson, a family man and corporate lap dog who is forced to return home to rural Virginia to help his family's gun business.

Down Dog follows laid-back yoga teacher Logan Wood (played by Josh Casaubon, I Just Want My Pants Back). His easy-going life becomes complicated when he breaks up with his attractive older girlfriend Amanda (played by Paget Brewster, Criminal Minds), who owns the yoga studio. The pilot is written by Robin Schiff (Are You There, Chelsea?), produced by Bob Cooper (RFK) and Michael Fuchs (Death in the Modern Age), and directed by Bradley Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events).  


Based on the hit U.K. series, Mad Dogs is a dark comedy created by Cris Cole (The Bill). The story follows a group of underachieving 40-something friends, who are all at various crossroads in their lives. The pilot stars Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club), Billy Zane (Twin Peaks), Romany Malco (Weeds), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) and Ben Chaplin (World without End).

Based on Philip K. Dick's Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternative history, The Man in the High Castle considers the question of what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. The pilot is directed by David Semel (Madam Secretary, Heroes) and written by Spotnitz, both serving as executive producers, along with, among others, Scott and David Zucker.

The New Yorker magazine is the basis for a half-hour docuseries pilot. The New Yorker Presents features Tony Award winner Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) and actor Brett Gelman (Go On) in a short film based on a story by Simon Rich (Saturday Night Live) and directed by Emmy Award-winning director Troy Miller (Arrested Development); a poem by Matthew Dickman; a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) about biologist Tyrone Hayes, based on a Rachel Aviv article; and an interview with famous performance artist, Marina Abramović, conducted by The New Yorker writer Ariel Levy.

In Point of Honor, a Virginia family, led by their West Point bred son, John Rhodes (played by Nathan Parsons, True Blood), makes the controversial decision to defend the South while freeing all of their slaves. The pilot is directed by Randall Wallace (Braveheart), written by Cuse and Wallace, and executive produced by Cuse, Wallace and Barry Jossen (Sex and the City).

Salem Rogers is a half-hour comedy in which Leslie Bibb (About a Boy) plays Salem Rogers, an overly confident, outrageously blunt, and hard-partying former supermodel who is forced to face her past and re-enter the real world after ten years in a posh rehab center. The pilot was submitted as part of the studio’s online screenplay submission process.

“Our first pilot season of 2015 brings some of the greatest storytellers in the business to Amazon customers with works of novelty and passion. We’re very excited by these shows and look forward to getting customers’ reactions next year,” said Roy Price, VP of Amazon Studios.