Amazon’s James Farrell

PREMIUM: James Farrell, the head of international expansion and content for the Asia Pacific at Amazon Studios and Prime Video, tells TV Asia about the developments so far and what’s still to come for the digital behemoth across AsiaPac.

TV ASIA: Tell us about the journey you’ve been on to find talent in Asia.
FARRELL: It’s been a busy few years! You can start with some broad research: these are the top ten production companies, these are the top 50 directors. There’s no shortcut, unfortunately—you’ve got to meet everybody and tell them what you’re interested in doing. We’re interested in making high-quality television. If you already have it, we’re interested in licensing it. And we’re interested in licensing movies. And then you see who’s receptive. Some people say, No thank you, we already have great partnerships with other people. And you say, OK, if you change your mind, here’s my card. So 100 people get whittled down to 50 who express some interest, and then to those 50, you say, I’ll come back in a couple of weeks, and we’ll chat again. And then you come back in a few weeks, and some of them are ready. They say, Since our last discussion, we thought about it and here’s a list of the shows we’ve been thinking about making and here’s the list of movies we’re interested in licensing to you. Some of those ideas are good; some are not. So that 50 becomes 20, and you say, OK, those 20 are really good, let’s get the partnership started. You put those shows into development, and you get those movies licensed and up on the service. When they turn out really well, like the ones with Excel Entertainment in India and Yoshimoto Kogyo in Japan, we very quickly go back and say, Let’s ramp up, let’s do more now that we know that you can deliver. You’re not going to bat 1,000. It takes a lot of time, but it’s always time well spent.

TV ASIA: The storytelling in most of the scripted shows on Indian television is quite slow, and there’s a lot of recapping in each episode, as these series have to get stripped throughout the week. Has there been a steep learning curve for the Indian producers you’ve been working with to deliver long-form storytelling with more limited episode counts?
FARRELL: [On television] they need to say things ten times to make sure you get it because you’re probably not paying attention. Whereas in this medium, people are pretty immersed. It’s a very personal viewing experience. So you don’t need to say something ten times. And if you did, people would tune out, they’d say, this is boring. You need to keep it moving; [the storytelling] needs to be faster, you need to take more care with the writing, you have to make sure you have the proper hooks in the season and at the ends of the episodes. It’s not easy. But for the most part, people are global customers of content now. It’s not like you’re telling them something they’re not aware of. The good partners are the ones who are patient and willing to learn. They know more than I will ever know about Indian consumers and what people want to see. But at the same time, when I say, I’m going to bring in a showrunner from the U.S. for a couple of weeks to work with you on the hooks at the ends of the episodes, the good partners say, That’s great! That’s been nice.

TV ASIA: You’re now making multiple series with Excel in India after Inside Edge. What did you learn from the first show that you could bring to subsequent series?
FARRELL: In hindsight we can say, I wish we had set this up better for season two. So now, as we’re starting new shows, we’re doing a much better job of saying, this is so good, we know it’s going to go many seasons, let’s drop a lot more hooks in season one for seasons two and three. With the first one it was, let’s be more linear about it, we don’t have to be so long-term in our thinking. Now that we all know it works, everybody is thinking much more long-term.

TV ASIA: So the focus has been on scripted in India and variety in Japan?
FARRELL: In Japan, there are so many great variety shows on television and not a lot of multiseason dramas. [We wondered if] people were going to like great variety on Amazon in Japan or if they were going to want us to provide the drama. It turns out they want more variety—crazier and better than what they’ve got on TV, like Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental. Whereas in India it started with scripted—people said, there’s nothing like this on TV. But we have moved ahead and announced the launch of Unscripted Originals, and over the past few months have launched shows like The Remix, Comicstaan and there are a few more in the pipeline that we’re set to launch this year.

TV ASIA: What’s the approach to acquisitions?
FARRELL: We’ve been very fortunate on the movie side in India. Our partners are incredible. Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Excel Entertainment, T-Series, they all have great slates for the next few years. We’ve signed multiyear deals with them. Customers are starting to get used to [watching Bollywood movies on Amazon]. The last time I was in India, I got into my car at the airport and I asked my driver, Who’s your favorite star? He says, Salman Khan. I ask, Have you seen Tiger Zinda Hai? He says, No, I missed it [when it was in its theatrical release]. I said, That’s too bad, how are you going to watch it? And he said, I’ll watch it on Amazon! This is not an insider; it’s not a guy at a conference, it’s my driver at the airport. Padmaavat did huge numbers for us. Now [viewers in India] know we’ve got these great original series coming. And we buy U.S. movies and TV shows. It’s starting to look like a pretty comprehensive offering. People come in and not too many leave anymore; they stick around once they see what we have.

TV ASIA: Are you securing global rights to these Indian features?
FARRELL: [We did on] Padmaavat, Tiger Zinda Hai, Lipstick Under My Burkha and a lot of other cinema—Newton did well globally. Of course, everything is not for everybody, but for the most part, those first-release Bollywood movies that we have licensed globally have done well.

TV ASIA: There’s always a lot of debate about appropriate price points in emerging markets. Amazon appears to be positioning itself as a mass-market play in India, rather than as a service that is only affordable to the top end of the market.
FARRELL: That story [about the driver] is true. That guy wouldn’t pay 500 rupees ($7) a month, it’s not going to happen, but he will pay 999 rupees ($15) a year. And he gets the shipping benefit and Prime Music. We want a lot of people all talking and watching and debating about what’s going to happen on Inside Edge next season, not a small subset.

TV ASIA: Do you have a target number of Asian originals you want to get to?
FARRELL: It’s very fluid. I mentioned that pie of 100 down to 50 down to 20. You put 20 into development; if all 20 came out amazing, we’d make all 20! If only five come out amazing, we’re only going to make five; we’re not going to make seven more just to say, hey, we have 12! And if we find people are loving [the originals] more than they’re loving the U.S. movies, then over time, we’ll do more of one over the other. You keep iterating based on what’s working. But so far, we haven’t hit anywhere near our ceiling. What’s amazing is how far you have to plan ahead. Our shows for 2019 [including The Forgotten Army directed by Kabir Khan and Made in Heaven produced by Zoya Akhtar], most of them have finished shooting already. There’s so much work that goes into editing them and getting them ready for these massive releases. The 2019 shows are ridiculously good. That’s super exciting. And the team is already in panic mode on what we’re doing for 2020!

TV ASIA: I started watching Breathe—just that opening minute was shocking; it grabs you immediately.
FARRELL: We did a screening two days before it launched, where we showed the first four episodes to the press and some members of the film community in Mumbai. By the fourth one, there was a gasp in the audience. You don’t know which way it’s going to go. Most of the time when you go to a Bollywood movie, you’re pretty sure how it’s going to end. But at the end of the fourth episode [of Breathe], you don’t know. You’re following two main characters. And [at first], you’re pretty sure what’s going to happen, but then you don’t know, and of course, you have to finish watching it.

TV ASIA: How are you working with Sharon Tal Yguado and Jennifer Salke and the rest of the team at Amazon Studios?
FARRELL: Both of those ladies are fantastic. I mentioned bringing in showrunners to help the India team. Their [connections] in the U.S. are much better than mine. So when we’re trying to find people to come in and collaborate here, they are the ones who help put that together.