Roy Price - H 2014
Jose MandojanaAmazon is reorganizing its video arm, moving the licensing and acquisitions team under the purview of Amazon Studios, sources close to the matter tell The Hollywood Reporter.
The changes, announced on Tuesday in a memo to staff, give Amazon Studios chief Roy Price oversight of the licensing team. The two licensing leads remain Brad Beale, who will go from overseeing domestic SVOD and TVOD content acquisition to running all TV licensing, and Jason Ropell, who will shift from overseeing European content licensing to become head of global movies.
As part of the reorg, the original movies team, led by Ted Hope, will now report through Ropell. It’s a move that a source describes as allowing for better coordination of the company’s film licensing, acquisition and development efforts. The original TV team — led by head of comedy Joe Lewis, head of drama Morgan Wandell and head of kids Tara Sorensen — will continue to report directly to Price.
Amazon launched the Santa Monica-based Amazon Studios in 2009 but ramped up its original programming efforts in 2013 with the release of its first pilot slate for public viewing and rating. Jill Soloway’s dramedy Transparent emerged from the pilot process in 2014 and has become a breakout hit for the streamer with two Golden Globe wins and two Emmy trophies. Season two is set to premiere on Dec. 11.
All videos created through Amazon Studios stream on Prime Instant Video, an SVOD platform that offers original and licensed content to members of Amazon’s $99-a-year Prime subscription.
