Amazon Expands, Restructures TV Development Team

Jennifer Salke is expanding and restructuring her TV development team under co-heads of TV Vernon Sanders and Albert Cheng.

As the streamer continues its expansion, Salke is organizing her team into a threaded leadership built around development, series and IP/talent management. To that end, drama head Marc Reseghini has been promoted, effective immediately, to serve as U.S./global head of development. Amazon has also enlisted Alcon’s Laura Lancaster to serve as head of series.

In Resteghini’s new role, he will oversee the heads of the drama, genre, comedy, animation and unscripted departments. He will have oversight of originals from the concept stage through the end of their first seasons.

Related Stories

TV

'Citadel,' Amazon's Pricey and Troubled Drama, Renewed for Season 2 (Exclusive)

TV

Amazon's 'A League of Their Own' to End With Four-Episode Second Season (Exclusive)

Kara Smith has been tapped to take over for Resteghini and serve as head of drama development, while Ryan Andolina will expand his duties as head of comedy, with head of animation Melissa Wolfe reporting to him. Head of genre development Jon Wax and unscripted chief Chris Castallo will continue to oversee their teams and report to Resteghini.

For her part, Lancaster — who previously worked with Amazon on Syfy transplant The Expanse — will lead a team that guides returning series through their lifecycle, picking up the torch from Resteghini’s team after season one.

Wednesday’s moves are the first wave in a planned expansion at Amazon as it looks to bolster its U.S./Global IP & Talent Management team. A search is underway for a senior executive to work with current leadership to scale and deliver more projects for Amazon, subsidiary IMDb TV and other content divisions.

Resteghini, Lancaster and the IP and talent management exec will report to Amazon co-heads of television Cheng and  Sanders.

The changes have been in the works for weeks and have nothing to do with Amazon’s CEO changeover. The restructuring and expansion arrives as Amazon has maintained an annual content spending budget in the $7 billion for film and TV projects and as the streamer continues to bulk up amid increased competition from new serves including HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+ as well as fellow big spending rivals Netflix, Apple and Disney+ and Hulu.

Netflix, NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia and Disney, among others, all reorganized last year in a effort to centralize development and increase production while focusing on global expansion.