>**JS:** Obviously very different marketing levels and all of that [to Season 1]. But that being said, over 55 million people at this point have engaged since Season 2 launched. And if you look at the long-term trajectory, which is how this company looks at an asset like that, this is a long-term investment in that franchise. […] There’s well over 150 million viewers watching and engaging with the show. So I feel really good. I think we all do.
>**Is there any change to the 50-episode commitment?**
>**JS:** I don’t think so. [That] commitment is never the thing that’s driving what we’re doing. We’ll continue to make the show as long as we see global customers loving it and watching it to the point where — it is a business. Obviously, we need a large amount of people showing up. And there are a large amount of people, so there’s no debate about whether or not the show will continue.
>**Embracer, who’ve had a rocky 18 months, currently own the majority of Tolkien’s IP. Could we see a situation in which Amazon potentially acquires the company?**
>**JS:** We’re always talking about those opportunities but I don’t have anything to share [right now].
On a changing industry:
>**We’re also hearing that Amazon, like other streamers, is moving away from the cost plus model towards a more traditional territory-by-territory acquisition strategy. Is that accurate?**
>**KD:** It depends. We actually prefer to keep the rights globally where we can but we have been much more flexible, in particular in Europe. We’ve got a number of deals where we either share rights with a broadcaster — we’ve actually done that recently in the U.S., even with some of the gameshows with Fox — or in some cases leave them with a producer and just take select territories then let them distribute other places around the world. So I think that being flexible about those deal structures has really enabled us to capture and get access to a lot of the great selection that we’ve been looking for.
>**The last few years have been a rollercoaster for the industry thanks to the streaming boom followed by the so-called “Netflix correction.” How do you see the past half decade and where things are now?**
>**JS**: I just feel across the board right now there’s a need to impose more discipline on spending and that’s happening at every company. So just the way you’re approaching the slate and making sure that we are shooting in economically friendly locations — and really having our creative partners have those conversations up front on what the parameters are — I think has been helpful. There’s clearly a need to contain cost and so you’re seeing that reflected even in the dealmaking across the board. It’s not like somebody can demand a certain thing and then go, “I’m going to go down the street and get it” because all these companies are kind of operating in very much the same way. And so that’s been a big sea change.
>**A hallmark of the boom was a glut of first-look and overall deals, particularly with talent and creatives. Has that changed too?**
>**JS:** I think there was a real battle for the biggest rainmaker creators and the sky was the limit on how much was being paid for those people. We pursued those deals very strategically. But there is no doubt, across the board, that a correction has happened in the market with overall deals. And that’s another place you can see the whole thing settling down.
On Phoebe-Waller Bridge’s $60-million dollar deal
>**One of the most talked about deals of that era was Amazon’s rumored $60 million partnership with Phoebe Waller-Bridge.**
>**JS:** Yeah, but when we look at a long term commitment to a creator like Phoebe — we’re so happy now that we retained her because she’s obsessed with and grew up playing Lara Croft/“Tomb Raider.” So the fact that she’s the creator and bringing this character to life, we think it’s going to be a huge franchise for us. She went off to do a movie, there are things that happened — if people want to go take an accounting of what deals they were able to get value out of or not, there’s still probably a lot to do there. But I think we’re looking at converting a lot of those deals to a very performance-based model, based on what they accomplish. And that’s been received very well because you’ve got to change with the times.
avicennia on
Another highlight where they’re trying to say other companies/people/streamers (unclear who “everyone else” is) didn’t realize a lot of woman watch direct-to-streaming romcoms:
>**We’re meeting at the conclusion of a pretty spectacular Amazon’s Trailblazers event in London. What was the inspiration behind the day?**
>**Jennifer Salke:** Our team [in the U.K.] really took notice of the commitment we’ve made to female programming and over the last few years — it’s such a drumbeat of just who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish — so they suggested it to us.
>**Kelly Day:** We have been quite intentional about trying to really build this female-led slate. We’ve got these incredible female-led characters now doing big action sequences and leading big action series, like Priyanka in “Citadel.” It feels exciting and like we’re actually breaking some new ground so I think it’s great to be able to celebrate.
>**JS:** Big genre pieces that are global, big male action pieces — we know those things work. There’s data galore to support those decisions. But it’s like, let’s get out there and break ground with women and see the results of that. And that’s happening. You have the Anne Hathaway movie [“The Idea of You” co-starring Nicholas Galitzine] — 50 million people just in the launch window. It must be way more by now. That, I think was a real — not wake up call for us, because we’re just building and building – but for everyone else it was like, “Wait a minute!” We have a tiger by the tail kind of thing.
NuPNua on
So Netflix and Amazon are both doing Tomb Raider shows? All this split IP is getting messy, like Star Trek being spread across three different streamers these days.
3 Comments
On Rings of Power:
>**How have you found the reaction to Season 2?**
>**JS:** Obviously very different marketing levels and all of that [to Season 1]. But that being said, over 55 million people at this point have engaged since Season 2 launched. And if you look at the long-term trajectory, which is how this company looks at an asset like that, this is a long-term investment in that franchise. […] There’s well over 150 million viewers watching and engaging with the show. So I feel really good. I think we all do.
>**Is there any change to the 50-episode commitment?**
>**JS:** I don’t think so. [That] commitment is never the thing that’s driving what we’re doing. We’ll continue to make the show as long as we see global customers loving it and watching it to the point where — it is a business. Obviously, we need a large amount of people showing up. And there are a large amount of people, so there’s no debate about whether or not the show will continue.
>**Embracer, who’ve had a rocky 18 months, currently own the majority of Tolkien’s IP. Could we see a situation in which Amazon potentially acquires the company?**
>**JS:** We’re always talking about those opportunities but I don’t have anything to share [right now].
On a changing industry:
>**We’re also hearing that Amazon, like other streamers, is moving away from the cost plus model towards a more traditional territory-by-territory acquisition strategy. Is that accurate?**
>**KD:** It depends. We actually prefer to keep the rights globally where we can but we have been much more flexible, in particular in Europe. We’ve got a number of deals where we either share rights with a broadcaster — we’ve actually done that recently in the U.S., even with some of the gameshows with Fox — or in some cases leave them with a producer and just take select territories then let them distribute other places around the world. So I think that being flexible about those deal structures has really enabled us to capture and get access to a lot of the great selection that we’ve been looking for.
>**The last few years have been a rollercoaster for the industry thanks to the streaming boom followed by the so-called “Netflix correction.” How do you see the past half decade and where things are now?**
>**JS**: I just feel across the board right now there’s a need to impose more discipline on spending and that’s happening at every company. So just the way you’re approaching the slate and making sure that we are shooting in economically friendly locations — and really having our creative partners have those conversations up front on what the parameters are — I think has been helpful. There’s clearly a need to contain cost and so you’re seeing that reflected even in the dealmaking across the board. It’s not like somebody can demand a certain thing and then go, “I’m going to go down the street and get it” because all these companies are kind of operating in very much the same way. And so that’s been a big sea change.
>**A hallmark of the boom was a glut of first-look and overall deals, particularly with talent and creatives. Has that changed too?**
>**JS:** I think there was a real battle for the biggest rainmaker creators and the sky was the limit on how much was being paid for those people. We pursued those deals very strategically. But there is no doubt, across the board, that a correction has happened in the market with overall deals. And that’s another place you can see the whole thing settling down.
On Phoebe-Waller Bridge’s $60-million dollar deal
>**One of the most talked about deals of that era was Amazon’s rumored $60 million partnership with Phoebe Waller-Bridge.**
>**JS:** Yeah, but when we look at a long term commitment to a creator like Phoebe — we’re so happy now that we retained her because she’s obsessed with and grew up playing Lara Croft/“Tomb Raider.” So the fact that she’s the creator and bringing this character to life, we think it’s going to be a huge franchise for us. She went off to do a movie, there are things that happened — if people want to go take an accounting of what deals they were able to get value out of or not, there’s still probably a lot to do there. But I think we’re looking at converting a lot of those deals to a very performance-based model, based on what they accomplish. And that’s been received very well because you’ve got to change with the times.
Another highlight where they’re trying to say other companies/people/streamers (unclear who “everyone else” is) didn’t realize a lot of woman watch direct-to-streaming romcoms:
>**We’re meeting at the conclusion of a pretty spectacular Amazon’s Trailblazers event in London. What was the inspiration behind the day?**
>**Jennifer Salke:** Our team [in the U.K.] really took notice of the commitment we’ve made to female programming and over the last few years — it’s such a drumbeat of just who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish — so they suggested it to us.
>**Kelly Day:** We have been quite intentional about trying to really build this female-led slate. We’ve got these incredible female-led characters now doing big action sequences and leading big action series, like Priyanka in “Citadel.” It feels exciting and like we’re actually breaking some new ground so I think it’s great to be able to celebrate.
>**JS:** Big genre pieces that are global, big male action pieces — we know those things work. There’s data galore to support those decisions. But it’s like, let’s get out there and break ground with women and see the results of that. And that’s happening. You have the Anne Hathaway movie [“The Idea of You” co-starring Nicholas Galitzine] — 50 million people just in the launch window. It must be way more by now. That, I think was a real — not wake up call for us, because we’re just building and building – but for everyone else it was like, “Wait a minute!” We have a tiger by the tail kind of thing.
So Netflix and Amazon are both doing Tomb Raider shows? All this split IP is getting messy, like Star Trek being spread across three different streamers these days.