Amazon Studios UK boss Georgia Brown on investing in local productions: 'Our strategy won't change'

Georgia Brown, head of European originals at Amazon Studios in the UK, said that while the cost of life crisis continues to bite, and other streamers, such as HBO Max, have discontinued their local originals, Amazon Prime Video has no plans to cut.

"We've always had a very different strategy," Brown said during a panel at the Edinburgh Festival television, before saying she lives up to Amazon Studios director Jennifer Salke's mantra of coming up with a "really curated" roster.

Brown highlighted his commitment to local productions, saying, "It was really essential for us to to have these local productions on the ground. Our strategy has always been “local for local”.

"And actually what we've seen when we can launch globally in 2016 is that all of our audiences were crying for the content."

"Our strategy in this direction has not changed and will not change", a-t- she added.

Brown wouldn't comment on Amazon's subscription price hike, which comes amid a cost-of-living crisis, saying it represents the studio rather than the platform. "It's our job to deliver maximum value to our customers through the content we curate and produce," she said of her team, but admitted operating costs have increased. .

On Amazon's acquisition of MGM, Brown said she couldn't comment because "I'm not through MGM" but said the addition was "extremely exciting".

"People have grown up with some of their amazing movies, we're all so thrilled to have joined them family and I can't wait to see what this means for us.”

Amazon has already started to integrate some of MGM's intellectual property with, for example, the setting on duty from "007's Road to a Million", a game show based on the James Bond franchise. Fozia Khan, head of unscripted development, who was also on the panel, said the studio was "looking for more shows like this: bold, innovative, and more reality shows for our younger customers." p>

Khan and unscripted director Harjeet Chhokar also announced two new Amazon Original docu-series: "The Greatest Show Ever Made” and “Fake Sheikh”.

The first, from Factual Fiction, is about a strange scam that took place in the early 2000 when thirty people were invited by a mysterious producer to come to London and take part in a reality TV show – which turned out to be non-existent. The contestants, some of whom had quit their jobs to participate, still decided to film their antics and try to track down the man who brought them together.

Meanwhile, Voltage's "Fake Sheikh" is about legendary tabloid journalist Mazher Mahmood who upset the royal family, celebrities and athletes by impersonating a sheikh and having them spill their secrets.

Brown was also joined by UK originals manager Dan Grabiner and Daisy Mount , responsible for the development of the scripted originals. and Scripted Originals direct Johnny Lewsley, who previewed upcoming drama shows “Jungle” and “The Rig.”

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