After Jennifer Salke's Exit, Former Amazon Studios Founder Calls For Purge Of TV Department And Retcon Of 'The Rings Of Power'
Amazon Video and Amazon Studios founder and former Disney executive Roy Price called for Amazon Studios to purge its TV department and retcon The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
In a recent post to his Substack, Price shared his advice on what Amazon should do in order to stop losing when it comes to TV. As part of his advice, he called for a purging of the company’s TV department explaining that it has become too big and is relying on “consensus decision making”
Not only did he call for Amazon MGM Studios’ TV department to be cut down to size, but indicated it needs a new attitude as well. It needs leaders that will “get out their knives, put them in their teeth, and learn how to be nonconformists again.”
Speaking specifically to the shows on the docket and already in development, Price made it abundantly clear that the type of thinking that created The Rings of Power must be done away with.
He suggested, “One thing I would tell this team to do is to completely retcon everything Rings of Power so far. That was an experiment. It is now non-canonical and we are starting over from scratch. It basically never happened and we are literally throwing it away.”
Price even suggests that a single episode of Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne’s The Rings of Power may be created “where everyone is slaughtered in an orgy of blood that would make John Woo blush and they are finally eaten by Tom Bombadil who then larks through the forest covered with gore singing ‘Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! Ring a dong! hop along! Fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!’”
To be clear, it’s not just The Rings of Power he wants to retcon, he wants to retcon any scripts or pre-production done for potential James Bond spin-offs such as 008 and Moneypenny as well as Henry Cavill’s Warhammer series and the Red Dead Redemption. “All these shows are being developed (or redeveloped) from scratch,” he declared.
He specifically notes that these male-skewing shows should not be turned into “big female draws” and claims this thinking is ridiculous by asking, “Why on Earth would you do that? Has it literally ever worked?”
Instead, Amazon should find female-skewing shows. Price suggests the next “Maisel, Atlanta, The Bear, Fleabag, White Lotus…” A no-brainer would be new adaptations of Jane Austen’s works or possibly striking a deal with novelist Nora Roberts who has written over 225 romance novels alongside her police procedurals and science fiction under J.D. Robb, Jill March, and Sarah Hardesty.
Price also notes that Amazon should develop some dramas and comedies, but they must have a single focus and it must be “great scripts.” The company can not get itself bogged down in its diversity plan, relationships with specific talent agencies, how to promote its next show or movie with its current show (as Marvel is wont to do), or your various deals.
Finally, he says that Amazon is well-positioned given it has an audience willing to watch TV and pay for it and they have the money to make something that could be great.
What do you make of Price’s suggestion?
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Nuke'em from orbit, it's the only way to sure.
He's correct, but I doubt this will ever happen.