Amazon Studios Founder Says Jennifer Salke Would Not Be Out At Amazon If The Company Was Happy With Her Output
Amazon Video and Amazon Studios founder and former Disney executive Roy Price shared that Jennifer Salke exited Amazon because the company was not happy with her output.
In a recent post to his Substack, Price commented on Jennifer Salke exiting as the Head of Amazon Studios and the position being eliminated.
Salke’s departure was announced in an email from Head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios Mike Hopkins, “Having accomplished so much as an executive, Jen has decided that her next challenge and chapter will be on the production side, with the aim of getting even closer to the global creative community — which she’s been such a vital member of over the course of her career. As a result, Jen will step down from her role as Head of Amazon MGM Studios in order to start a new production entity, and we’re so pleased that she’ll continue to make her home right here on our lot via an overall first-look deal across both film and TV.”
Salke commented in the email, “Since I joined in 2018, we set out together to create a new type of global studio that fostered an environment for the world’s most creative talent to do their very best work. Along the way, we expanded internationally, built out a film business and hired and developed an incredible team. As I’ve been considering my next chapter, I’ve always been searching for that moment where I was positive that our work had set up Amazon MGM Studios for even more success in the long term. When I look at the teams we’ve put in place, our amazing leaders, and the incredible slate of films and shows we’ve got in the pipeline, I realized now is that moment. I’m looking forward to continuing doing what I love, cultivating talent, supporting their vision, and bringing compelling stories to audiences around the world.”
Hopkins went on to praise Salke’s body of work, “The Rings of Power, Fallout, Reacher, Red One, Maxton Hall, The Idea of You, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Saltburn, Road House, Beast Games, Culpa Mia/Tuya and others speak to the hits under her leadership that have stirred cultural conversation and delivered incredible storytelling to worldwide audiences…and that list covers only the past 18 months. In addition, her leadership is evidenced by the senior team she’s hired and developed…a team that I know will step up in a big way going forward.”
While Hopkins praised Salke’s work, Mike Fleming Jr. at Deadline reported Salke’s departure was less of a voluntary exit and more of a “firing.”
He went on to imply that she was fired because of James Bond and Amazon bringing on producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman to produce that franchise. In fact, he said the two new producers demanded “that they report to Valenti, and not Salke, even before the latter lost her job.”
Price does not weigh in on whether or not Salke was fired, but he does make it clear that she would still be the Head of Amazon if Amazon was happy with her output.
He wrote, “If Amazon were happy with the output of the studio, this would not have happened.”
From there he recounts the plentitude of reasons Amazon might have been unhappy with Salke and her reign including huge swings and misses with The Rings of Power and Citadel.
Not only does he point out she swung and miss big on those, but she just didn’t have enough hits and many of the hits she did have (commercially speaking) in The Boys and Jack Ryan were greenlit before she took the job.
Price also notes that during Salke’s tenure, Amazon failed to be a big awards contender and did not have many wins. He also shared that Salke did produce nearly enough shows and films and it needed “to go five times faster.”
Finally, he implied that Salke did not hire the right people writing, “People who aren’t great at this tend to hire people who also aren’t great.”
What do you make of Price’s analysis?
NEXT: Rumor: Meryl Streep To Play Aslan In Netflix And Greta Gerwig's The Chronicles Of Narnia Films