Amazon Studios UK boss Georgia Brown talks about investing in local productions

Georgia Brown, head of European originals at Amazon Studios in the UK, said Amazon Prime Video has no intention of making cuts, even as the cost of living crises and other streamers like HBO Max have shut down their local originals.

“We’ve always had a very different strategy,” Brown said during a panel discussion at the Edinburgh TV Festival, before saying she’s sticking to Jennifer Salke’s mantra, the head of Amazon Studios, of offering a “really curated” list.

Stressing her commitment to local productions, Brown said, “It was really important for us to have these local productions on the ground. Our strategy has always been ‘local for local’.”

“And what we actually saw when we were able to launch globally in 2016 was that all of our viewers were screaming for the content.”

“Our strategy in that sense has not changed and will not change,” she added.

Brown would not comment on Amazon raising its subscription prices, which comes amid a cost-of-living crisis, and said she represents the studio. “Our job is to deliver maximum value to our clients through the content we curate and produce,” she said, but admitted operational costs had increased.

On Amazon’s acquisition of MGM, Brown said she couldn’t comment because “I don’t know MGM,” but said it was “very exciting.”

“People have grown up watching some of their incredible films, we are all so excited for them to join the family and I’m really excited for what that means for us.”

Brown was joined by her UK team, including Head of Originals Dan Grabiner, Daisy Mount, Scripted Originals Development Manager, Fozia Khan, Scripted Originals Director, Johnny Lewsley, Scripted Originals Director, and Harjeet Chhokar, Scripted Originals Director.