Former Amazon MGM boss Jennifer Salke was fired over a slew of excruciating and expensive A-List disasters, it is claimed.
Salke, whose ouster was announced in an internal memo obtained by Deadline Thursday, had been on borrowed time after a series of flops and failed hires, sources told Puck.
They singled out her with work with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator of Fleabag, in particular, after she received not one, but two $20million deals over the course of six years. The first three year deal yielded no output – but Salke gave Waller-Bridge a second $20 million deal regardless.
And Waller-Bridge’s creative block appears as bad as ever.
She is now working on the new Tomb Raider film, which doesn’t even have a script, according to Puck.
Salke also butted heads with the co-owners of the iconic James Bond franchise, during her studio’s acquisition of the series, they said. The latter, Puck reported Friday, is likely what sealed Salke’s fate – adding how her exit was actually a firing.
The accounts from those familiar with the matter casts doubt on the studio’s official ‘resignation’ claim, aired Thursday.
Salke, who had joined Amazon in 2018, also oversaw several rejiggers that left some creatives wondering who was their boss, insiders said. Producers and agents said regularly encountered problems getting Salke on the phone, sources said.
They further revealed how a half-billion dollars spent on the bombastic spy series Citadel saw her end up on her bosses’ radars. Season one was panned as a ‘laughingstock’, sources said – but Salke ordered a second season anyway.
Amazon MGM boss Jennifer Salke has abruptly exited the studio after some seven years – and insiders have said she was fired, after failed, expensive hires like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator of 2016’s Fleabag. She hasn’t made a show since
This, along with the hundreds of millions poured into Citadel, saw Amazon CEO Andy Jassy start scrutinizing Salke’s budgets, Puck reported Friday
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – another show ravaged under Salke’s tenure – left one ‘Amazon source’ marveling how she managed to last this long.
Amazon spent a quarter-of-a-billion on the Rings rights, as well as a hundred million more for Season 1 alone.
The show has since left critics almost unanimously disappointed.
And the big boss himself was likely irritated too.
Jeff Bezos reportedly had hoped it would be his platform’s answer to Game of Thrones.
Instead, with a budget of more than $800million, it became the most expensive TV show ever.
But despite the mega-splurge, The Lord of The Rings show did not become a cultural touchstone like Game of Thrones, with few clamoring for a follow-up.
Hitting this home was the fact Amazon won an astounding zero Emmys this past September. The same went for the Oscars.
This, along with the hundreds of millions poured into Citadel, saw Amazon CEO Andy Jassy start scrutinizing Salke’s budgets, Puck reported.
A new program that Waller-Bridge has been working on – a Tomb Raider reboot set to star Sophie Turner – still hasn’t received a script
Another Salke brainchild – Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings prequel, The Rings Of Power – has cost $808.9M, and has been ridiculed by critics
Jeff Bezos – seen here vacationing with fiancée Lauren Sanchez – had hoped the show would be his platform’s answer to Game of Thrones, and was left ‘furious’ after a conflict between Salke and one of Amazon’s creators became public in a December report from the WSJ
Salke did have some successes.
She has helped usher in shows like Fallout, Reacher, and MrBeast’s Beast Games, but in the grand scheme, has failed to move the needle.
As it stands, Prime Video’s share of viewing on TVs in the US sits somewhere between 3 and 3.5 percent – a statistic it has struggled to shed outside of the NFL season,
This leaves the studio above heavy hitters Max, Peacock, and Paramount+ – but well behind Netflix and Disney+/Hulu.
While a poor situation for an executive who seemingly excelled only at accquisitions, the ‘tipping point’, as Puck’s Matthew Belloni put it, came in the form of a ‘Cold War’-esque conflict between Salke and Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson.
The half-brother and sister had been co-owners of the Bond franchise and still are – following Salke’s acquisition of creative control of the franchise for around $1 billion in February.
This was after Amazon paid an astronomical $8.5 billion for the MGM – a number experts have said was needlessly high.
The deal was also marred by bad blood between Broccoli and Salke, a dynamic Jeff Bezos – and the rest of the world – became aware of back in December, thanks to a report detailing the behind-scenes tension from The Wall Street Journal.
The clash between the Broccoli family and the ecommerce firm saw the deal thrust in jeopardy, sources said, prior to its eventual close this past month.
The most recent Bond film, 2021’s No Time To Die , saw Daniel Craig ‘s rendition of the suave spy meet his untimely end, after some 60 years of service for Her Majesty
The creator was Barbara Broccoli (left), one co-owners of the Bond franchise. Seen here with her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, Broccoli butted heads with Salke before her acquisition of the franchise
A report detailing the behind-scenes tension from The Wall Street Journal, angering Bezos. As this was happening, other execs were looking to streamline the studio – seemingly leaving Salke in brass’s crosshairs
An insider said Salke called Broccoli a ‘c**t’ – while others told the Journal last year Broccoli slammed the people she and her half-brother were dealing with at Amazon as ‘f*cking iditot.’
The latter ‘infuriated’ Bezos, sources told Puck Friday, weeks after Salke finally obtained creative control of the franchise – all while Jassy had been scrutinizing and eliminating management layers across the organization in an effort to streamline it.
In the memo released Thursday, it was stated that Salke’s old boss, Mike Hopkins – the head of both Prime Video and Amazon MGM – would have fellow exec Courtenay Valenti and TV chief Vernon Sanders report directly to him.
Valenti, previously, was Salke’s no.2.
Earlier this week, Amazon announce Amy Pascal – A longtime Hollywood exec best known for emails leaked during the 2014 Sony hack that slammed Angelina Jolie as a ‘minimally talented spoiled brat’ – would oversea creative decisions for the next Bond movie.
Pascal was mired in a huge scandal after emails leaked that year revealed some scathing thoughts on Jolie from a fellow producer.
Pascal, at the time, was Sony’s co-chairwoman. The leak saw her fired, after other emails penned by her were deemed racist by big brass – including jokes aimed at then-President Barack Obama.
