Amazon UK MD Chris Chicken was among the many newest group of business execs to look in entrance of the UK’s British Movie & Excessive-Finish TV Inquiry this afternoon, throughout which he revealed how a lot money the streamer has invested in content material from UK broadcasters for the primary time.
“Now we have spent greater than $400 million licensing, co-producing, and co-commissioning content material from the UK Public Service Broadcasters,” Chicken stated. “Not solely to enlarge and higher exhibits however we’ve additionally helped produce all the pieces from Steve McQueen’s Small Axe and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag to the not too long ago introduced second and third seasons of The Evening Supervisor with the BBC.”
Deadline was first to interrupt information of The Evening Supervisor returning with Tom Hiddleston signed on to star.
Prime Video doesn’t solely assist produce these hits but additionally distributes them to territories throughout the globe, Chicken added. “Exterior of America, British content material travels the very best world wide,” he stated.
An Amazon spokeswoman later informed Deadline that the $400M determine has been spent since 2016. Amazon didn’t say how a lot the streamer has invested general within the nation together with on UK originals however in 2022 it stated it had spent round $1B throughout 4 years on TV, films and stay sports activities.
Chicken was joined on the panel in entrance of the UK’s Tradition, Media & Sport Committee by Mitchell Simmons, Vice President of Public Coverage and Authorities Affairs EMEA at Paramount, Benjamin King, Senior Director of Public Coverage at Netflix, and Gidon Freeman, SVP of Authorities and Regulatory Affairs at NBCUniversal Worldwide.
Indie film tax credit score
The group mentioned a spread of matters pertaining to the manufacturing and improvement of movie and collection manufacturing within the UK, together with the UK’s new 40% indie movie tax credit score and how every of their corporations have performed a component in supporting native expertise.
“Paramount has traditionally invested quite a bit in low-budget British movies across the sub-£5 million mark. Then it had a hiatus for plenty of years however in 2019 began to extend funding and attempt to discover tasks,” Simmons stated.
Simmons stated the presence of a studio like Paramount within the UK helps to create what he described as a “pipeline” for British expertise to thrive.
“Simply to offer you an instance,” he stated, “in 2019, Rapman was an upcoming director on YouTube and created the quick Blue Story. He then acquired improvement funding for a function script from BBC. After which he sought funding. Paramount funds that function after which it completely smashes the Field Workplace, hitting £4 million complete within the UK. Because of this, the movie will get a theatrical launch within the U.S. and South Africa. And some years later, Rapman now has a big-budget present at Netflix.”
Due to the introduction of the UK authorities’s indie movie tax credit score, Simmons stated he expects to see an “improve within the variety of tasks and the quantity of spend on these tasks” from Paramount in direction of smaller price range UK movies.
His feedback got here just a few months after Paramount+ culled a wealth of UK TV originals amid a Hollywood pivot beneath Bob Bakish.
The inquiry has additionally heard from the likes of Bend it Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha, Gradual Horses director James Hawes and UK exhibition bosses.