Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Earl Gibson III/Penske Media via Getty Images, MGM/Everett Collection
In a departure that’s surely shaken and stirred up chatter around Hollywood, the head of Amazon MGM Studios Jennifer Salke is leaving the company. In a letter sent to employees Thursday afternoon, Amazon exec Mike Hopkins broke the news, saying, “Jen will step down from her role as Head of Amazon MGM Studios in order to start a new production entity,” while also earning an “overall first-look deal” with the company. Salke, in the same letter, said now is the moment for her “next chapter.”
Though the departure seems sudden, dissatisfaction with Salke has been brewing. Her exit comes after a hit-and-miss string of Prime Video titles with high budgets: Under her tenure, for every spectacular Fallout came a lackluster Citadel or Red One. As a report in Puck noted, Salke’s decision to give Phoebe Waller-Bridge a $20 million a year overall deal, which made sense in 2019 after the success of Fleabag, has produced nothing since, yet Salke continually renewed the agreement. But more than anything, her handling of the James Bond franchise drew the most scrutiny and ultimately likely forced her exit.
Amazon bought MGM in 2022 for a hefty price tag of $8.5 million, mainly so it could own the coveted franchise led by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Hopkins assigned Salke to manage the relationship with Broccoli and Wilson, since the latter pair retained creative control over the character. Broccoli was reportedly incredibly dissatisfied with Amazon and Salke. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Salke using the word “content” to describe the Bond IP in front of Broccoli was a “death knell” that sounded the end of the relationship. Broccoli, for her part, apparently followed it up by calling some Amazon execs “fucking idiots.” (Jeff Bezos, Puck wrote, is angry about the whole situation.)
It all came crashing down in February, when it was announced that Broccoli and Wilson were willing to cede creative control of Bond to Amazon MGM Studios. The two will still remain co-owners. Amy Pascal and David Heyman are the newly minted Bond producers, though Deadline reported that, before signing their deals, even those two specifically asked to report to head of film Courtenay Valenti instead of Salke. As of now, there are no official plans to replace her. Hopkins wrote as much, saying that Amazon MGM had “decided to flatten our leadership structure a bit” as it hopes to “streamline reporting lines and accelerate decision making.” Valenti will remain head of film at Amazon MGM Studios, with new Bond producers in place, a mandate to “accelerate decisions,” and — hopefully — a coherent strategy for the British superspy going forward. As for Salke, maybe she and Waller-Bridge will finally get that Tomb Raider project off the ground? Maybe.
