Nancy Cotton & Marcy Kaplan among senior exits as Amazon restructures MGM teams

Godfather Of Harlem (Source: Amazon)

MGM+ execs Nancy Cotton, EVP of scripted programming, and Marcy Kaplan, head of production, are among a slew of senior executives being let go from tech giant Amazon, which is consolidating its MGM scripted, unscripted and MGM+ teams into a single division.

Further details of exec departures and the new structure come after yesterday’s news that Amazon is planning to cut “several hundred” jobs across MGM Studios and streaming service Prime Video following a year-long review of the business.

Arturo Interian, VP of current scripted programming, scripted exec Chris Castallo, Rob Hochberg, VP of development & production, scripted TV, and Uri Fleming, head of business affairs, are also among senior figures departing as part of the restructure.

Other scripted execs including Amy Suh and Sony Strich, both development execs for genre series at Amazon Studios; and Vanessa Martinez, creative exec, first look & overall deals, are exiting, according to Deadline which first named the departing execs.

Jennifer Salke

MGM team integration

The majority of these exits come as a result of a restructure that will see Lindsay Sloane’s MGM Scripted TV team being integrated alongside MGM+ and Barry Poznick’s MGM Alternative TV team into a single division under Chris Brearton, VP of corporate strategy for Prime Video and Studios.

Sloane and Poznick will continue to work alongside the studios teams to develop for Prime Video and external platforms, while Michael Wright will continue to head up MGM+, now reporting to Brearton as a part of the newly merged division.

The structural changes were revealed in a memo to staff from Brearton and Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke. They wrote: “MGM+ has showcased series such as Godfather Of Harlem, From, Billy The Kid and the upcoming Hotel Cocaine. Our productions for third partners include Emmy award nominated series such as Wednesday, The Handmaid’s Tale and Fargo.

“In order bring together our creative resources in this area, today we will combine the MGM Scripted Television team with the MGM+ Productions team to form a unified television creative group. This group will be led by Lindsay Sloane and will focus on continuing to produce premium scripted series for third party partners, as well as new series for the thriving MGM+ platform.

“Michael Wright will continue as the Head of MGM+ and will be responsible for all programming and greenlight decisions for the MGM + platform. Lindsay and Michael will report to Chris Brearton, VP Corporate Strategy, Prime Video & Studios, as a part of the newly created group, which will also include MGM Alternative Television under the continued leadership of Barry Poznick. These teams will also work closely with Vernon Sanders at Amazon MGM Studios on potential series for distribution on Prime Video.”

Brearton and Salke wrote that there would be “some roles eliminated” from within the MGM team as a result of the changes and that they “do not take these decisions lightly.”

The Amazon Studios and MGM theatrical distribution teams have also been consolidated under Kevin Wilson’s leadership and will operate as the Amazon MGM Studios Theatrical Distribution team. Salke said this would lead to some redundancies on these teams, while other staff cuts were taking place in studio marketing and business operations divisions.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power (Source: Prime Video)

Cutting for ‘long-term success’

The memo followed announced layoffs across MGM Studios and The Lord Of The Rings; The Rings Of Power streamer Prime Video yesterday from SVP Mike Hopkins, who told employees that the company has identified “opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact.”

He wrote that the company needs to “prioritise our investments for the long-term success of our business” amid recent upheavals that are causing the industry to “evolve quickly.”

These latest cuts at the streamer and studio operations follow around 100 layoffs in June 2023, which saw execs including Tracey Lentz, former head of creative for unscripted TV at Amazon Studios, exiting the company. They came amid a wider cutback across the retail giant that saw more than 27,000 staff made redundant across its entire business last year.