Major shakeup. Jen Salke, the head of Amazon/MGM, is out and will transition to producing. Film/TV heads Courtenay Valenti and Vernon Sanders will now directly report to Prime Video head Mike Hopkins, who has decided to eliminate Salke's position.
What can be said about Salke? She's the same person who gave the greenlight on Amazon’s $500M-costing “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” not to mention a $300M Russos Bros bomb (“Citadel”), and that $100M partnership deal with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, which has so far yielded a total of zero hit shows.
Yet, what did her in might have been Bond, James Bond. What an absolute coincidence Salke’s exit occurred right as Amazon’s $1 billion James Bond deal was being finalized. If you ask me, this is Hopkins/Bezos making sure that Salke doesn't go anywhere near 007. There’s too much at stake, too much to lose, and Salke has already f*cked up enough.
Back in December, a Wall Street Journal report revealed the behind-the-scenes friction between Salke and Barbara Broccoli regarding the creative direction and future of the Bond franchise. Salke reportedly started pushing for “Marvel-style” ideas to expand Bond, including several spinoff shows and movies. Broccoli, being the purist that she is, seemingly had zero interest in adhering to Salke’s Marvel-esque demands.
Salke was tasked with dealing with Broccoli, and her description of the franchise as “content” reportedly infuriated Broccoli, who reportedly stormed out of a meeting and later told friends that the people at Amazon are, “f***ing idiots.”
A former Amazon bigwig told Hollywood Elsewhere that Salke’s knowledge of Bond history was very limited and that she had never actually seen any Bond movies before the Daniel Craig era.
The source went on to state that Salke considers anything made before the ’80s to be an “old movie.” She’s not interested in the classics and never reads scripts.
You can ask people from her NBC days about this, but agents and managers [will tell you] she never read scripts. She just makes deals with name talents like the Russo brothers and greenlights crap like “Red One.” She’s not material-driven.
A seasoned writer-director additionally told HE that two years ago, Salke squashed a “Conan the Barbarian” remake from “Game of Thrones” producers, calling the project ‘toxic masculinity.”
The Bond impasse is all on her. She’s an inexperienced idiot with limited experience and unlimited resources.
How does such a person, with limited cinematic knowledge, end up overseeing a major studio like MGM/Amazon? Salke’s previous gig was as NBC Entertainment president. Under her presidency, several significant NBC shows were developed like “The Good Place,” “Master of None,” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Her contributions as a Fox executive include “Glee,” “Modern Family,” and “Bones.” The Amazon/MGM gig was her first significant movie-related position.