May 2013
24 posts
8 tags
“‘Fast & Furious’ became an adjective for neon lights and hot...”
– Director Justin Lin on using depth, character development, and yes, restraint, to adrenalize the Fast & Furious franchise
7 tags
11 tags
11 tags
14 tags
10 tags
14 tags
Guest Post: On Oxygen Masks, Happiness, and "Teeny...
Halle Stanford, Executive Producer and Executive Vice President of Children’s Entertainment at the Jim Henson Company (which produced the Amazon original pilot, Teeny Tiny Dogs), shares the key to family happiness: the oxygen mask.
As a mother of two boys (a teen and a toddler) and owner of two small dogs, I grab those “Mommy Moments” whenever I can find them. You know, hiding in my bathroom for...
11 tags
“I come from a theater background. Aaron Sorkin is my favorite. I love talk....”
– Betas star Joe Dinicol on mastering the tech talk his character so smoothly delivers (watch the show for free here)
8 tags
23 tags
A Song-by-Song Look at Amazon's Browsers, from the...
If Bebe Neuwirth’s performance of the gloriously profane “Someone With Whom …” in the Amazon original pilot Browsers reminded you of a certain Broadway classic, well, there’s a reason for that.
We asked Browsers creator David Javerbaum to tell us about that song and the rest of show’s soundtrack, which features music by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of...
7 tags
11 tags
13 tags
Creator J.J. Johnson on "Annebots," and the Joys...
For creator and director J.J. Johnson, producing a children’s series is not just about entertaining kids but also about getting them excited about interacting with the world around them. It was with this in mind that he created Annebots, a science show that is one of Amazon’s original pilots.
J.J. is one of the partners of Sinking Ship, a production company based in Toronto, Canada....
17 tags
Amazon Pilots Inside Story: Why Sara Solves It is...
There’s no reason to be afraid of math – in fact, it can be fun! Just ask Carol Greenwald and Angela Santomero, co-creators of Sara Solves it, one of one of 14 Amazon original pilots now playing for free at Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM.
Sara Solves It celebrates problem solving with 9-year-old whiz kid Sara and her younger brother Sam. Together, the solve mysteries in their apartment...
10 tags
8 tags
Watch“It’s a great day to play in Tumbleaf!”
Tumbleaf is one of Amazon’s original children’s pilots, now available for free at Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM.
15 tags
On "Tumbleaf," Inventiveness, and a World Where...
Fig the fox is a dreamer and inventor in a world full of surprises and adventures. And kids can join him in Tumbleaf, one of 14 Amazon original pilots now playing for free at Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM. Viewer response will help determine which of these shows return with full seasons.
We asked Tumbleaf producer Kelli Bixler about the show (created by Drew Hodges and Bix Pix...
6 tags
6 tags
19 tags
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on Zombieland's TV...
What fans of Zombieland may not realize is that the 2009 hit movie, written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, was originally imagined as a TV series.
“We wrote it in 2005 as a spec pilot and sold it to CBS and – this was pre-Walking Dead – and the idea was that zombies had been so successful on the big screen but they have never really been tapped on the small screen,” Paul said. “The success of...
18 tags
Lisa Henson on Teeny Tiny Dogs, Teaching...
The canines are small, but the legacy is huge – Teeny Tiny Dogs is an Amazon Studios pilot from the Jim Henson Company (and created by Howard Baker of Rugrats fame). “Our company has had a long history of creating great dog characters and we knew that we could bring Howard’s vision to life in a fun, meaningful way with our Henson style of puppets,” said Jim Henson Company CEO Lisa Henson.
Teeny...
16 tags
13 tags
Amazon Pilots Inside Story: David Javerbaum on...
When the characters in Browsers feel something, they don’t just say it. You don’t just see it. They sing it. They even dance it. And they do it with such wit – almost like an 11-time Emmy award-winning writer for The Daily Show is putting words in their mouth.
And one is: David Javerbaum. He’s actually got a dozen Emmys, having picked up one for the song “Broadway: It’s Not Just For Gays...
10 tags
13 tags
"Those Who Can't" Q and A: Adam Cayton-Holland,...
Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl, and Ben Roy, the co-writers and stars behind Amazon’s new original pilot, Those Who Can’t, recently sat down with one another in Adam’s living room in Denver, Colorado to talk about their show, which is now available for free on Amazon Instant Video. It went a little something like this:
Adam: So I’ll start with the first question: Who are you guys and what...
April 2013
28 posts
12 tags
20 tags
Creator Q and A: Will Graham and Dan Mirk (Onion...
Truth. Ethics. Teamwork. It’s obvious which of these things drives the Onion News Network team — none of them. (Unless by “truth” you mean “truly amazing ratings.”)
Will Graham and Dan Mirk tell the story of these fine journalists in Onion News Empire, one of 14 Amazon original pilots now playing for free at Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM. Viewer response will help...
4 tags
Daniel Mirk: Behind The Scenes At The Onion News... →
danielmirk:
To celebrate the launch of the Onion News Empire on Amazon, here are a few photos I took on set. These will be marginally more interesting if you have seen the show, so if you have not already seen it then go see it dummy.
Here is the Onion News Van which whisks away little Courtney…
13 tags
14 tags
“I’ve worked on a lot of shows that have a stated curriculum of creative...”
– Andy Yerkes, head writer of Positively Ozitively, one of Amazon’s original kids pilots
16 tags
Amazon Pilots Inside Story: Creators Evan Endicott...
Friends with a dream of creating something amazing, something that the public can’t get enough of – this could describe the characters in Betas, a new comedy set in the world of Silicon Valley startups. It also could describe the guys who created the show, Evan Endicott and Josh Stoddard.
They met while working at Alexander Payne’s production company, and started writing together. Their first...
15 tags
Creator Q and A: John Ross Bowie and Kevin Sussman...
John Ross Bowie and Kevin Sussman are part of one of the most famous nerd ensembles in entertainment history – the cast of the hit series Big Bang Theory (Bowie plays Sheldon’s rival Kripke, and Sussman is comic shop owner Stuart). But they’re not faking their love of sci-fi and superheroes. It’s who they are, and their influences run deeply through Dark Minions, the show they’ve created for...
22 tags
Creator Q and A: Lily Sparks, Price Peterson and...
We asked Lily Sparks, Price Peterson and Ryan Sandoval, the creators of the Amazon original pilot Supanatural to tell us more about the show. They asked if we would accept answers in the form of GIFs. We said, “Spider, please!”
Supanatural is about two best friends who have dealt with supernatural phenomena for so long and so easily, that nowadays when some overwhelming horror like...
26 tags
Guest Post: Jonathan Alter on Garry Trudeau,...
Best-selling author and journalist Jonathan Alter (The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies, The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope) explains what it has been like to go Hollywood and produce a pilot for Amazon – Alpha House, created by Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury). Alter explains the real-life roots of the show and what it was like to work with Trudeau, as well as with...
11 tags
15 tags
Amazon Studios Creator Q and A: Angela Santomero...
Angela Santomero – creator of the Amazon Studios kids’ show, Creative Galaxy – has two daughters of her own, but says she feels like of a mom to all children. “It is so important to me that, as a mom and a creator of media, we have good for all of our kids. I know how influential (and addictive!) shows are, and I want to make sure that we have media available to them that they love and that...
27 tags
Amazon Studios Comedies and Kids’ Pilots: Leading...
Following their Friday debut, the new Amazon Originals TV pilots from Amazon Studios were the most watched TV shows across Amazon Instant Video over the weekend, making up 8 out of 10 of the most streamed episodes across the video service. Already thousands of customer reviews have been submitted with 80% at ratings of 4 and 5 stars.
“For the past year the Amazon Studios team has...
12 tags
“Often real game-changing shows defy conventional wisdom. We have a ton of people...”
– Amazon Studios director Roy Price on the Amazon Originals pilot season. Public response will help determine which comedies and kids’ shows become series.
19 tags
18 tags
14 tags
11 tags
11 tags
12 tags
Amazon Studios Creator Q and A: Brad Combest
Brad Combest’s first few jobs in Hollywood – as a researcher on Modern Marvels, as a literary agent’s assistant at the Gersh Agency, as an executive assistant at Dreamworks – taught him plenty, but it was his work as a story editor on Robot Chicken that changed his life. It was there that he got a taste for animation and realized it was what he wanted to be doing.
As a production coordinator on...
7 tags
12 tags
10 tags
Amazon Adds a "Sassy" New Comedy to Its Series...
You’ve never seen a hero like Sassy Gay Samurai, the title character in the latest comedy project added to the Amazon Studios Series Development Slate. With his unicorn roommate Gary (and across-the-hall neighbor John Buffalo), he travels through time and battles super villains while coping with the more mundane aspects of living in New York City.
“It’s kind of like getting a glimpse at a day in...
15 tags
Amazon Studios Creator Q and A: James Abrams...
Inspiration can come from anywhere. For James Abrams, writer of Dreamcatchers, the latest movie project added to the Amazon Studios development slate, it came from a series of nightmares he experienced while sick with the H1N1 flu virus.
The unrelenting visions James experienced during his illness made him think about what would happen if nightmares crossed over into the real world. He started to...
8 tags
6 tags
