Comedy Series: What Flavor of Funny Does Amazon Studios Want?

Earlier this month, Amazon Studios opened its doors to episodic series — specifically, primetime comedies as well as shows for children. Creators of series added to the Series Development Slate will get $10,000, plus another $55,000 if their show gets produced (with the potential for other royalties and bonuses).

Here’s a closer look at the kind of comedies Amazon Studios is looking for. (Learn more about children’s series here.)

Overview: Amazon Studios is seeking funny, edgy, smart, cinematic shows with a strong point of view.

Format: Series can be live action or animated with 22-minute episodes.

We like ideas in specific worlds. We’re open to anything, but all of our shows need to take place in specific, well-defined worlds. These should be places people haven’t seen before, that they’ll want to learn more about and, most importantly, tell their friends to watch. So a bunch of underemployed New Yorkers in an overly nice apartment is most likely not right for us (same goes for doctors/lawyers/cops). We’ve discussed worlds like Silicon Valley, video games, technology, sports, universities, politics, Hollywood, genre comedy but we’re open to anything new and interesting with a lot of potential.

The most important thing is that the audience should feel like they’re watching something they can’t see anywhere else.

Should episodes be serialized or self-contained? Serialized is good for live action, but not necessary.

How #@% much can characters swear? Don’t rely on curse words to sell the story, but otherwise, just keep it within normal television standards for language and content. Archer would be OK, for example.

What, no reality shows? No, and no game shows or sketch comedy either.

You can learn more about the details of the Amazon Studios series submission process here.