Chris Ottinger de Amazon MGM Studios Distribution
Amazon Studios is launching its new distribution division, Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, led by Chris Ottinger. Under this structure, Amazon will make its Amazon Originals available for worldwide distribution for the first time on the market.
To begin, the division will offer 36 Amazon Originals titles, including series (Goliath, Hunters, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and movies (7500, All the Old Knives, Bliss, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Coming 2 America, I Want you back, The Tender Bar, The Tomorrow War, The Voyeurs and Without Remorse), in addition to some local Latin American productions such as Argentina 1985. Plus the MGM catalog.
This first group of titles and the new division will be officially introduced to buyers during the LA Screenings on Friday the 19th and Monday the 22nd at Amazon Studios in Culver City.
“You always wonder what will happen if your company is acquired, what is this business going to be about. For me personally, it has been one of the biggest challenges I have faced in my career. I have held different roles in this industry, from producing shows for TV, unscripted and scripted, I have sold formats, I have released movies, I have bought movies and this is the first time that a global streaming company is going to take their original production to the market. And I have the opportunity to be the spearhead of this initiative. It is a very exciting moment,” commented PRODU, Ottinger about his new role as Head, Worldwide Distribution of Amazon MGM Studios Distribution. Ottinger will be reporting to Brad Beale, VP of Worldwide Licensing & Distribution, Amazon and MGM Studios, who in turn reports to Jen Salke, Head of Amazon and MGM Studios.
“The launch of Amazon MGM Studios Distribution reinforces our commitment to offer the best content to audiences around the world,” Salke said.
According to Ottinger, the catalog they will be managing represents “a significant change” in the content’s volume, quality, and genres. “It’s very different from what we’ve been doing at MGM,” he said.
He described that Amazon’s initial 36 titles that will be brought to market are a mix of great global originals “that also target Latino audiences like The Tomorrow War and Without Remorse are blockbusters, which would have been really successful as cinema releases in Latin America, but they went directly to the consumer.” He mentioned the case of Argentina 1985, which has been one of the most prominent films in Latin America in the last 12 months -generated locally- and which now “we will offer to the global market at LA Screenings.”
He added that Latin American broadcasters will now have access to movies like Argentina 1985 that they didn’t have before. “Traditionally streaming services have kept all originals on their platform, unavailable to broader audiences. Amazon has always been interested in off-shelf distribution,” He mentioned the case of Amazon’s first original film, Manchester by the Sea, which was released in 1,000 theaters and on the platform.
“We produce a lot of Latin American original content and our goal is to make this content available off the platform at some point to reach broader audiences,” he said, adding that they are working on the windowing system.
“We have a windowing plan, but it is dynamic and can change. It may vary depending on the markets. Our plan is that after the debut on Prime Video, in two or three months it will be available on Electronic sell-through (EST). We go to the airlines in a similar window of time. And for TV, between 18 to 30 months. But we don’t know yet if these are the correct windows. We will determine it once we are in the market.”
Another challenge of the new unit will be to establish a pricing model. He asked himself what is its value in cases where a movie like The Tomorrow War is requested by a television station. “In the past, movies were sold based on their box office performance. That was the way of calculating the price on TV. It was an imperfect measure, but the most accepted. Now we have films that have not been released in theaters but with the same quality production values: blockbusters with big stars and big budgets. We’ve done pricing models, but we don’t know if they’re right until the broadcaster releases it and we see how it performs. I think the price is the real challenge.”
Ottinger explained that together with his sales team, of about 150 people, he has been working in recent months shaping the operational part of the new division. The entire team – London, Sydney, Miami – will be at LA Screenings to offer their clients the flexibility to create custom packages that work for each territory.
