Amazon Is Being “Chewed Up” By Competitors And Jilted By Producers According To A Scathing Wall Street Journal Report

After winning zero Emmys at this year’s awards, Amazon is buckling down and attempting to devise new strategies — but with the way things allegedly run over there, it’s not going to be easy. According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon Studios has been struggling to capture audiences with their online content for some time — and has even alienated some of the best producers in the business from wanting to work with them. The studio has spent some $4.5 billion annually producing and acquiring content, but they’ve yet to have a real breakout hit — and the company’s hurting for it. While series like Transparent might be critical darlings, the numbers speak for themselves (which, according to an employee, has been “fewer than one million people” in recent seasons).

The damning report claims that a conflict of interest involving head of comedy and drama Joe Lewis and studio chief Roy Price has led to “low employee morale” at the company, and pep talks from Lewis have not improved conditions.

Messrs. Price and Lewis have played outsize roles in creative decisions, staffers say. On The Tick, Mr. Lewis pressured people working on the show to cast his girlfriend, actress Yara Martinez, in the pilot and then to expand her role, said people close to the program. Mr. Edlund said he didn’t feel any pressure when casting Ms. Martinez or making her a series regular and didn’t recall who brought the actress to his attention.

The way things are run at Amazon also seems to scare away high-profile creatives from wanting to work with them. David E. Kelley, the award-winning, prolific mind behind shows like Ally McBeal, Big Little Lies, Boston Legal, and more, created Amazon original series Goliath but departed after the first season apparently due to conflicts with the studio and the show’s star. “I’m a huge fan of the company overall, but their entertainment division is a bit of a gong show,” said Kelley. “They are in way over their heads.” Insiders also claimed that Amazon wasn’t supportive of Kelley, and while he didn’t confirm or deny this, he did say that he did not plan on collaborating with them again “until their entertainment house is put in order.” Kelley’s successor, Clyde Phillips, reportedly departed for the same reasons.

Kelley’s not the only one with a bone to pick with Amazon; The Shield creator Shawn Ryan found himself in a frustrating situation while producing the studio’s canceled original series Mad Dogs. Ryan claimed that the shooting process – one that involved dragged out notes from executives that led to costly delays – wasn’t “artist friendly” and put “everything in chaos”.

This is seemingly the latest in a recent series of blows for Amazon that have seen them cancel shows like Z: The Beginning of Everything and The Last Tycoon after just a season each and attempt to revitalize their television department while lagging behind competitors like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. Reports of Price’s mission to make a Game of Thrones caliber Amazon Original emerged last month, and with the green-lighting of five new series – including a period drama from Wong Kar-wai – they might just be on the path to redemption.