Jennifer Salke is saying goodbye to NBC and hello to Amazon Studios. After six years as entertainment president at NBC, the exec has been hired as the head of Amazon Studios, Variety confirms. Her new role sees her overseeing “all television and film production for the digital behemoth’s entertainment arm, reporting to Jeff Blackburn, Amazon’s senior VP of business development and digital entertainment.” Salke is replacing former Amazon Studios head Roy Price, who left the company in November amid sexual harassment allegations. (If you recall, he’s the guy who reportedly turned down Emmy winner and ratings hit “Big Little Lies” because Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman weren’t guaranteed to “show their tits” in it.)
“What stood out about Jen was the deep relationships she has nurtured with creators and talent over her career, spanning NBCU, 20th Century Fox, and Aaron Spelling Productions,” Blackburn commented. “She’s built an impeccable reputation as a big leader who emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and teamwork.
“I’m incredibly excited about the future at Amazon Studios,” said Salke. “In the studio’s relatively short existence they have innovated, disrupted, and created characters that are already an indelible part of pop culture. I am both honored and emboldened by the opportunity to lead this extraordinary business. Of course, this is also bittersweet for me,” she acknowledged. “NBC has been an amazing home — creatively, professionally, and personally — and I leave there knowing that the work we did had groundbreaking impact. It’s an exciting time to be a content creator, and I look forward to being on the front lines of an innovative business with storytelling at its heart.”
Salke’s replacement at NBC hasn’t been announced yet, but contenders reportedly include Pearlena Igbokwe, the president of Universal Television, as well as NBC’s drama head Liza Katz and comedy chief Tracey Pakosta — all women.
This past summer Salke launched a new initiative at NBC in partnership with TV director Lesli Linka Glatter (“Homeland,” Mad Men”). Titled “Female Forward,” the program provides 10 female directors with the chance to shadow up to three episodes of an NBC series and a commitment to direct at least one ep of the series she shadows. “It’s been a collective and urgent goal of ours to identify more female directors,” Salke said at the time. “We strongly believe women can and should be at the forefront of telling compelling stories, and I hope the guaranteed directing component will have real impact on our shows as well as the industry.”
Amazon Studio’s projects include Jill Soloway’s Emmy-winning family drama “Transparent,” Oscar-nominated romantic comedy “The Big Sick,” and Lynne Ramsay’s upcoming Joaquin Phoenix-starrer “You Were Never Really Here.”
Check out a video of Salke discussing the fate of TV programming below. In it, she explains why she wanted “This Is Us” for NBC despite the fact that some suggested that the ratings smash didn’t “feel like a network show.”
