Eight on the Slate: What commissioners want (Amazon MGM Studios)

Eight on the Slate is a series of monthly articles brought to you in partnership with Broadcast Intelligence that explore what commissioners from around the world are looking for and how producers can work with them.

From rights and windowing to key genres and programming priorities, we explore the must-haves for those holding the purse strings and how they are shifting their wishlists in a fast-moving landscape.

Today, Brent Haynes, Amazon MGM Studios head of international originals for Canada and Australia tells us about culturally relevant shows, IP-based aspirational romance and exploring internal co-productions.

What makes a show uniquely suitable for you?

Beyond aligning with the genres and demographics we target, the Amazon MGM Studios International Originals team evaluates how a show can resonate with local customers first while also performing on a global stage. For Canadian and Australian audiences, we want them to see their perspective on the world reflected authentically. For global audiences, we look for universal themes that transcend borders. For our French-Canadian customers specifically, creating content that is culturally relevant to Quebec is essential.

What genres do you commission?

For English Canada scripted, we are focused on building out aspirational romance based on IP and original thriller, crime, mystery with romance at the heart of the story. In unscripted, we’re targeting the young adult male demographic with formats like big outdoor adventure. Surrender, a new outdoor adventure series we greenlit earlier this year, speaks to the kind of globally scalable unscripted formats we’re building toward. For French Canada, our focus is on half-hour comedies and formats that showcase top-tier talent and are locally resonant. In Australia, our slate is squarely focused on 35+ women across thriller, true crime, and romance.

What are your top priorities for your upcoming slate?

Our main priority is finding series that appeal to 18–34-year-old women in Canada and a slightly older demographic in Australia, and romance is central to that strategy. We’ve seen the genre perform strongly on our platform worldwide and want to expand our offering, particularly with projects based on IP that has strong existing fan engagement. In French Canada, we’re focused on discovering new formats that broaden our talent pool and identify performers who could headline our series.

Are there any trends you’re keen to capitalise on?

Romance is a trend that has consistently worked for us globally, with titles that travel well beyond their home territories. That said, we always work from the customer back, looking for white spaces where audience demand is not being met.

What do you NOT want to be pitched?

We are not currently looking at genre fare such as sci-fi or horror, nor historical drama.

What would surprise people about your slate?

While we’ve taken some excellent pitches into development, a significant portion of our slate is bespoke, projects where we’ve gone directly to creators. We’ve invited some of Canada’s best writers to surprise us with ideas that push the boundaries of propulsive, urgent storytelling within the genres we want to explore.

What are the key components you consider for international co-productions (editorially and/or in terms of finance models and rights)?

As a global platform, the majority of our local originals launch on Prime Video worldwide. We’ve begun exploring internal co-productions between territories, and in French Canada, where we focus on distinctly local stories, there is significant opportunity to co-produce with partners outside of Amazon. Ultimately, we’re open to a range of business models when they make strategic sense for our platform.

How, and at what point in the development process, should producers pitch to you?

Producers should come to us with a thoughtful, well-developed package -not just a concept, but a strong creative vision for the series. We want to understand: What makes this a must-watch show? What sets it apart in a landscape of thousands of titles? Who is the target audience? What does a full season look like? And who is the creative force driving the project?

For more information on pitching to Brent and hundreds of other commissioners, check out Broadcast Intelligence.