Amazon is making some changes atop its movies team.
Julie Rapaport, who previously served as co-head of movies, will become the sole chief of the division. Matt Newman, Rapaport’s fellow co-head, will transition to a new role at Prime Video’s global sports group, where he is being tasked with developing original sports docuseries, films and scripted projects. He will report to Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video at Amazon. Rapaport will continue to report to Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke.
Under Rapaport and Newman, Amazon has enacted a major pivot in its strategy. It has moved from producing arthouse films designed to have robust theatrical launches to becoming a more streaming-focused service. Their main push has been to field more populist films. With the pandemic upending traditional studios’ businesses, Amazon moved aggressively to buy movies like “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “Coming 2 America” and “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania,” which had been set up at the likes of Universal, Paramount and Sony. Those films instead debuted on Prime.
Rapaport joined Amazon in 2015 from the Weinstein Company, where she worked in production and development. At Amazon, she worked as senior manager of development, production and acquisitions, overseeing the likes of “Beautiful Boy” starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet, as well as Richard Linklater’s “Last Flag Flying” and Mike White’s “Brad’s Status.”
Newman has been at Amazon since 2012, serving in a number of roles including head of U.K. film and head of strategic initiatives and international distribution.
Rapaport and Newman’s new roles were announced in a staff memo by Salke on Tuesday.
Here’s the full text of the memo:
Hi team – I wanted to share some very exciting news with you all.
Julie Rapaport and Matt Newman have been leading Movies together for the past several years, and they have accomplished so much as co-heads. With growth comes change and opportunity and Matt has decided to take on an exciting new role within the sports organization.
Prime Video’s global Sports group continues to grow and scale, with new programming and properties worldwide, including the historic launch this fall of Thursday Night Football. As our live sports portfolio grows, and we look to build on the success of projects like Rooney in the UK and our All or Nothing franchise, Matt will take on a new role developing original sports docuseries, films, and scripted projects, reporting to Marie Donoghue. Matt helped guide our movie strategy through multiple new milestones, including the release of tentpole movies on Prime Video like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Coming 2 America, Cinderella, and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. I’m personally so grateful for Matt’s contributions, and can’t wait to see what lies ahead for him.
With Matt’s move, we will be applying a single threaded leadership approach to movies. With Julie’s top-notch leadership skills and her ability to nurture a diverse range of filmmakers – from up-and-comers to the well-established – this move will help us continue to build on our great momentum. The critical acclaim keeps rolling in this awards season, including three major noms for Being the Ricardos: Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor. Upcoming releases including Master with Regina Hall, My Policeman starring Harry Styles, All the Old Knives starring Chris Pine, and Catherine, Called Birdy with Lena Dunham reinforce our mission to be the Home for Talent. I’m grateful for Julie’s vision and continued contributions to the Studio.
Please join me in congratulating Julie and Matt on their roles. These are exciting times for Studios, Sports, and all of Prime Video. I look forward to the next chapter – for Julie, for Matt, and for all of us.
Jen
