Amazon UK managing director Chris Bird was among the latest group of industry executives to appear before the British Film & High-End TV Inquiry this afternoon, revealing how much money the streamer has invested in content from UK broadcasters for the first time Time.
“We have spent more than $400 million licensing, co-producing and co-commissioning content from the UK public broadcasters,” Bird said. “Not only did we want to make bigger and better shows, but we also helped produce everything by Steve McQueen Small axe and Phoebe Waller Bridges Flea bag to the recently announced second and third seasons of The night manager with the BBC.”
deadline was the first to spread the news The night manager Returns with Tom Hiddleston as the lead actor.
“Prime Video not only helps produce these hits, but also distributes them to regions around the world,” Bird added. “Outside America, British content travels best around the world,” he said.
An Amazon spokeswoman later told Deadline that the $400 million had been spent since 2016. Amazon didn’t say how much the streamer has invested in the country overall, including U.K. originals, but in 2022 it said it spent about $1 billion over four years on TV, movies and live sports .
In addition to Bird, Mitchell Simmons, vice president of public policy and government affairs EMEA at Paramount, Benjamin King, senior director of public policy at Netflix, and Gidon Freeman, SVP of Government, also took part in the panel discussion before the UK Committee on Culture, Media and Sport – and regulatory affairs at NBCUniversal International.
Indie Film Tax Credit
The group discussed a range of topics relating to film and series production and development in the UK, including the UK’s new 40% Indie Film Tax Credit and how each of their companies have helped support local talent.
“Paramount has historically invested heavily in low-budget British films under £5m. Then there was a pause of several years, but in 2019 they started increasing investments and trying to find projects,” Simmons said.
Simmons said the presence of a studio like Paramount in the UK helps create what he described as a “pipeline” for British talent to thrive.
“Just to give you an example,” he said, “In 2019, Rapman was an up-and-coming director on YouTube and created the short film Blue story. He then received development funding from the BBC for a feature film script. And then he looked for financing. Paramount financed this feature and then it absolutely smashed the box office, grossing £4 million in the UK. As a result, the film will be released in theaters in the United States and South Africa. And a few years later, Rapman now has a big-budget show on Netflix.”
Thanks to the UK government’s introduction of the Indie Film Tax Credit, Simmons expects to see an “increase in the number of projects and the amount of spending on those projects” from Paramount towards smaller budget British films.
His comments came a few months after Paramount+ picked up a raft of British TV originals as part of a Hollywood pivot under Bob Bakish.
The investigation also heard from people like Bend it like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha, Slow horses Director James Hawes and British exhibition bosses.