BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Amazon Studios chief Roy Price and his drama and comedy lieutenants hailed the subscription over-the-top service's "democratic" process of posting pilots for viewer comment and defended their top-secret approach during an executive session Monday (Aug. 3) at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.
"The good news about entertainment is that people are interested in it," Price said. "People watch and we get a ton of reviews." After declining to answer numerous questions about measurement, Price added, "Sometimes it can be a little distracting. It doesn't make sense for us."
He became more animated when asked about negotiations Amazon held to explore streaming Hannibal, which NBC abandoned.
"We’re not in the programming business," he said. While adding the caveat that he didn't mean to lump Hannibal in with run-of-the-mill schedule-fillers, he asked rhetorically, "You know that show? The one that would get you from 8:30 to 9? In an on-demand world, that show doesn’t work because people aren’t going to demand it."
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