Amazon (Still) Wants Hyper-Local Shows in Europe: ‘If We’re Commissioning a Big Spanish Show, I Need It to Be a Hit in Spain’

variety.com:

Manori Ravindran International EditorAmazon Prime Video is continuing its mission of commissioning “local for local” shows as its European operation becomes more entrenched.Georgia Brown, head of Amazon Studios for Europe, told a packed Series Mania session in Lille on Thursday that her regional staff across the continent aren’t looking for international ideas, but rather location-specific conceits.“If we’re commissioning a big show in Spain, I need it to be a hit in Spain,” said Brown. “Lots of people come to us saying, ‘We have a great international show,’ and that doesn’t really work for us.

What we need is a regional focus, a specific place.”One such example is six-part series “Jungle” out of the U.K., which Brown described as a “hybrid rap musical set in the world of grime [music],” which began life as a 10-minute music video that was sent to former Amazon executive Lydia Hampson.

During the session, Amazon world premiered a slick trailer for the beautifully shot drama, which tells the story of two separate but interconnected strangers facing various personal struggles in inner-city London.

Creators Chas Appeti and Junior Okoli, who come from the world of directing music videos, were recently featured as part of Variety’s Europeans to Watch in TV.“We couldn’t make ‘Jungle’ in France,” Brown told the crowd. “And that’s so important to us.”It has been four years since Amazon Studios first revealed the company’s plans for original programming out of Europe.