The first four projects of Amazon Studios series development slate involve a Hell of a deal, the end of the world, a magic monkey and a plaid sheep. That last one is a kids show and the others are comedies. All were selected from Amazon Studios site. Each will receive $10,000 option extensions. For more information on submitting ideas, visit this site.
From the announcement, the projects are:
The 100 Deaths of Mort Grimley
Creator: Angel Castillo
Premise: In this animated comedy, Hell desperately needs new customers. And Mort Grimley, new to the Underworld after accidentally taking his own life, is offered a deal; get Hell’s numbers up and maybe get a transfer out (and up), or face eternity in fire and brimstone alongside the cruel mother he tried to escape.Doomsday
Creator: Nathan Thomas
Premise: This mockumentary follows an ensemble of diverse characters as they ready themselves for the supposed end of the world — including the guru who made the doomsday prediction.Magic Monkey Billionaire
Creator: Diana Wright
Premise: When their wealthy magician owner suddenly dies, his two animal assistants — Rabbit and Monkey — are shocked to learn that Monkey alone has been left his billions, soon unleashing the ultimate forces of good and evil as former friends turn to arch enemies.The children’s project is:Buck Plaidsheep
Creators: Frank Suarez (artist) and Clark Stubbs (writer)
Premise: Buck Plaidsheep chronicles the adventures of a courageous little critter named Buck. Whenever there’s a problem on Fleecy Farm, Buck races full-speed into action in one of his souped-up vehicles. And although things may not always go as planned, it’s Buck’s “never give up” attitude that makes him the sheep that always saves the day!Amazon Studios intends to add projects to its Series and Movie Development Slates on a regular basis. If you have an original script that you’d like to see considered, you may submit it privately or publicly. The Amazon Studios team will evaluate each submitted project and in 45 days decide whether or not to pay $10,000 to extend the initial option by 18 months and add the project to the Development Slate. Learn more.
WGA members can learn more about opportunities offered through Amazon Studios’ production affiliate, the People’s Production Company.



BWAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!
Amazon will own your series lock stok and barrel and offer you nothing for it.
Digital Slavery.
If the options are 10 grand and your name in the trades or nobody ever reading your script which would you take?
Exactly. I’d take it.
Good luck with those.
My sincere congrats to the named creators, though I am curious to see how these “projects” will evolve. I have reviewed the terms of this studio and, on the advice of my entertainment lawyer, will not be submitting anything to them.
Just my preference…
I’ve read the contract after 18 months another 10k. Then it caps out around 200k if it reaches full development plus a percentage of any products.
Since Hollywood isn’t giving out Seinfield deals to any want to be. The question becomes do you have a better option unless you are related to JJ Abrams. Event with that you might not make it in Hollywood. To quote a line from Dream Girls and you are wanted in the Hollywood system of today.
Suckers.
And who is going to oversee the development on these projects to insure that they’re production ready? Is there a crack team of seasoned development and production execs there?
LOL @ “Digital Slavery.” Is anybody paying you a dime for those spec scripts/treatments that have been gathering dust (assuming you even HAVE anything and not just shit-talking)? If you’re even lucky enough to have an agent, when’s the last time he called? Are you Jewish? Are you gay? Do you have famous parents? Were they in the industry? Did you go to an Ivy League school? Did you write for SNL or Letterman? If not, don’t hold your breath.
Full sincere congrats to the winners. About time the process was democratized. The concepts are no stupider than most Nicktoons or whatever. 15 years ago “Spongebob” sounded weird. $20K with options is no joke, and boom, you’re in the game.
Thanks, Amazon!
As a matter of fact. I am, loser.
I know this is hard for a moron to believe, but there are talentless Jews and Gays and they don’t makee it in Hollywood.
All of the onerous deal nonsense is just noise. As Amazon Studios has already shown with “Zombies v. Gladiators” they will just go out hand hire a Hollywood screenwriter to rewrite these terrible scripts. What Amazon wants to do with Studios is have its movies be like the e-book is to the Kindle. The equivalent of the $9.99 self-published piece of crap next to the studios’ $14.99 or $19.99 tentpole releases. Predatory pricing of content to get as many Kindle users signed up instead of using iPads or Chromebooks. It’s all about the eyeballs and credit cards locked into Amazon’s system instead of iTunes or whatever Google decides to come up with.
Weird projects. i don’t see them getting anywhere.
I’ve been looking at the 350+ prime time comedy pilots on the site this past week and have actually seen a bunch of scripts that look like they could compete on Network TV.
Shows like:
“Imagination Christmas”
“Did I Say That Out Loud”
“Newport News”
“Life Is Scary”
“Life Sucks”
I wonder if Amazon is looking for shows that could complete with Network TV or if they just want to go ahead with cheap, easy to make animated comedies… If they go for the latter, they already have their stock of shows, if they want to go for something that can compete, they have a bunch of shows to look at.
I also wonder if other Networks are looking and hoping for certain shows to not be picked up by Amazon and then snatch them up when the 45 day free option period is over.
Im pretty sure that the same guy who wrote Life Sucks is the same guy who wrote Did I Say That Out Loud?.
From what I can see, those are his only two shows out there. And I’m all for the Mort Show. That could be great!