Amazon MGM Studios took little time to find its next head of global television.
Peter Friedlander, a well-respected former Netflix executive, is joining the studio, Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video head Mike Hopkins said Thursday in a memo to staff. Friedlander is set to begin his new job on Oct. 6 and will take over the role from Vernon Sanders, who announced his departure eight days ago.
Friedlander’s portfolio at Amazon MGM will include that studio as well as MGM Television (Fargo, Wednesday) and unscripted banner MGM Alternative.
Friedlander left Netflix less than a month ago after 14 years, the last four of those as head of scripted series for the United States and Canada. He had been one of the longest-serving creative executives at that company and had a hand in bringing a number of its biggest series to streaming, including Orange Is the New Black, Stranger Things, Wednesday and Black Mirror.
“I can’t wait for Peter to ramp up and meet all the teams, and I know he’s equally ready to get started on Day 1,” Hopkins wrote in the memo (read it in full, below). “Please join me in congratulating Peter on his new role and in welcoming him to Amazon.”
Amazon MGM Studios’ TV current TV roster includes The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Boys, Reacher, Fallout, the stalled Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Overcompensating, among other series, and a slate of upcoming shows that features Legally Blonde prequel Elle, crime drama Scarpetta and the Reacher spinoff Neagley.
Hopkins’ memo is below.
Team,
Please join me in welcoming Peter Friedlander, who joins Amazon MGM Studios as our new head of global TV. In this role, Peter will oversee our original TV portfolio in the US, in addition to our global tentpole titles, MGM Television and MGM Alternative. Peter joins us from Netflix, where he led their scripted series division for the past 4+ years, having joined that company initially in 2011. His resume at Netflix speaks for itself, as his tenure brought global audiences shows like Wednesday, Bridgerton, Monster, Ozark, Emily in Paris, The Queen’s Gambit, Stranger Things, The Night Agent, 3 Body Problem, Black Mirror and more. He joined Netflix as the first dedicated original series employee, helping to shepherd their first generation of shows, including House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black, among others.
Prior to Netflix, Peter was an executive at Tom Hanks’ and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone, where he produced the Emmy-nominated drama series Big Love and served as a creative executive on many of the company’s feature films. Peter began his career working on film sets, including Road To Perdition and Austin Powers In Goldmember.
I can’t wait for Peter to ramp up and meet all the teams, and I know he’s equally ready to get started on Day 1, which will be Monday, October 6. Please join me in congratulating Peter on his new role and in welcoming him to Amazon.
-Mike
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