Amazon.com Inc is entering film production with a website that will allow aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers to submit scripts and films that could eventually hit the screens.
The Web retail giant announced on Tuesday the launch of Amazon Studios in a partnership with Warner Bros Pictures.
To start with, Amazon Studios (http://studios.amazon.com) is offering $2.7 million for "top submissions" of scripts and test films received by December 31, 2011. Those would subsequently be developed as commercial feature films. Full-length feature films will be tested for feedback at an early stage. Warner Bros will have first rights to produce the films, although Amazon can approach other studios if it rejects the projects.
Up for grabs are an annual award of $100,000 for the best script and $1 million for the best film. Amazon will also pay $200,000 to the screenwriter or filmmaker behind a project that is produced as a feature film. It will dole out an additional $400,000 if the film brings in over $60 million in US box office sales.
Roy Price, Director of Digital Product Development, said in a statement, "We are excited to introduce writers, filmmakers and movie lovers to Amazon Studios. Full-length test movies will show stories up on their feet and attract helpful feedback at an early stage. We hope that Amazon Studios will help filmmakers experiment and collaborate and we look forward to developing hit movies."
The first panel which will choose the best scripts and films include screenwriter and chair, Writing Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Jack Epps, Jr (Top Gun, Dick Tracy), producer Mark Gill (former president of Miramax and Warner Independent Pictures), screenwriter Mike Werb (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Face/Off) and producer and chair, Production Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Michael Taylor (Bottle Rocket, The Pursuit of DB Cooper).
Amazon is not new to the industry, either; it owns the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and has a stake in LOVEFiLM International Ltd, a European subscription DVD rental company.
