Amazon Instant Video Greenlights Six Original Series Pilots

Amazon Studios, the original film and series production arm of Amazon.com, today announced that it plans to produce pilots for six original comedy series. The series come from a diverse set of writers including newcomers to Hollywood and industry veterans with notable credits and awards. This marks the studios' first pilot production since expanding into original programming development earlier this year.

Once the six pilots are completed, they will be posted on Amazon Instant Video for Amazon customers to watch for free. Viewer feedback will help determine which series Amazon Studios should produce. Completed seasons will be exclusively available to Prime members through Prime Instant Video and LOVEFiLM in the UK for free.

"Since launching our original series development effort, we have received more than 2,000 series ideas from creators around the world with all different backgrounds, and we are extremely excited to begin production on our very first set of pilots," said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. "The six comedy pilots will begin production shortly, and once they are complete, we plan to post the pilots on Amazon Instant Video for feedback. We want Amazon customers to help us decide which original series we should produce."

"Amazon has been so innovative and successful in so many realms, it's impossible not to get excited about its new venture into online programming. We look forward to partnering with Amazon's creative team, making a great show, and as the holidays approach, receiving free two-day shipping for the entire cast and crew," said Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau, writer of comedy series Alpha House.

ALPHA HOUSE
Alpha House was written by Academy Award nominee and Pulitzer-Prize winner Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury, Tanner '88). Alpha House follows four senators who live together in a rented house in Washington DC.

BROWSERS
Written by 12-time Emmy-winning comedy writer David Javerbaum (The Daily Show) and to be directed by Don Scardino (30 Rock), Browsers is a musical comedy set in contemporary Manhattan that follows four young people as they start their first jobs at a news website.

DARK MINIONS
Written by Big Bang Theory co-stars Kevin Sussman and John Ross Bowie, Dark Minions is an animated workplace series about two slackers just trying to make a paycheck working an intergalactic warship. The pilot will be produced by Principato-Young (Reno 911).

THE ONION PRESENTS: THE NEWS
The Onion Presents: The News is a smart, fast-paced scripted comedy set behind the scenes of The Onion News Network that shows just how far journalists will go to stay at the top of their game. The Onion Presents: The News is from The Onion's Will Graham & Dan Mirk (The Onion News Network, The Onion Sportsdome).

SUPANATURAL
Supanatural is an animated comedy series about two outspoken divas who are humanity's last line of defense against the supernatural, when they're not working at the mall. The series, written by Lily Sparks, Price Peterson and Ryan Sandoval, will be produced by Jason Micallef (Butter) and Kristen Schaal (The Daily Show).

THOSE WHO CAN'T
Written by Andrew Orvedahl, Adam Cayton-Holland and Benjamin Roy (Grawlix), who were discovered through Amazon Studios online open door process, Those Who Can't is a comedy about three juvenile, misfit teachers who are just as immature, if not more so, than the students they teach.

Since its launch in November 2010, more than 12,000 movie scripts and 2,000 series pilot scripts have been submitted to Amazon Studios. The original series announced today will be added to the Amazon Studios series development slate, which currently boasts 14 additional projects that have been both submitted through the studios' website and optioned for development.

Amazon Studios continues to invite series creators to upload their proposals for comedy and children's programming at http://studios.amazon.com/getting-started/series or submit them privately via Amazon Studios.