Amazon exec seeking new vice-president of international originals 

LOL - Last One Laughing UK group shot

LOL: Last One Laughing UK

Amazon has upped Kelly Day to become head of Prime Video’s international originals teams in the wake of Jen Salke’s abrupt exit at the end of March.

Day will assume the remit in addition to her responsibilities as vice president of Prime Video International.

The exec joined Prime Video from what was then ViacomCBS (now Paramount Group) in early 2022, taking on the vice-president and head of international for Prime Video. She had previously worked at Discovery, AOL and Awesomeness.

Day is now on the look-out for a new vice-president of international originals to take on the remit of James Farrell, who departed earlier this year.

The rejig was confirmed in a staff memo from Prime Video chief Mike Hopkins, to whom Day reports.

Kelly Day index

Kelly Day

It comes two weeks after the exit of Salke, who had been with the company for seven years. She has now segued into a production deal with the US giant.

Day’s team includes heads of international originals execs Javiera Balmaceda (LatAm, Canada & Australia), Tara Erer (Northern Europe), Nicole Morganti (Southern Europe) and Nikhil Madhok (India), the latter reporting into Gaurav Gandhi (VP, Prime Video APAC & MENA).

Marc Hausmaninger, head of content strategy, international originals, also reports into Day, whose new team has been behind international shows such as Maxton Hall, Clarkson’s Farm, Like Water For Chocolate and the globe-trotting LOL format, which recently launched in the UK.

In his note to staff, Hopkins pointed to shows such as Culpa Tuya and Apocalypse Z as setting Prime Video global streaming records for non-English language content and said such shows added “great depth” to Prime Video’s offering.

Upcoming shows include new projects such as Newtopia (Korea), Superboys of Malegaon (India), Graduation Trip: Mallorca (Spain) and Costiera (Italy), which Hopkins said “give(s) us a ton of confidence in what’s next for this part of our business.” He continued that Day would “continue the amazing momentum” in International.