Amazon announced two major changes in their film department. Julie Rapaport (pictured, right), who served as co-head of the movie team with Matt Newman, has now been appointed the sole chief of that division, while Newman will move to a newly created role at Prime Video’s global sports group. Newman (left) will be responsible for developing original documentaries, films and scripted projects and will report to Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s vp of global sports video. Rapaport will report to Jennifer Salke, chief of Amazon Studios.
Rapaport joined Amazon in 2015 as a senior management of development, production and acquisitions. Together with Newman, they spearheaded acquiring projects for the streaming network that include Beautiful Boy, Coming 2 America and Being The Ricardos.
In a staff memo announcing Rapaport’s promotion, Salke said, “With Julie’s top-notch leadership skills and her ability to nurture a diverse range of filmmakers–from up-and-comers to the well-established–this move will help us continue to build on our great momentum.”
Salke also commented on Newman’s move to the global sports group: “As our live sports portfolio grows, and we look to build on the success of projects like Rooney in the UK and our All or Nothing franchise, Matt will take on a new role developing original sports docuseries, films, and scripted projects, reporting to Marie Donoghue. Matt helped guide our movie strategy through multiple new milestones, including the release of tentpole movies on Prime Video like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Coming 2 America, Cinderella, and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. I’m personally so grateful for Matt’s contributions and can’t wait to see what lies ahead for him.”
