F**king Idiots
20th December 2024
Reporting suggests Barbara Broccoli and Amazon Studios are at an impasse
By MI6 Staff
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Significant reporting on the state of the James Bond film franchise was published today by the Wall Street Journal. Citing interviews with over 20 people including friends of the producers, studio executives, and industry insiders, the main headline is that Amazon and EON are at an impasse and no progress has been made on Bond 26. Candidly, Broccoli is reportedly refusing to make a film with the studio.
According to the report, Broccoli has told friends her thoughts on Amazon this way: “These people are fucking idiots.”
It has been three years since Amazon's acquisition of MGM, and with it 50% of the James Bond film rights, and there has been no progress on rebooting the series after Daniel Craig's departure in 2021. There is still "no script, no story, and no new Bond."
Things got off to a rocky start when veteran studio honchos Mike DeLuca and Pamela Abdy, who Broccoli reportedly got along well with, left soon after the acquisition. Their replacement, Jennifer Salke, irked Broccoli in one early meeting when she referred to James Bond by a dreaded word: "content." As the WSJ puts it, using such a sterile term, one friend reflected, was like a "death knell" to Broccoli.
If even half of the reporting is accurate, it is unlikely that any movement on Bond 26 will occur until one, or both, sides make significant concessions.
Other revelations in the report include:
- Michael G. Wilson couldn't get a meeting with anyone at Amazon above an 'L6' employee (six levels below the CEO).
- Gregg Wilson wishes to modernize the character away from a straight white male. Broccoli has (somewhat) pushed against this.
- The '007: Road To A Million' show was in development before the Amazon acquisition of MGM (as MI6 reported last year) and "Amazon executives have griped that the show’s first season lost a significant share of viewers after six minutes."
- During a company meeting about the second season, an Amazon employee admitted her own misgivings. “I have to be honest, I don’t think James Bond is a hero.” The room went silent.
- At a meeting in May 2022, weeks after the deal closed, executives circulated a 10.5-page memo listing ideas for new shows and movies based on the titles in their newly acquired MGM library. The goal was to “maximize content opportunities presented by MGM and the MGM library acquisition,” the memo said. Next to Bond, all the memo listed as a status was “TBD. On hold pending larger discussions."
- Amazon has hired another production executive, Courtenay Valenti, who is now known as the “Barbara whisperer” within the studio.
- Sometime before 2021, EON turned down a deal to create a tie-in casino
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