Amazon MGM Studios Senior Production & Development Executive Sandino Moya-Smith Exits

Anthony D'Alessandro
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: We understand that Amazon Studios MGM Senior Production & Development Executive Sandino Moya-Smith was unfortunately part of the cuts made by the streaming/theatrical studio this morning.

Moya-Smith, who was involved in development and also feature physical production, was recently working on Doug Liman’s Road House starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an ex-UFC middleweight fighter who ends up working at a rowdy bar in the Florida Keys where things are not as they seem. Moya-Smith was also overseeing Wrecking Crew, the Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa buddy action comedy from Blue Beetle director Ángel Manuel Soto. The executive was part of the film teams overseen by Courtenay Valenti and Julie Rapaport.

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Moya-Smith was hired during the Jonathan Glickman-run era of the MGM Motion Picture Group, and continued to work throughout the Michael De Luca-Pamela Abdy regime into the studio’s absorption by Amazon. Prior to Amazon’s takeover over MGM, Moya-Smith was the VP of Production at MGM.

Among the projects he worked on were Landscape with Invisible Hand, Pussy Island, and Tomb Raider in addition to No Time To Die, Respect, and Samaritan.

Prior to MGM, he was the VP of Production at Limelight Entertainment where he put together Palm Springs, which wound up selling big out of Sundance 2020 to NEON/Hulu in what was then a festival $22M record.

Moya-Smith was a Production Executive at June Pictures, where he worked on films including The Florida Project (2017), Book Club (2018), Wildlife (2018), and Dude (2018).

Prior to that, he worked for filmmaker Gary Ross on such films as The Hunger Games (2012). Moya-Smith was an associate producer on Free State of Jones (2016), and Ocean’s Eight (2018). The exec is an alum of San Francisco State University.

Moya-Smith didn’t return request for comment by Deadline.

Amazon layoffs today numbered in the several hundred across Prime Video and Amazon Studios.

Sources also tell Deadline that among those let go today — many just didn’t see it coming, and were completely jarred.

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