Amazon TV Head Vernon Sanders Celebrates Emmy Nomination Haul: ‘I’m Over the Moon’
Amazon’s Vernon Sanders has much to celebrate after Amazon Studios, Prime Video, Freevee and MGM scored a total of 68 Primetime Emmy Award nominations Wednesday.
“I’m over the moon. There’s just a breath of recognition which doesn’t always happen,” the television executive told TheWrap. “I think these nominations really represent the fact that Amazon Studios, Freevee, MGM and Prime Video are destinations where talent can actually tell stories in bold innovative ways and take big swings and attempt to engage a global audience. That vision for the service and for Amazon Studios, that’s why I’m particularly proud.”
Prime Video’s critically acclaimed and fan-favorite series “The Marvelous Maisel” became the most Emmy-nominated streaming comedy ever with 80 nominations overall, adding 14 nominations to its 66-nomination tally with its fifth and final season.
“We just couldn’t be more proud of the Palladinos and the cast of that show,” he said.
Additionally, Freevee’s James Marsden-led comedy series “Jury Duty,” which earned four nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series, became the first AVOD series ever nominated in a major category.
“[Jury Duty] is truly just a word of mouth phenomenon,” Sanders said. “We felt that the show really belonged in the comedy category because when you look at the folks who put that together Lee, Gene and Dave Bernad, they all truly come from a comedy background. And so their intention was to surprise people and truly make them laugh and I think the show does. It beautifully has tremendous heart and really stands out.”
He noted that “Jury Duty” was a “bold idea that made a lot of people nervous.”
“Our legal team probably all have gray hair now because there was so much risk involved, but I think it paid off,” he added. “So as we’re really looking at ourselves and thinking about content that can break through, I think we’re challenging ourselves now to not assume that we know why something can’t work but be more open to things that feel like there’s boldness… really the lesson is take bold chances. I’m just so grateful to see so many people be recognized.”
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Prime Video accounted for 41 nominations, including six for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Sanders said the achievement was “incredible for a first-season show” and praised “the level of devotion” of its crafts people.
“To see that recognized is incredibly gratifying, everyone on that show has worked so hard to try to deliver something that felt true to Tolkien,” he added.
The show was notably unable to crack into the Outstanding Drama Series or major acting categories.
“It’s a really, really challenging thing for a first-year show to get into the drama category. There are just so many great shows there,” he said. “In terms of the acting categories, what I would say is we had a huge cast of people. I think all of our actors are incredibly, incredibly dynamic. But once you have a cast of that size, there’s always going to be risk. It’s harder for any one person, one performance to get recognized. That being said, I do think the show is incredibly special and truly worthy. So over the course of this award season, it’s been really wonderful to see that show get recognized by so many different award bodies and we’ll be back next year.”
Additionally, “Daisy Jones & The Six” received nine nominations, “Wednesday” received 12 and “The Voice” (both MGM Television productions) received four.
“‘Daisy Jones’ has been a multi-year labor of love shooting over COVID, finding actors who could sing, having such a beloved book translated in that way has just been fantastic. Fans have had such a love for that show,” he said. “And then ‘Rings of Power,’ ‘The Boys’ and Dominique Fishback and “Swarm” and “Wednesday,” some of our reality shows being recognized. It just feels like we’re firing on all cylinders in terms of just quality content. So it’s so great to see the industry recognize it.”
The 75th Annual Emmy Awards will air live on Fox on Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT. Check out the full list of nominees here.
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