Amazon.com, Inc. : Amazon Studios Announces Best Test Movie and Script of the Year
02/07/2012 | 07:10pm
Judges pick family flick '12 Princesses' as best test movie of the
year and suspenseful thriller 'Origin of a Species' as best script of
2011--awards totaling more than $1 million dollars
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced winners of the Amazon
Studios (http://studios.amazon.com)
best test movie and best script Annual Awards. Amazon Studios is an
online movie development process that invited filmmakers and
screenwriters around the world to submit full-length test movies and
scripts to make money, get discovered and get their movie made. 12
Princesses, written and directed by Rob Gardner, a family friendly
musical tale about a love-struck farm boy in a magical world, wins for
best test movie of the year and will be awarded $1 million. Origin of a
Species, written by Matthew Gossett, a thriller about an ex-cop facing
the greatest obstacle of his life, won the $100,000 best script prize.
"It has been a very exciting year for Amazon Studios. We received
projects from all over the world and have enjoyed collaborating with
filmmakers and screenwriters on some amazing original stories," said Roy
Price, director of Amazon Studios. "Choosing the best test movie and the
best script of the year was extremely challenging--with thousands of
projects submitted it was difficult to recognize only two. Still, after
much deliberation and debate, it was the way 12 Princesses' magical
story came to life in the test movie that pulled it to the top for the
million dollar prize, and it was Origin of a Species' nail-biting
suspense that stuck with us long after we finished reading the story."
Amazon Studios first launched in November of 2010, since then the Amazon
Studios community has submitted more than 700 test movies and 7,000
scripts. In the last year, 39 scripts, test movies and trailers were
highlighted in contests and awarded more than $1.9 million in cash
prizes. Additionally, Amazon Studios recently attached prominent
producers to three projects discovered through the community to help
further their development process.
12 Princesses and Origin of a Species both received tremendous community
feedback on the site but it was ultimately the judges that voted to make
them the 2011 winners. Judging for the best test movie award was
Alexander Payne, director and writer of The Descendants, and Trevor
Groth, director of programming for Sundance Film Festival. For best
script of the year, Lawrence Bender, producer for Inglourious Basterds,
Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting, along with Akiva Goldsman, writer
for A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons and
Courtenay Valenti, executive vice president of production for Warner
Bros. Pictures selected the winner.
"Amazon Studios seemed genuinely interested in exploring avenues outside
the standard channels, and I thought I'd give it a whirl," said Matthew
Gossett, winner of Best Script Award. "The experience has been great."
For more information about Amazon Studios, visit http://studios.amazon.com.
Follow the Amazon Studios blog (http://amazonstudios.tumblr.com/)
for up to date news, tips on filmmaking and writing or insightful
interviews with industry leaders.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle,
opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's
Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most
customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything
they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the
lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of
unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books;
Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home
& Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health &
Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web
Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to
in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end
technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any
type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most
compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced
electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright
sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an
easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages,
search, shop, and take notes - still with all the benefits of the most
advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line
e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch,
with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the
Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and
web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud,
Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon's new revolutionary cloud-accelerated
web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core
processor.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com,
www.amazon.co.uk,
www.amazon.de,
www.amazon.co.jp,
www.amazon.fr,
www.amazon.ca,
www.amazon.cn,
www.amazon.it,
and www.amazon.es.
As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include
Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates
otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly
from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to
competition, management of growth, new products, services and
technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international
expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center
optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and
strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption,
inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More
information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's
financial results is included in Amazon.com's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.
Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr
© Business Wire 2012
