Amazon’s New Unscripted Boss Is Leaning Into Shows For Young Viewers

Jenn Levy has only been in her new job at Amazon for a few months but she already has an idea of how she wants to shake up its unscripted slate.

Levy, who is Head of Nonfiction Series at the streamer, is hunting for “holy sh*t” formats that can appeal to younger viewers, the ones that tuned in for Beast Games, and knows that “lean back” television doesn’t work for streaming audiences.

“The big challenge in streaming and what we’re focused on is going younger. I know everyone is sort of talking about it, but Beast Games is a huge success, massive show, massive audience, and it skews younger. I think figuring out how we can follow that with other formats and series is super important,” she said at Deadline’s Reality TV Summit.

Beast Games recently streamed its second season and has already been picked up for a third season.

Levy, who previously worked at Netflix, said that the “shape and size of a show doesn’t really matter”, it’s about the quality of the characters and the story.

“I talk about it as lean in urgency versus lean back TV,” she added. “I think in streaming, lean back TV doesn’t really fly. It doesn’t work for us. It works well for in other places, a lot of people are watching it on their phone.”

She said that as a result that rules out certain such as game shows. The streamer previously had a game show block with shows such as Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity? with Travis Kelce, JB Smoove-fronted Buy It Now and Wish List Games as well as Pop Culture Jeopardy!, which moved to Netflix for its second season.

“We’re not going to do game. Other places do game really well, but I don’t think it works in streaming, at least not yet. I think potentially it could when, when the audience and the product, the user experience, catches up to that kind of viewing, but it doesn’t right now,” she said.

Genres that Levy is hunting for include big dating formats and social strategy shows as well as docusoaps. “It’s about the journey you’re taking them on. I think it has to has to feel holy sh*t and talkable, that’s kind of the barrier, and that’s the way I’m thinking about it,” she said.

The former 32 Flavors exec said that she has started buying big formats and character-driven docusoaps and has put a few into development.

One show that is not in “active development” is a reboot of The Apprentice, which made headlines last week when the Wall Street Journal suggested that the show could return on the streamer with Donald Trump Jr. as the host. “That show is not in active development,” she said.