Jennifer Salke, president of NBC Entertainment, is moving over to Amazon Studios as its chief, filling the void left when Roy Price was ousted from that position in October over sexual harassment allegations.
Salke will report to Jeff Blackburn, Amazon sr. VP of business development and digital entertainment. Among those reporting to Salke will be Amazon COO Albert Cheng who’s overseen the studio since Price’s departure.
Salke, who first joined NBC Entertainment in summer of 2011, has had a key hand in varied successes there, including the arrival of This is Us as a major primetime hit for the network. She will remain at NBC for an interim stretch so as to facilitate a smooth transition there.
Salke will bring strong relationships with the creative community to Amazon Studios. She’s also been involved in efforts to bring new talent into that community, having teamed with lauded director Lesli Linka Glatter to spearhead NBC’S Female Forward initiative which aims to give women directors a pipeline into scripted televison. Per the program, female directors are to be afforded the opportunity to shadow on up to three episodes of an NBC series. Their experience culminates with an in-season commitment for each participant to direct at least one episode of the series she shadows.
Female Forward is slated to begin with the 2018-19 season on 10 NBC series with the intent of expanding the number of directors and shows in subsequent years.
