Maybe it was because I was otherwise consumed with the practically nonstop news about late night television hosts and the state of democracy. Or maybe it was because at least I completely missed any alert or e-mail highlighting this particular story which as it turned out practically every significant media news site, even ones not being dismantled by Penske, covered. The intrepid Nellie Andreeva was, as per usual, on the case:
After weeks of speculation, Vernon Sanders is leaving Amazon MGM Studios where he was Head of Global TV. The news comes six months after the departure of his longtime boss, Jennifer Salke…He will stay on for several weeks to help with the transition. No successor has been named.
Or maybe I missed this because aside from this being a nothingburger of prose it was arguably the least surprising executive departure in recent memory.
Her WRAP competitor Tess Patton’s version did its best to give Sanders a respectful send-off:
The executive decided to step just six months after his longtime boss Jennifer Salke left the company…”After a little over seven years at Amazon MGM Studios, I am writing to share my decision to step down as Head of Global Television,” he wrote in a staff memo Wednesday…The television executive said that as he steps into a new chapter he wants to return to the “day-to-day creative process of making television.”…While I have been deeply honored by that growth in scope, I’ve found myself increasingly distant from what originally drew me to this industry — the day-to-day creative process of making television,” he wrote, saying he made the decision earlier this summer.
But El Intrepidita telegraphed some breadcrumbs which I had been aware of for years that seem to indicate that this was neither Sanders’ choice nor as premeditated as he desired his team to believe:
Salke’s March exit as Head of Amazon MGM Studios raised questions about Sanders’ future. The initial indications were that he would stay put, and, in a restructuring announced just two weeks ago, he further expanded his turf by adding oversight of MGM Alternative Television…(T)here has also been chatter in the background about Hopkins reaching out to top TV executives of the likes of (Peter) Friedlander, who recently left as Netflix head of UCAN Scripted Series, and Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content, who is under contract and not available. There had been speculation that Hopkins might bring in a high-level TV executive with Sanders staying on. That now won’t be the case…Sanders did not list career highlights but noted that he was leaving “with a profound sense of accomplishment and immense gratitude.”
From what more than a few one-time colleagues of mine had privately conveyed over his tenure, and from I observed during the partnerships meetings I attended while launching several Sony collaborations including their relative breakthrough THE BOYS and the exceptionally ambitious WHEEL OF TIME, the biggest reason Sanders did not list career highlights is that aside from hitching himself to the aggressive and determined Salke at the most opportunistic time for someone with his skills to do so he didn’t really have any.
Salke’s stormy reign at the company had been the subject of plenty of prior coverage, including more than one musing of my own. In the wake of more than 500 of her staffers waking up early last year to the news they were no longer Amazonians, we congratulated her on how her bullish vision on previous gambits like the LORD OF THE RINGS spinoff THE RINGS OF POWER and CITADEL brought that about–despite being both promotionally and algorithmically tied to the magnet of THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL. A few months earlier we took note of how her team was particularly defensive about the performance–or lack thereof–of the exceptionally risky CITADEL and how Salke’s “solution” was to throw still more money at the problem. And when Salke’s catlike existence finally ran out of lives last spring we did our own best to emulate Patton’s version of respectful reporting, though in hindsight I’m not too sure we succeeded.
At least we weren’t as explicit as the likes of the DAILY MAIL’s Alex Hammer, who delivered a blistering recap of her accomplishments in the story he dropped at the time:
Salke, whose ouster was announced in an internal memo obtained by Deadline Thursday, had been on borrowed time after a series of flops and failed hires, sources told Puck.
They singled out her with work with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator of Fleabag, in particular, after she received not one, but two $20million deals over the course of six years. The first three year deal yielded no output – but Salke gave Waller-Bridge a second $20 million deal regardless. And Waller-Bridge’s creative block appears as bad as ever. She is now working on the new Tomb Raider film, which doesn’t even have a script, according to Puck.
Salke also butted heads with the co-owners of the iconic James Bond franchise, during her studio’s acquisition of the series, they said. The latter, Puck reported Friday, is likely what sealed Salke’s fate – adding how her exit was actually a firing. The accounts from those familiar with the matter casts doubt on the studio’s official ‘resignation’ claim, aired Thursday.
Salke, who had joined Amazon in 2018, also oversaw several rejiggers that left some creatives wondering who was their boss, insiders said. Producers and agents said regularly encountered problems getting Salke on the phone, sources said.
My former colleagues were among those encountering such issues, and routinely it was Sanders who would be the intermediary that would attempt to douse their fires. As more than one of them lamented, it was as effective as peeing on a gas leak.
At least Salke was willing to stick her own neck out and have takes —ill-advised as they may have been. I personally never saw Sanders utter a single word other than cordial greetings at any meeting I was at, and those that dealt more closely never received a single note or direction from him.
If one goes back to how the LOS ANGELES TIMES’ Meg James covered how his tenure began, one begins to pick up some clues as to why that may have been:
Change was apparent for Amazon Studios’ programming presentation during the Television Critics Assn. conference Saturday. Jennifer Salke, the recently hired head of the Culver City studio, took the opportunity to showcase her democratic approach.
Instead of hogging the spotlight to celebrate her newfound status as the big cheese, Salke was joined by her two lieutenants — co-heads of television Albert Cheng and Vernon Sanders — on stage at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. One writer observed that the trio of executives “were ‘The Mod Squad’ here.” It was a TV reference to the groundbreaking 1968 cop drama, which was one of the first to revolve around a diverse cast of equals.
“Hopefully, soon, ‘The Mod Squad’ just looks like a normal panel,” Salke said, adding that the majority of her team at NBC also were diverse.
Now add to that the insight that esteemed Lesley Goldberg authored for THE ANKLER as one of the first contributions to her new employer as Sanders’ chance to step out of Salke’s shadow began this past April:
(T)he pressure is firmly on her longtime colleague.. Sanders, He was a current exec, not a creative visionary,” says one source familiar with the inner workings of the streamer. “He was Jen’s foot soldier.” Now the foot soldier is the general, or at least the lieutenant, and Amazon insiders and their partners are figuring out just what the new regime will be, who will be calling the shots and where its TV programming is headed.
Apparently, nearly six months later, they still are. And in the uber-competitive world of streaming media, that’s an eternity.
Goldberg was respectful enough not to include the observation from one of my more senior ex-colleagues who took particular pride in being able to palm off the significant overages on WHEEL OF TIME, perceived by as high as Jeff Bezos as the answer to his quixotic pursuit of his own GAME OF THRONES, on Sanders with this thinly veiled assessment:
In his case, the initials stand for dull, empty and indifferent.
Oof.
Gotta hope ol’ Vern didn’t put that person down on his list of references as he seeks to “return to the day-to-day creative process”.
But here’s the punchline. Even in a climate that is allegedly moving companies away from the kinds of programs that reward the hiring of folks with Sanders’–ahem–qualifications–he’s got a way better chance of finding his next gig than many of us otherwise do. Assuming he is even motivated to do so, since when someone exits a company less than a month after s/he is given new responsibilities the word “settlement” inevitably accompanies that sort of action. There need be no tears shed no GoFundMe started for Vernon Sanders and his family.
As of one my other more esteemed and more senior ex-colleagues once told me about the way they put together a team, he said “The only color I care about when I’m hiring someone is green–like how much of it that person has been responsible for making for others and how much more of it they can make me”.
There’s your first task in your return to the creative world, Vern. Bonne chance.
Until next time…