Amazon Studios PR Chief Craig Berman Exits Jeff Bezos Company
Todd Williamson/Shutterstock EXCLUSIVE: After working to construct the House of Bezos a..
Todd Williamson/Shutterstock
EXCLUSIVE: After working to construct the House of Bezos as a major player in Hollywood, Craig Berman has exited Amazon.
Following years of shuttling back and forth between Los Angeles and Seattle, the Amazon Studios communications chief actually left the Jeff Bezos-run home of Transparent and The Marvelous Ms. Maisel on November 16, Ive learned. No replacement, interim or otherwise, has been named so far.
“I have had an amazing 14-year run at Amazon, but I am ready for something new,” Berman told Deadline today. “I am fortunate for the opportunity to build a world-class PR and publicity team, and to lead this team through many remarkable and history-making moments across the entire company,” the now ex-VP Public Relations and Publicity at Amazon Entertainment added of a team now numbering around 250 at the e-commerce and media giant.
In February of this year, Warner Bros TV PR exec Tammy Golihew joined the now Jennifer Salke-run Amazon Studios as Director of Publicity for Original Series . Golihew reported to Berman, as did Vicky Eguia, Director of Publicity for Amazon Original Movies. Berman praised both of them.
“The last few years working with Amazon Entertainment have been some of the most fun,” Berman said. “I will dearly miss Amazon and my friends there but Im excited for a new chapter.”
Not quite sure if it was always fun, at least in the past few months as Berman steered the good ship Prime Video through numerous sexual harassment accusation against Jeffrey Tambor. The ex-Transparent star was dropped from the Jill Soloway-created Emmy winner earlier this year.
Bermans tenure at Amazons burgeoning streamer also saw the VP handling the fallout from the departure of former Amazon Studios head Roy Price in October 2017 following sexual harassment allegations. As Prime Video has matured and become a clear force in the industry, various other top studio execs have left too, including most recently Amazons Head of Unscripted Heather Schuster who exited after less than a year in the gig following an internal investigation over inappropriate conduct. On the flip side, Berman was deeply integrated into the search for a new Amazon Studios boss and the process that saw former NBC Entertainment president Salke get the job at the beginning of this year.
Throughout his stint at the Seattle-based so-called everything store, Berman also worked closely with Bezos advising the Amazon CEO on corporate and crisis communications. Consumer PR for Amazons retail business — launching Kindles, Fire Tablets, Fire TV and the Echo/Alexa systems — was also in his domain, as was communications duties for Amazons fulfillment network.
