Donations will be made to emergency COVID-19 funds set up in countries across Europe to support the production community as it restarts production

The first confirmed award from the $6 million fund is an overall £1.5 million to support the UK creative community through donations to the Film and TV Charity’s COVID-19 Response and the Theatre Community Fund

LONDON – 13 AUGUST, 2020 – Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios today announced a $6 million commitment to support the European TV and film production creative community through the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations from the fund will be made to COVID-19 relief funds in countries across Europe to support the creative community as TV and film production begins to restart across the continent.

The first confirmed awards from the $6 million fund include a £1 million donation in the UK to the Film and TV Charity’s COVID-19 Response to kick-start a new grants scheme to help the industry recover; and a £500,000 donation to the Theatre Community Fund, launched by Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Francesca Moody to provide hardship grants to theatre workers and freelancers across the UK.

Since the start of the crisis, the Film and TV Charity has distributed more than £3.3m in financial support and launched a range of new mental wellbeing services to support thousands of workers in the UK film, television, and cinema industry. The donation from Amazon Prime Video will kick-start a second wave of support including a major new grants scheme that will focus on supporting diverse talent as the industry recovers and production resumes. Eligible individuals will be able to apply for up to £4,500 as part of a transformative package of support that will enable those hit hardest by the shutdown to remain in the industry. The charity is now calling on the industry and individual donors to come forward and add to the founding donation from Amazon Prime Video, and has set a goal of raising £3.2m, which would enable the charity to continue to provide essential services and launch this major grants scheme next month.

The Theatre Community Fund is a new initiative launched by Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Francesca Moody, dispersed and monitored by the Royal Theatrical Fund in partnership with the Fleabag Support Fund. The fund launched in late July with a £1 million pledge made up of donations from its founders as well as other leading names from the entertainment industry including Tom Hiddleston, Gillian Anderson, Danny Boyle, Emilia Clarke, Richard Curtis, Kit Harrington, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, Daisy Ridley, Daniel Radcliffe, Andrew Scott, Meera Syal, Emma Thompson and Rachel Weisz [see full list below]. Amazon Studios has today donated £500,000 to enable the fund to continue to offer grants of up to £3,000 across two priority strands: 1) To help freelancers survive the present by providing hardship grants to those in immediate need, and 2) To ensure a healthy future for the industry by providing innovation and creation grants for artists to produce work.

“The creative community in Europe has been vital to our success in producing high-quality Amazon Original TV series and movies for our global audience, and it is essential for us to help that community through this pandemic,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. “We’ve made our first donations of £1.5 million today to provide support to the talented freelancers from the UK’s creative community who have been directly affected by the closure of theatres and halt in TV & film production. As we gear up production on a number of Amazon Original series across the UK and Europe in the coming months, we’re committed to continuing to support Europe’s talented creative community through this crisis.”

Alex Pumfrey, CEO of the Film and TV Charity said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Amazon for demonstrating such huge support for people working in television and film at this most difficult time for the industry. This fantastic donation to the Film and TV Charity will kick-start a new fund to support the diverse talent in our industry through the recovery process. We know that the pandemic has a disproportionate impact on people who are already underrepresented in our industry and that we must take action to prevent even greater inequality. There is a time-limited opportunity to protect the diversity of our industry for the future and I hope that others will seize this moment to contribute to our Covid-19 response.”

The Theatre Community Fund (Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Francesca Moody) said: “We're utterly blown away to have such an extraordinary level of support from Amazon. Our theatre community has never been more threatened or fragile and this donation, alongside those from other industry individuals, is a game changer for its future. On behalf of the Theatre Community Fund we extend a huge thank you to Amazon for the acknowledgement of the value and power of UK theatre and how we as an industry will survive anything when we hold each other up in times of crisis.”  

Caroline Dinenage, UK Minister for Digital and Culture, said: "We recognise that the last few months have been difficult for many people in the performing arts and screen industries given the impact of Covid-19. This donation from Amazon adds to the unprecedented support from the UK government to help secure these brilliant industries' future and help them thrive once more."

Amazon Studios has made over 20 Original series across Europe since 2016, including UK-made global hits like The Grand Tour, Fleabag, All or Nothing: Manchester City, James May: Our Man in Japan and Good Omens; and a number across Europe like BEAT (Germany), Love Island France, Celebrity Hunted – Caccia all’umo (Italy) and El Corazón del Sergio Ramos (Spain). Amazon Studios has also announced a number of highly-anticipated dramas including The Power (UK), based on the best-selling book of the same name by Naomi Alderman, La Templanza and El Cid (Spain), Deutschland89 and We Children from Bahnhof Zoo (Germany) Bang Bang Baby (Italy), and Voltaire, Mixte (France); as well as more unscripted series including All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur (UK), Vita da Carlo (Italy), Dinner Club (Italy) Ferro (Italy) and further projects from all three The Grand Tour presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Amazon Studios has also signed overall deals to create new television content with British creators including Neil Gaiman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Steve McQueen.    

###

Notes To Editors:

About the Film and TV Charity

The Film and TV Charity works behind the scenes of the film, television and cinema industry in the UK. From research to writing, through casting and production, to editing, publicity, distribution, broadcast and exhibition, the charity supports the lives of everyone involved.
The Film and TV Charity was founded as the Cinematograph Trade Benevolent Fund in 1924 and later became the Cinema & Television Benevolent Fund. Alex Pumfrey was appointed CEO in 2017 and the organisation and embarked on a bold new mission to extend its reach and impact, commissioning ground-breaking research into the mental wellbeing of workers in UK film and TV and founding the Film and TV Taskforce on Mental Health to co-fund and co-create the Whole Picture Programme, a bold action plan for better mental health in the industry.
The Film and TV Charity’s COVID-19 Response has included the distribution of £3.3m in grants to over 2,000 industry workers, alongside mental health support, financial advice and community support.
The charity’s free and confidential Support Line 0800 054 00 00 provides 24-house support for everyone working behind the scenes in the industry on issues such as debt, depression and harassment.

Registered charity no. 1099660. Find out more at www.filmtvcharity.org.uk and follow @filmtvcharity

The Theatre Community Fund Founding Donors:

• Gillian Anderson
• Jesse Armstrong
• Tim Bevan
• Hugh Bonneville
• Stephen Boxer
• Danny Boyle
• Jim Carter
• Emilia Clarke
• James Cordon
• Stephen Daldry
• Arthur Darvill
• Shaun Dooley
• Anne-Marie Duff
• Jane Featherstone
• Eric Fellner
• Tania Franks
• Emma Freud and Richard Curtis
• Romola Garai
• Rebecca Hall
• David Hare
• David Harewood
• Kit Harrington
• Jonathan Harvey
• Keeley Hawes
• Tom Hiddleston
• Tom Hollander
• Anthony Hopkins
• Suranne Jones
• Katherine Kelly
• Robert Lindsay
• Lucy Lumsden
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw
• James McAvoy
• Matthew McFadyen
• Ian McKellen, Sean Mathias and ATG Productions from funds raised by Ian McKellen On Stage
• David Morrissey
• Josh O’Connor
• Al Petrie
• Daniel Radcliffe
• Daisy Ridley
• Andrew Scott
• Imelda Staunton
• Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar
• Russell T Davies
• Emma Thompson
• Harriet Walter
• Rachel Weisz
• Jodie Whittaker and Christian Contreras
• David Yates

Find out more about the Theatre Community Fund at www.theatrecommunityfund.com.

About Prime Video
Prime Video offers customers a vast collection of TV shows, movies, sport and more — all available to watch on practically any device:

• Included with Prime: Watch thousands of popular movies and TV shows, award-winning Amazon Originals and other exclusives, sports, and more. Think UK-produced Amazon Originals such as Good Omens, The Grand Tour and All or Nothing: Manchester City, US hits like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Homecoming; as well as exclusive TV shows like Star Trek: Picard, American Gods and Vikings; movies like the Academy Award-winning Manchester by the Sea, The Salesman, The Big Sick and Cold War; plus as well as live sport including ATP and WTA Tour and US Open Tennis and Premier League football, and self-published content. All available at no additional cost as part of Prime Video, which is available in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide (offers and titles vary based on location).

• Watch More with Prime Video Channels: Prime members can add 70+ channels like Discovery, ITV Hub+, Eurosport Player, hayu, STARZPLAY and more — no extra apps to download; no long term contract required. Only pay for the ones you want, and cancel anytime. View the full list of channels available at Amazon.co.uk/channels.

• Rent or Buy: Enjoy new-release movies to rent or buy, entire seasons of current TV shows available to buy, with special deals just for Prime members.

• Instant Access: Watch at home or on the go with your choice of hundreds of compatible devices. Stream from the web or using the Prime Video app on your smartphone, tablet, set-top box including Virgin, TalkTalk and BT, game console, or select smart TVs. For a list of all compatible devices, visit Amazon.co.uk/watchanywhere.

• Enhanced Experiences: Make the most of every viewing with 4K Ultra HD and High Dynamic Range (HDR) compatible content. Go behind the scenes of your favourite movies and TV shows with exclusive X-Ray access, powered by IMDb. Save it for later with select mobile downloads for offline viewing.

Prime Video is just one of many benefits included with a Prime membership, along with unlimited fast free delivery options on millions of items at Amazon.co.uk, unlimited photo storage, exclusive deals and discounts, and access to ad-free music and Kindle ebooks. To sign-up or start a free trial of Prime visit:Amazon.co.uk/prime

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.