Of the five pilots Amazon Studios made available for streaming in February, four will get a full first season order. From “Transparent” by Jill Soloway to “Mozart in the Jungle” by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Alex Timbers, the lineup reflects the increasing shift of indie filmmakers to the serialized, streaming content arena. (Clips below).
“Mozart in the Jungle” centers on the behind-the-curtain dramas of New York’s classical music scene, starring Gael Garcia Bernal as a hot shot conductor, along with Malcolm McDowell, Lola Kirke, Peter Vack and Bernadette Peters. Coppola, Timbers and Schwartzman wrote the first episode, which Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”) directed. Exquisitely acted and directed, the pilot on Amazon sings with Coppola’s infectious writing. (He cowrote Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” and “The Darjeeling Limited.”)
Emmy-nominated for her work as a writer and producer on HBO’s “Six Feet Under” and nominated for an Indie Spirit Award for 2013 debut feature “Afternoon Delight,” Jill Soloway directs Jeffrey Tambor, Gaby Hoffmann and Jay Duplass in “Transparent.” It’s a touching dramedy about a family whose patriarch (Tambor), while becoming a transsexual, tries to reconnect with his three children.
Also on the docket is “X-Files” creator Chris Carter’s “The After,” an eight-episode sci-fi series about a group of strangers surviving a post-apocalyptic world. Aldis Hodge and Jamie Kennedy are among the stars. From “Millennium” to “The Lone Gunmen,” Carter’s “X-Files” spin-offs and other original series have been cult favorites, and eerie “The After” looks to be no exception.
Amazon also picked up “Bosch,” a gritty procedural starring Titus Welliver as an LAPD homicide detective working to solve a child killing while standing trial for his own murder of a serial killer. Finally, John Goodman starrer “Alpha House,” a comedy about four head-butting Republican congressman, will get a second season.
Read Amazon Studios director Roy Price’s Q&A in The Hollywood Reporter. The pilots have now returned to Amazon for Prime Members to stream.
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