Mark Burnett departs MGM-Amazon. What does it mean for the merger?
December 2, 2022·5 min
This short Hollywood Breakdown segment centers on Mark Burnett departing MGM after Amazon's 8.5 billion acquisition closed. Kim Masters frames Burnett as the producer who crafted Donald Trump's Apprentice persona and ran entertainment at Trump's inauguration. She describes him as an agent of chaos inside MGM, dipping into other executives' territory and drawing at least one HR complaint. The hosts recount an Emmys-party fight with Tom Arnold triggered by Arnold discussing rumored Apprentice outtakes said to contain inappropriate Trump language. Burnett remains an executive producer on Survivor, The Voice, and Shark Tank, but Belloni reports he launched zero new hits during his eight years at MGM. Along the way he drove out film chief John Glickman and a TV executive responsible for prestige titles like The Handmaid's Tale and Fargo. The second half evaluates Amazon's larger MGM bet. Masters says the jewel in the MGM crown, the Bond franchise, is controlled by Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, not Amazon, and that library exploitation will be harder than it looks. She reports Seattle executives are starting to second-guess the 8.5 billion price. Belloni frames that doubt as a problem for Mike Hopkins, who championed the purchase. This month's reorganization absorbs MGM staff into Amazon under new content leadership from Jen Salke, a former broadcast TV executive who now adds MGM film to her portfolio. The hosts treat that as a clear career win for Salke even as Hopkins faces pressure to validate the deal.
