To the dismay of many, Fleabag is finished after just two seasons. Fortunately, the world will be treated to a lot more Phoebe Waller-Bridge very soon. She’s inked a $20 million-per-year deal with Amazon Studios, which wraps up a fine week after she won three Emmys for Fleabag – writing, acting, and Best Comedy – last Sunday.
“I’m insanely excited to be continuing my relationship with Amazon”, Waller-Bridge said in a statement. “Working with the team on Fleabag was the creative partnership dreams are made of. It really feels like home. I can’t wait to get going!”
Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, added: “We are thrilled to be continuing our partnership with Phoebe at Amazon Studios! As evident in her great success at the Emmy Awards this week, she is clever, brilliant, generous and a virtuoso on multiple fronts including writing, acting and producing”.
This is a coup for Amazon as the streaming wars begin to heat up. Their rivals – Netflix, mostly – have signed plenty of creators to exclusive deals. While Waller-Bridge may not yet have the deep track record of Ryan Murphy or the name recognition of Game Of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, she’s probably on the way to surpassing them already.
The question now becomes how quickly Waller-Bridge turns around a new series for Amazon. She’ll pretty much have free reign to make whatever she wants, which is exciting. Although best known for Fleabag, she’s worked on a number of high profile projects. She was the creator and showrunner for the first season of Killing Eve, and has also worked on the script for the next Bond movie, No Time To Die.
Anything PWB makes for Amazon will draw lots of eyeballs. If she can make anything that matches the brilliance of Fleabag, even better.
#Peace.Love.PhoebeWallerBridge
