Phoebe Waller-Bridge Earned $60 Million From Amazon Deal Despite No Content Being Made

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is bringing in the big bucks from her Amazon Prime deal, despite having not made anything new for the streamer since Fleabag. 

In an April 3 report from The Hollywood Reporter, Waller-Bridge’s deal with the streaming giant was scrutinized by multiple sources. She entered the three-year deal with Prime Video in 2019 and has been paid $60 million since.

Her deal was renewed in January and she is currently developing two new projects; however, that doesn’t mean they are going to be completed. When she initially entered the deal, she was set to collaborate with Donald Glover on a Mr. and Mrs. Smith series based on the 2005 film starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, but she exited the project soon after. 

Now, Waller-Bridge has renewed her deal with Amazon and is working on a Tomb Raider series as a producer and writer, plus an adaptation of Claudia Lux’s novel Sign Here. The streamer is still seeking a showrunner Tomb Rider, leaving many wondering why the Fleabag creator isn’t at the helm.

Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon, commented on the recent gossip, saying, “Phoebe has not only fully embraced Tomb Raider and I think is feeling very committed to it, but she’s in a writers room right now working on it.”

He continued, “She’s a perfectionist, so she absolutely wants to make sure that what she does is great and right, but she’s proven that when she does deliver, she delivers.”

A THR source who works as a showrunner at Amazon also commented, criticizing the streamer’s draw to star power versus releasing new content. “They don’t learn from their mistakes. They [say], ‘We can’t do any more deals like that.’ You turn around and they’re right back to — the impolite term is ‘star-fucking.’ For creative executives at the studio, the result has been exasperation,” they explained. 

But the larger question remains: Why is Amazon keeping Waller-Bridge on retainer? Her name has been attached to numerous works for the streaming giant since 2019, yet none of them have been released. 

And it appears that she isn’t the only one. The same report found that Master of None’s Lena Waithe entered a deal with the streaming giant and received a two-season pick-up of her original Prime Video series Them; but did not see any other original works to fruition and left for HBO Max last year.

Waller-Bridge, on the other hand, has continued to work on new projects for other streaming giants, including Killing Eve for BBC and Run for HBO Max. She has also recently starred in His Dark Materials in collaboration with BBC and HBO, and the James Bond movie No Time to Die. She is currently set to star in the upcoming Indiana Jones movie and John Krasinski’s fantasy comedy IF.

C’mon Amazon, stop keeping her on the sidelines.