In another potentially devastating blow to this nation's middleman class, Amazon—having all but eliminated book and video stores, literary agents, and terrifying horse mask salesmen—has come for your children, allowing users to submit their own ideas for original children's programming and primetime comedy series through its Amazon Studios arm. The site's foray into content development already includes a first-look deal with Warner Bros. that's allowed it to accept user-submitted pitches and begin developing them as potential theatrical films, with 15 projects currently on its slate. Now it's seeking to expand its reach into series television, inviting anyone to upload a five-page treatment plus pilot script for a comedy or children's show, with the intention of choosing one every month to option. If the series goes forward, Amazon will then pay its creator $55,000 and give them up to 5 percent of the merchandising revenues plus additional royalties. In short, Amazon is quickly turning into an all-encompassing Ministry of Entertainment, and soon enough Los Angeles-area parking lots will be filled with displaced middlemen, offering to pitch your ideas for you in exchange for a sandwich.
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