Amazon Studios hasn’t backed out from its commitment to creating original series’ for their Instant Video streaming service. Despite Netflix running away as the #1 streaming network, Amazon has announced that a third round of pilots are set to premiere later this year. They’re also going to keep their unique, quasi fan-sourced, approach alive. See, on Amazon, when they launch a pilot they allow the viewers a window of time to offer direct feedback about whether or not they’d like to see the series get a full season order.

They’ve found some success with recent shows like Alpha House and Betas, while notable flops like their series adaptation of Zombieland famously tanked during the network’s ambitious first attempt at creating something original.

Amazon Studios that the network’s third round of pilots will include the following two shows:

The CosmopolitansWritten, directed and produced by Academy Award nominee Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco), The Cosmopolitans follows a group of young American expatriates in Paris searching for love and friendship in a foreign city. The dramatic comedy pilot stars Adam Brody as “Jimmy,” Chloë Sevigny as “Vicky,” Carrie MacLemore as “Aubrey,”Dree Hemingway as “Camille,” Freddy Åsblom as “Fritz,” Shaun Evans as “Hal,” and Adriano Giannini as “Sando.” The Cosmopolitans begins shooting this week in Paris.

 

Hand of GodMarking the television debut of renowned filmmaker Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, World War Z) and written by Ben Watkins,Hand of God stars Golden Globe winner Ron Perlman in his first lead television role since Sons of Anarchy as “Judge Pernell Harris.” Hand of God also stars Dana Delany as the Judge’s protective wife “Crystal Harris,” Garret Dillahunt as “KD,” the born-again sociopath, whose violent tendencies are exploited by Pernell, Andre Royo as the slick, smart, gregarious, and greedy mayor “Robert ‘Bobo’ Boston,” Alona Tal as Pernell’s grieving daughter-in-law “Jocelyn Harris,” Julian Morris as the questionable preacher “Paul Dobson,” Elizabeth McLaughlin as the preacher’s sultry girlfriend “Alicia,” and Emayatzy Corinealdi as Pernell’s call girl / confidante “Tessie.” The show centers on the powerful Judge Harris, a hard-living, law-bending married man with a high-end call girl on the side, who suffers a mental breakdown, and goes on a vigilante quest to find the rapist who tore his family apart. With no real evidence to go on, Pernell begins to rely on “visions” and “messages” he believes are being sent by God through Pernell’s ventilator-bound son. Forster, Watkins, Perlman, Wilkins and King serve as Executive Producers, andJillian Kugler as co-Executive Producer. Hand of God begins shooting this week in the Los Angeles and Long Beach areas.

According to Amazon, these two won’t be alone when the next round of pilots launch later this year. Their approach stands in stark contrast to Netflix, where David Fincher and Kevin Spacey famously pitched House of Cards and the studio head instantly ordered 26 episodes and gave them a fat budget to go bring it to life.

More on these original Amazon series’ as it becomes available.

SOURCE: Amazon Studios