It will be solely Kelly Day’s task to find Amazon Prime Video its Squid Game. Well, Day and whomever she ultimately chooses as her vp of international originals.

Following last week’s departure of Jen Salke, Day has been named head of Prime Video’s International Originals teams. The announcement was shared with staff on Friday morning via a Mike Hopkins email; Hopkins is the head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios.

In the next phase of her career, Salke, formerly the president of Entertainment at NBC, will start a new production outfit with an overall first-look deal across both film and TV at Amazon Studios.

While Day actively seeks her lieutenant, her leadership team will be comprised of Javiera Balmaceda (head of international originals, Latin America, Canada & Australia), Tara Erer (head of international originals, Northern Europe), Nicole Morganti (head of international originals, Southern Europe), Nikhil Madhok (head of international originals, India) and Marc Hausmaninger (Head of content strategy, international originals).

Day’s promotion is the first org-chart decision Hopkins has made since Salke’s ouster. Read Hopkins’ internal memo, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, below.

Team,
Since first launching in 2016, International Originals have consistently delivered an outsized impact in so many of our territories around the world. From The Grand Tour to Mirzapur to Last One Laughing, these local titles have been central to our international growth strategy, engaging audiences and acquiring new customers in more than 20 countries around the world.

In the last 18 months, we’ve seen a number of International Originals significantly break through with customers like never before, particularly with YA audiences. Movies including Culpa Mia, Culpa Tuya and Apocalypse Z have set Prime Video global streaming records for non-English language content. Series, including Maxton Hall, Clarkson’s Farm, Citadel Honey Bunny, Citadel Diana, Red Queen, Marry My Husband and Betty La Fea have proved the global appetite for international programming is incredibly strong and that our storytelling is traveling more than ever. Importantly, these titles add great depth to our quality content selection for global customers, deliver new audiences to Prime Video as we continue to grow internationally, and help us deliver on our ambition to be the first-stop destination for entertainment worldwide.

While we’re pleased with the global performance of our International Originals, we’re even more excited about what’s to come. In 2025 we not only have the third installment in Mercedes Ron’s Culpables trilogy (Culpa Nuestra – Spain) coming to Prime Video, but also more from Mercedes with the first movie from her Dímelo book trilogy in development. Returning seasons of hit series including Maxton Hall (Germany), Clarkson’s Farm (UK), Red Queen (Spain), and Betty La Fea (Colombia) are also on the way, and new projects like Newtopia (Korea), Superboys of Malegaon (India), Graduation Trip: Mallorca (Spain), Costiera (Italy) give us a ton of confidence in what’s next for this part of our business.

As I mentioned in my note to the team last week, we have some additional reporting changes in conjunction with Jen’s departure, and the first of those is that I’ve asked Kelly Day (Vice President, Prime Video International) to now oversee the International Originals teams, and I know she’ll continue the amazing momentum we’ve seen in this area to date. Kelly will lead our search to hire a new VP of International Originals, reporting to her, and in the interim, our International Originals leaders – including Javiera Balmaceda (Head of International Originals, Latin America, Canada & Australia), Tara Erer (Head of International Originals, Northern Europe), Nicole Morganti (Head of International Originals, Southern Europe) – will report directly to Kelly. Nikhil Madhok (Head of International Originals, India) will continue to report into Gaurav Gandhi (VP, Prime Video APAC & MENA) and along with Marc Hausmaninger (Head of Content Strategy, International Originals) will be part of the extended leadership team.

Thank you to all the International Originals teams who continue to deliver impactful programming for our global customers. I’m excited about what’s to come!

Mike