Amazon MGM Studios is reshaping the way it runs television, with a major internal reorganization aimed at simplifying decision-making, tightening oversight and creating clearer lanes for development and production across its scripted slate.

The shift is being led by Peter Friedlander, who took over as head of television for Amazon MGM Studios in the fall. He is to move the division away from a structure built around business categories like wholly owned series and co-productions and toward a genre-based model that resembles how traditional studios sort their programming. The goal, execs say, is to build teams with deeper creative focus and faster authority over the kinds of shows they are specifically hired to make.

The reorg comes at a time when nearly every major entertainment company is trying to reconcile with an expensive streaming eraand tougher financial realities. Wall Street is demanding profitability, putting studios under pressure to spend less, cancel faster and deliver hits. Inside the studio, those same demands have translated into a series of operational tweaks over the last few years as the company continues to integrate MGM into Amazon’s entertainment business.

Under the new structure, the scripted team will be organized around genres rather than deal types, with leadership overseeing specific creative categories. It is a move designed to centralize development decisions and make it easier to track performance.

This means executives who previously managed programming based on how it was financed or who owned it outright will now fall under genre leadership. The pitch is straightforward: a comedy team should be thinking about comedies all day, not negotiating a maze of production frameworks and a drama team should be building long-term expertise in that space while maintaining consistency and strategy.

Amazon has not publicly framed the change as a downsizing effort, but it is arriving alongside notable exits and role shifts. Laura Lancaster and Nick Pepper are leaving the studio as part of the transition. Lancaster had been a key executive involved in series and co-productions, while Pepper’s departure represents another leadership change in a department that has already gone through several iterations since Amazon’s MGM acquisition.

At the same time, Blair Fetter, a former Netflix executive, is coming in to take a senior role in the new structure, joining Friedlander at the top of the scripted organization. The hire signals something Amazon has been doing more aggressively over the past several years. Actively bringing in executives with direct streaming-era experience as it continues to position Prime Video as a global competitor.

The reorganizations play like internal housekeeping, but this one points to a bigger reality that scale is no longer enough. Streaming platforms need systems that help them prioritize quickly and deliver programming that cuts through a crowded market.

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Amazon has spent heavily on television in the last decade, including massive, franchise-driven bets meant to compete with the biggest titles on Netflix, Disney+ and HBO. But like its rivals, Amazon is also facing sharper scrutiny over the return on that investment. Reshaping the TV division into genre teams is a classic studio playbook move to reduce overlap. With hopes to prevent projects from stalling and to create clear ownership for what gets made and why.

Amazon’s entertainment ambitions accelerated when it acquired MGM, the historic studio behind major franchises and a deep film and TV library. The MGM deal, finalized in 2022, was valued at roughly $8.45 billion and instantly boosted Amazon’s catalog depth.

Though acquisitions do not automatically create cohesion. Since the MGM purchase closed, Amazon has repeatedly adjusted how its divisions fit together, including how MGM’s operations interact with Prime Video and Amazon Studios. The company has also had to manage legacy relationships, such as existing projects and the complicated realities of rights and distribution.

This latest TV reorg is another sign that Amazon is still working toward a long-term operational identity for what Amazon MGM Studios is supposed to be. Is it a traditional studio with a streaming platform attached, or a streaming platform that also owns a traditional studio? The answer seems to shift depending on factors of market condition, leadership priorities and financial expectations.

A genre-based approach could make Amazon a more predictable buyer in the marketplace. If the company empowers its genre leads to move faster and develop clearer creative mandates, it may reduce the sense that Prime Video is chasing everything at once. It could also sharpen the platform’s identity, which has sometimes been difficult to define compared with other competitors that lean heavily into brand-specific lanes.

Ultimately, Amazon’s TV overhaul is less about buzzwords and more about survival in a more disciplined era of entertainment. The streaming business is no longer just about growth and subscriber acquisition but durability and the efficiency to repeat success.

For Amazon MGM Studios, the bet is that this new model will lead to clearer development decisions and stronger execution. For the rest of Hollywood, it is another reminder that the industry is still evolving and that even the biggest players are still trying to build a structure that matches the moment.