iWorld
Amazon Prime Video India and Excel Media & Entertainment Release the Trailer of the Highly Anticipated Prime Original Series, Mirzapur
MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video and Excel Media & Entertainment today released the trailer of the highly anticipated Prime Original Series – Mirzapur. Set in the heartland of India, Mirzapur revolves around drugs, guns and the politics of power in a land where might is right. Created by Karan Anshuman & Puneet Krishna and directed by Gurmmeet Singh, Mirzapur is a nine-episode series that will be available to stream exclusively on Prime Video from November 16, 2018 across more than 200 countries and territories. An edge-of-your-seat binge-watching experience, Mirzapur is a gripping narrative brought to life by a power-packed cast including highly acclaimed and award-winning actors such as Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Vikrant Massey, Divyendu Sharma, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Shweta Tripathi, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Rasika Dugal and many more.
Vijay Subramaniam, Director & Head, Content, Amazon Prime Video India, said, “With Mirzapur, we reiterate our commitment to bring new, ground breaking shows to Indian and global audiences with high caliber production values and exceptional content creators and talent. More importantly, we remain committed to taking stories from India that are local in narrative yet epic in scale to a global stage. If the global launches of Inside Edge, Breathe, etc. have taught us anything, it is that high quality Indian content has found resonance with audiences around the world and there is a growing appetite for the same”.
Mirzapur is the fifth Prime Original Series offering from India and brings together the winning trio Ritesh Sidhwani, Karan Anshuman and Farhan Akhtar, the creators of Prime Original Series, Inside Edge that recently earned an International Emmy nomination for Best Drama Series (the first-of-its’s-kind for a video-on-demand series originating from India).
Ritesh Sidhwani, Excel Media & Entertainment, said, “We are thrilled to collaborate with Amazon Prime Video to present a genre-defining, bold and powerful story like Mirzapur. A show of this caliber with high production value and scale takes it to the next level of cinematic experience. We are taking a story set in the heartland of India to a global audience & are excited to see how viewers respond to it.”
Karan Anshuman, Creator, said, “Mirzapur is the perfect storm. The creative freedom Amazon Prime Video allows, Excel’s adroit production experience, an ensemble cast that takes an already fantastic script and owns it….this is a fine time for filmmakers and I'm looking forward to new collaborations.”
Farhan Akhtar, Excel Media & Entertainment, said, “We are excited to collaborate again with Amazon Prime Video for the next Prime Original Series, Mirzapur. The success of Inside Edge reaffirms our faith in digital streaming in India, proving that these are indeed exciting times for storytellers, artists, writers and filmmakers. Mirzapur is a story not meant for the faint hearted and it will make people think about the show for days after watching it.”
iWorld
Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
