Amazon MGM Studios Cuts Central BA Team, Scharf Departs
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- Amazon MGM Studios announced that Dan Scharf, its head of business affairs, will leave the company as part of a restructuring.
- Amazon MGM Studios will dissolve its centralized business affairs team and create three separate BA units embedded in Film, TV, and International Originals divisions.
- Peter Friedlander (along with Courtenay Valenti and Nicole Clemens) shared the change in an internal memo to staff.
- Dan Scharf joined Amazon in 2014, helped grow the business affairs staff from 40 members on day one, and oversaw deals like the United Artists relaunch and partnerships with MrBeast and Scott Stuber.
- The new structure aims to streamline dealmaking, reduce layers, and more closely align business affairs with the divisions they serve.
Why it matters: The three new BA teams, each embedded in Film, TV, and International Originals, replace the centralized group of 40 staff, giving those divisions tighter control over contracts and likely accelerating deal execution.
