--- title: Woody Allen to Create TV Series for Amazon description: Will Amazon's big partnership with the director bring big controversy with it? canonical: https://time.com/3665353/woody-allen-amazon-tv-series/ author: James Poniewozik article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-13T15:40:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:31:34.398Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Woody Allen to Create TV Series for Amazon og:description: "I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I’m not sure where to begin." og:url: https://time.com/3665353/woody-allen-amazon-tv-series/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Woody Allen to Create TV Series for Amazon twitter:description: "I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I’m not sure where to begin." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Woody Allen to Create First TV Series for Amazon > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with Ally. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: 10 Questions for Woody Allen [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Woody Allen](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mMtpeo9a.m3u8) (8:03)  _Published 2008-01-18. He's brilliant at portraying neurotics of all kinds. But the multitalented director swears he's actually quite normal._ by [James Poniewozik](https://time.com/author/james-poniewozik/) ## James Poniewozik Jan 13, 2015 3:40 PM UTC by [James Poniewozik](https://time.com/author/james-poniewozik/) ## James Poniewozik Jan 13, 2015 3:40 PM UTC If you were wondering what Amazon was going to do to follow up its Golden Globes success with _Transparent_, wonder no more: Tuesday morning, Amazon Studios announced that Woody Allen will create his first TV series ever for it. We know very little about the series itself, except that Allen will both write and direct it, and episodes will be a half hour. There’s no title–it’s going by _Untitled Woody Allen Project_–no date, and Allen himself says in the release: “I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I’m not sure where to begin. My guess is that Roy Price \[VP of Amazon Studios\] will regret this.” Maybe it will be a drama, maybe it will be, to paraphrase _Stardust Memories_, like his earlier, funnier films. But a few things we can say: **The stigma of “slumming” in TV is pretty much gone.** Maybe it didn’t need to be said at this point, with directors from Steven Soderbergh to Lena Dunham to David Fincher making TV—and making it hands-on, not just slapping their names on a project as producers. (And some of today’s TV auteurs, like Dunham and Louis C.K., have Allen among their influences.) If Allen is eager to work in the medium too, what directors are left who wouldn’t? Has anyone signed up Terrence Malick? **Streaming TV continues to build cachet.** About as noteworthy as Allen’s role in this deal is that of Amazon. It, like Netflix, has been pouring money into its programming, chasing not only money but prestige. It may be that signing a streaming deal may be the new signing a premium-cable deal–now that _Orange Is the New Black_, _Transparent_, et al. have brought the medium recognition, it’s seen as a place where you can have creative freedom and be on the cutting edge of something. (Not to mention get generous financial support.) **There will be controversy.** Allen agreeing to make a TV series for anyone would have been big news in itself a few years ago. But now, after last year’s [renewal of charges](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/01/woody-allen-sexual-abuse/) that the director sexually abused his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow when she was a child—charges Allen has long denied—it’s going to be a lightning rod. The re-emergence of rape accusations by many women against Bill Cosby was evidently enough last year to scuttle preliminary plans for him to return with a sitcom for NBC, even though he continues to deny them. Maybe Amazon feels that Allen’s circumstances are different, or that the blowback will be worth taking. But it’s hard to imagine there won’t be blowback; as many fans as Allen may still have, we saw around last year’s Oscars that there are legions who will view this deal as rewarding a predator. Interestingly, after the furor around the Oscars, there was less public uproar around the release of Allen’s next film, _Magic in the Moonlight_. Whatever it says about Allen and Amazon, it definitely says something about the cultural profile of TV today that making a series for an online-retail site may generate more controversy than if Allen had simply kept making movies. _Clarification: A section of the paragraph that mentions allegations against Bill Cosby, which was added during the editing process, has been altered to clarify the status of claims against him_ ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] You used to express a desire to read Moby Dick. Has this wish been fulfilled? Yes, I read Moby Dick [ COUGH ] while I was making the movie Love and Death. I, I filmed in Budapest and when I came back from work each night, there was absolutely nothing to do in Budapest at the time when I was there, it was a drab city, and the Russian Army occupied it. So I would come back to my hotel, and read Moby Dick. And and I finished it, started and finished it while I was shooting Love and Death in Budapest and, and liked it very, very much. But I never would've thought I would've loved anything at all that remotely revolved around whaling. [ LAUGH ] This is from Rohit Sang in New York City. Mm- hm. I understand that you are more of a musician than a singer. But when you are in the shower, or in the car alone, or doing karaoke, what one song do you like to just belt out? I can sing in the shower, and my repertoire is limitless. And I can sing anything in the shower and I, you know, I sing all the jazz and pop tunes, all the Cole Porter tunes. And my rendition of Easy To Love by Cole Porter is probably as good one could hear, in the shower. [ LAUGH ] Outside of the shower I start to have some problems with reality. Speaking as a young neurotic person, has being neurotic in life done more good or more harm, in your experience? Well, it's interesting, people tend to think that I'm neurotic. And this I feel is a testimony to my acting ability. Over the years I've played the neurotic and I've played it so well I think. It's I'm not a good actor but that I can do. And I played that one little thing that I can do well. That is a neurotic character so effectively that people tend to think I'm neurotic in my life. When in fact, the truth of the matter is, if you looked at my entire life you'd find that I, I'm not really very neurotic, I'm very structured, normal. I have a wife now of ten years. I have two kids that I'm devoted to. I have been very productive my whole life. I don't sit around brooding and contemplating suicide or getting high or, or dissipating myself. I've been a very disciplined worker. I have my jazz orchestra that I, requires practice and discipline and I play with. I have my writing and I've been able to do all these things on an ongoing basis for years and, and a neurotic personality would have trouble with that. So I think that, that that I, I'm not neurotic, that I'm very middle class blue collar. Beer drinking, television, T- shirt jerk at home. Not someone who's ensconced in Kierkegaard or Spinoza and but my image is quite different cuz of what I've played. Do you agree with Picasso's quote, good artists copy, but great artists steal, and if so, who have you stolen from? Oh, I've stolen from the best. I mean, I've stolen from, from Bergman. I've stolen from Groucho. I've stolen from Chaplin. I've stolen from Keaton. From from Martha Graham. From Fellini. I mean, I, I'm shameless thief. At what point did you begin to note that the character that you played in some of your films have become a pop culture phenomenon, i. e ., that's such Woody Allen dialogue? And does that flatter you or do you find it annoying? No, I've never found it as the problem. If, if, if you found it, you've found something that I've never found. I, I've never felt and I don't say this with any bitterness, or anger, or disappointment cuz it's not something that I was interested in. I've never influenced anybody, to the best of my knowledge, in any way. So, when I see people making films, they make them like Scorsese makes them, they make them like Spielberg makes them, they make them like Stanley Kubrick made them. I make my films for my own enjoyment, my own therapy. I'm not familiar with the phenomenon that the, the questioner is posing. You don't think that the, the modern romantic comedy, however poorly done it is, at least owes to some degree to your invention in the 70s. The relationship, sort of modern man and woman comedy. If it is, I don't see it. I, I, didn't see anything revolutionary about it at that time. So, so I, I don't. Is there any possibility you could make another movie with Diane Keaton. I've got them all. [ COUGH ] Yes there would be. I mean, I wou -, you know, if there was an idea for Keaton and me, or I had an idea that would be great for her. She'd be the first person that I would call. And we're very good friends and we [ COUGH ] love to work together. There just hasn't been anything that's occurred to me that would be good for us, but, you know, would be a pleasure to work with her again. We love to work with each other. Sheila Levine, Simi Valley, California. How is it that Woody Allen just gets better and better looking the older he gets? Well, it's nice of her to say that. You know, I probably started very bad, when I was younger. And anything that happens is registered as an improvement. You've worked with everyone. But has anyone ever said, no thanks, I'll pass? Many people have. There's a myth that all I do is call up any actor or actress and they drop whatever they're doing and work with me. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I don't like to name names here, but there've been actors and actresses that have passed because the money was not enough. Passed because they didn't like the script that I sent them. So, I've, yes I have been turned down any number of times. Now I've had a good many acceptances. But it has certainly not been a perfect record by any means. I never ever hold that against anyone who, it never occurred to me to. I offered Sean Penn three movies before he did Sweet and Lowdown. I've offered other people, you know, that, I, I have no problem with that at all. You could turn down my movies, a dozen times and if I have a part that's good for you, I'll always offer it to you and hope for the best. Do you have a dream project, a script sitting somewhere waiting to made, made into a film, just waiting for the right producer or the right actor? No, I, I don't, I mean, I, I finish a thing, that's why I said blue collar before I finish a movie. And then I sit around for a couple of days and, you know, and I think, what the hell am I doing? You know, it's boring and I start working on something else and I try and come up with a new idea. What are those couple of days when you're finished a project, actually like? I'm trying to figure out what it is I'm supposed to be doing to enjoy myself and unwind, having finished a project. So I finish a project, let's say, on a Friday or a Monday. And, and I go home and I think, well, this is great. I finished and now I can, and then I can't complete the sentence. And I, I think, well, what do I wanna do? Well, I wanna practice my instrument. And I'd like to write. These are the things I enjoy doing. So, you know, I kind of hold it back for a day or two and go for a walk or, but I, but very quickly I can't stand it and I get back into writing. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3665353/woody-allen-amazon-tv-series/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3665353/woody-allen-amazon-tv-series/"},"headline":"Woody Allen to Create First TV Series for Amazon","datePublished":"2015-01-13T15:40:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:31:34.398Z","description":"Will Amazon's big partnership with the director bring big controversy with it?","url":"https://time.com/3665353/woody-allen-amazon-tv-series/","keywords":["Television","Amazon","woody allen","streaming"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Poniewozik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/james-poniewozik/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3665353/woody-allen-amazon-tv-series/","name":"Woody Allen to Create First TV Series for Amazon"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for Woody Allen","description":"He's brilliant at portraying neurotics of all kinds. 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