“Content was something that fed our souls,” Ciara told the Fortune audience.


Amazon Studios head and Ciara say COVID-19 pushed them to create

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AMZN Studios head and Ciara say COVID pushed them to create


Amazon Studios head and Ciara say COVID-19 pushed them to create


what has it been like producing content during Covid? Did you all just totally shut down At first, We didn't shut down. We sat in a conference room and everybody, I think had similar days in our industry, it was like, what was the marshal ninth or something? We were all sitting in a room and we had to shut down 60 productions all over the world that we're in active production, forget about things that were in editorial or things that were just winding up. So there's just tons going on and we had to literally get in a room. Hopefully, thank God none of us had Covid, because we were just sitting there with no masks on for 20 hours figuring out how we were going to deal with this. But it was happening in real time. We had to get, you know, um our team out, a team that was shooting a show in, in Prague out, they were closing the border, we had to rush to get them to the last plane, you know, you've got stars, you know, try Orlando bloom, trying to get out of the, get out of there. And so there was a lot going on. Um I'm really proud of the teams, the way everybody came together, it's, and it's this Covid protocol and everything we've done to keep everybody safe is incredibly expensive. The company's happy to invest in it, to keep getting content to our global audience in a way that keeps everybody safe. But it's a stressful thing. We've learned a ton. We we've learned, we learned more every week about this. There's a new challenge that comes up every week on a, on a production, but you know, the show must go on, we couldn't stop. So things were delayed, but we kept moving. Well. I felt like the creativity opportunity, the opportunity to be creative, fed my soul because I was pregnant and I swear to you, this was like the toughest pregnancy. My pelvic bones are aching, so bad. I thought I don't need a cane at some point in time. You have one of those pandemic babies all over ticked. Oh my goodness. Yes, pushing out a baby with the mass is something I'll never, but my dogs like put your mask on. I'm not okay. And then, uh, but that was an incredible, it was an incredible chapter and I think we all would never forget it. But content was something that I think that our souls, like, I think we discover so many funny videos online, people being silly and just like Just being in this moment that we didn't even expect to happen. And I think there was this opportunity that brought the world closer together because we were all on the same page together. We were all experiencing the same thing in our own way. But I feel like in that time a lot did happen for this pregnant Mama, um you know, 10 months pregnant. I made one of my music video for my song called routed, literally like one day before giving birth to my baby win. Um, please look at it online. You cannot believe. Um, yes, football. I couldn't watch football the way we used to can go to any of Russia's game. So that was different. We made a sweet in our house and we just had a good time. We were cheering on at the tv. So that was great. Um, and then also we were able to talk about our deal during this time and a lot of cool opportunities. We launched my husband, I launched our fashion house of L. R. And C, which stands in the house of love, respect and care. And I just say all this to say we kept going and as you said, the show goes on and it's like any other company. We were all figuring it out, finding ways to adjust the shipments and everything. Like I learned so much in this pandemic and I think the greatest thing I learned is that how resilient we are. You know, you really get to see how strong you are in times like this because the most humbling experience we could all experience no matter our social economic status. We were all experience experiencing the same thing and I appreciate that humility. I appreciate the challenge. Like I'm like, I'm a tech genius now. Like I can be a good teachers assistant, you know, like teachers signed me up. Like do a zoom class for the kids. It's no joke, you know, but it made for a great time that I appreciate it. Just a simple moment of being my family, So content and you learn to appreciate content. I was inspired to create more and I found a way to find the silver lining and allow it to inspire me. And rather than letting the world changed me, I changed with it. That was my attitude. And so yeah.