Phoebe Waller-Bridge signs €18m a year deal with Amazon

Phoebe Waller-Bridge will create and produce new television content exclusively for Amazon Prime Video after signing an overall deal with Amazon Studios.

The announcement of the contract comes after her hit BBC series Fleabag won six Emmy Awards, including outstanding comedy and outstanding lead actress in a comedy.

Waller-Bridge's content will premiere on the streaming service — the distributor of Fleabag in the United States — in more than 200 countries and territories.

Waller-Bridge (34) said: “I’m insanely excited to be continuing my relationship with Amazon. Working with the team on Fleabag was the creative partnership dreams are made of.

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“It really feels like home. I can’t wait to get going.”

The deal is reported to be worth around €18 million per year, according to Variety, while Deadline suggests the deal is more in the eight-figure region for a three-year deal.

On Sunday, Waller-Bridge was the toast of Hollywood after enjoying a stunning night at the Emmys, the biggest night in US television. She won three awards: lead actress in a comedy, outstanding writing in a comedy and outstanding comedy series. The latter was a shock win over previous winners Veep and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. She fended off competition from Veep's Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the lead actress award.

Fleabag began as a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2013, featuring Waller-Bridge as an angry and confused young woman struggling to navigate life in London. In a sign of what was to come, the production won the Fringe First Award. Festival success caught the attention of the BBC, which commissioned a six-part series for BBC Three.

The first series premiered in 2016 to critical acclaim, and earned Waller-Bridge a Bafta award for best female comedy performance. The second series arrived earlier this year and centred on the relationship between Fleabag and "hot priest" Andrew Scott.

After the success of Fleabag, Waller-Bridge turned her attention to adapting Luke Jennings’s Villanelle novel series for the small screen. Killing Eve arrived in April 2018, starring Sandra Oh as an MI5 agent on the tail of Jodie Comer’s psychopathic assassin Villanelle. The show was another massive success, cementing Waller-Bridge’s reputation as one of Hollywood’s most in-demand talents.

Waller-Bridge's next project is the forthcoming James Bond film, No Time To Die. She was recruited as a writer after she was suggested to producers by Bond actor Daniel Craig. – PA