What to Expect From Amazon's First Election Night Special

How do you stand out from the sheer volume of Election Night news coverage on Tuesday? By going live from your own Volume. The creative team behind Prime Video’s Election Night Live with Brian Williams—Amazon’s maiden voyage into news programming waters—reveals to TVNewser that the one night only special will stream from the entertainment giant’s Volume Wall, the same LED-enabled set-up that Disney+ uses to make its blockbuster Star Wars series like The Mandalorian and The Acolyte. And while you shouldn’t expect cross-company appearances from Din Djarin and lil’ Grogu, the special’s producers, Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, promise that Amazon’s Election Night coverage won’t look like anything else on television… broadcast, cable or streaming. “They’ve shot movies on this set,” Kirshner tells TVNewser. “We’re not on a news studio—we’re on a movie lot with this amazing LED wall.” Weiss—who is also directing the special—echoes his partner’s delight at zagging away from the kinds of coverage other outlets will be providing, promising that Election Night Live “won’t look like every other news show out there.” “We’re covering the American election, so it’s going to feel very Americana,” adds Weiss, best known for directing big-time awards shows like the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Tonys. “Remember, we walked onto an empty soundstage without the support of a news department or a newsroom or an anchor’s desk. We wanted [to create] an environment that represents this country.” Watch the trailer for Election Night Live: And the duo had to accomplish that feat in a short amount of time. Weiss and Kirshner were brought onboard Election Night Live by Williams and executive producer Jonathan Wald a mere six weeks ago. It’s a homecoming of sorts for both men; before moving into live events, they cut their teeth in news production with Kirshner kicking off his professional run at ABC News while Weiss served stints at CNN and Washington, D.C.’s Fox affiliate—where he happened to overlap with a young Brian Williams. “It gave me a very solid foundation,” Weiss says those early-career experiences, which preceded the rise of partisan politics within both news consumption and news production. “It’s been fascinating to watch over the years as the country has taken this big turn, and now they’re on this team or that team," the director adds. "I’m really glad that we’re here to try and present information for the middle.” Besides a Volume wall that would make Emperor Palpatine envious, here's what you can expect to see when Election Night Live goes live at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday. And, by the way, you don’t need a Prime subscription to watch—it’s free to view for Amazon customers around the globe. It’s going to be a long livestream Brian Williams… Twitch streamer? That could be the former NBC News anchor’s next career move after this crash course in the wide world of livestreaming. Back in his broadcasting days, Williams could count on being on-air for a good long while on Election Night with the backing of an entire news apparatus. This time around, though, he’s expected to lead eight to nine hours of live streaming television that Kirshner says will largely be figured out “on the fly.” “Maybe for our first hour or two we’ll have a rundown, but after that it’s follow the football,” he notes, adding that they’ve filled the special’s ranks with multiple former producers from the major news networks to assist with charting a course through Election Night. “We don’t know where we’ll be going at any certain time of night, and it’ll be very exciting to see how it all lands out.” While both expect the special to last until midnight, Weiss says that Amazon won’t cut the stream short if news is still coming in. “That’s the good part about streaming—they don’t have local news they have to account for,” Weiss says with a laugh, promising that Williams will still be leading coverage at 2 or even 3 a.m. “Brian’s intention is that he’s here from cover to cover.” Brian & Friends It’s worth noting that the idea for Election Night Live originated with Williams and Wald, and Weiss says that the anchor is “excited” to be back on the beat after three years away from the TV news game. “I don’t think there’s been a news situation like what we’re facing now, and when you’ve been in the business as long as he has, you want to thrive in that [new] environment,” Weiss says. “Everything that we’ve built here is in sync with what he feels he needs.” Williams won’t be completely alone on the Amazon Studios Volume soundstage, of course. Election Night Live has already announced a series of guests—including James Carville, Shepard Smith, and Tara Palmeri—with more to be revealed during the livestream. “We definitely have correspondents at Kamala Harris’ headquarters and Donald Trump’s headquarters and other important places,” Kirshner says. “Our producers will also be making phone calls all night, so if something happens, they’ll reach out and try to get that person on air as quickly as possible.” There will be ad breaks Coming from an awards show background, Weiss is accustomed to factoring commercial breaks into the live events he directs for broadcast and cable networks. Even though Election Night Live is on a streaming platform where ads can be optional (for a price), he’s planning for the occasional breather where Amazon can pitch products to viewers. “There will be some short breaks throughout the night—nowhere near what the networks will be doing in terms of time,” he explains. “If it’s 10 p.m. and the polls are closing in a certain state, we can take a break to reset and decided where we’re going next.” But if huge news breaks during one of those breathers, Weiss says that the format is “flexible” enough for them to jump right back on the air even if it interrupts an ad break. “We just had this conversation with Amazon and everyone is on the same page that bringing information in a timely basis is the cornerstone of this show,” he emphasizes. This isn’t the future of the news business… or is it? Ever since Amazon announced its small step into news programming, speculation has been rampant about what Election Night Live might mean for the future of news on Prime Video or other streaming platforms like Apple TV+ or Netflix. Certainly, on-camera and behind the scenes talent will be carefully watching this experiment against the backdrop of ongoing contraction across the TV news industry at large. But Weiss and Kirshner caution against reading too deeply into the proverbial tea leaves. “Look, elections only come around once every four years,” Kirshner says. “What other [news events] would you scale up to? And it’s already been a heavy lift to scale up a news department in less than 60 days. To do a one-off every year or every couple of years would be very hard to do.” While Weiss agrees that the final decision rests with Amazon, he does feel that he and Kirshner are helping make the case that there’s a place for news on Prime Video. “I hope the special illustrates that any company that is broadcasting into homes via any means is capable of doing something like this,” he says. "As the people building the actual structure here... hopefully this will prove that."

Politics

What to Expect From Amazon's First Election Night Special

Look for a movie-quality set and some surprise guests

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