Amazon’s Woody Allen Hiring Underscores Video Risk

Amazon.com Inc.’s decision to hire director Woody Allen to create a television series shows the challenges and potential pitfalls that the Web retailer faces as it builds its video offerings.

The director, known for Oscar-winning movies such as “Annie Hall” and “Midnight in Paris,” has never written a television series before. Hiring talent at his level is expensive and Amazon, even with the two Golden Globe Awards it won this week for its cross-dressing sitcom “Transparent,” hasn’t generated a hit along the lines of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” or Netflix Inc.’s “House of Cards.”