Amazon Studios, the much ballyhooed movie development arm of Amazon.com, today announced the winners of its January contests. Among that group is Playa Vista based director Christian Davis, who landed $10,000 for a two-hour video recording that was judged Best Table Read.

The 43-year-old Davis connected via the service with 38-year-old Malboro, VT screenwriter Alex Greenfield, author of Memory, a thriller loglined as “Memento meets Se7en.” It’s the story of a former homicide investigator with a photographic memory who revisits his most traumatic case.

Davis got some actor friends together and shot the table read in about three hours. A few more hours of editing, and it was done… “Right now, I’m concentrating on the development of Memory,” he said. “I really think this script has a solid, commercial premise. I’ve never seen a hero like Nick. I’m especially excited to explore the visual potential of the script as the test movie develops.”

Three hours work and half the winning share works out to a pretty good hourly wage for all concerned. The other January Amazon winners were: Robert Hosking of Escabana, MI for Best Test Movie (Reminded, $100,000); Jason Ungate of Lakewood, CO for Best Script (America’s Ben Franklin in: The Electrocution String, $20,000); and Dan Hall of London, England for Best Script (74 Hours, $20,000).

(Website metrics determine pool of finalists, with final selections made by a panel of judges that includes Gil Cates.)