The Studio review: A fly on the wall glimpse into the crazy world of showbiz!

The Studio, created and directed by Seth Rogen, is for every cinema nerd. Here’s why!

The Studio review: The debate between making a massy commercially successful film and meaningful cinema will always be an on-going turmoil for filmmakers. Today, when rom-coms are at an all time low and studios are scratching their heads over how to hit the box office bulls eye, it’s safe to say that we have hit a recession of sorts. Seth Rogan’s The Studio touches up this subject while also opening doors to other sub-plots that exist within the world of filmmaking. It is an ode to every studio head, every filmmaker out there who is juggling a hundred things at a time for just one film to see the light of the day. 

Our main protagonist here is Matt Remick (played by Rogen himself), the newly appointed studio head of the fictional Continental Studios. Passionate about his job and love for movies but not fully ready for what’s going to hit him, he faces a new issue in each episode. But behind him is his batshit crazy but absolutely hard working team of people he couldn’t have done any of this without. His team consists of Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz), a fellow producer and partner in crime. Matt and Sal are like Yin and Yang, they could loathe each other from the bottom of their heart but their love for films overpowers all their personal issues, and hence they have a partnership like no other. Next is Quinn (Chase Sui Wonders), Matt’s assistant who took his place as executive producer when he became studio head. She has a lot of opinions but everyone’s not sure if they’re really ready to hear them. Maya (Kathryn Hann), a marketing maniac, can sell a movie about a pencil if she was asked because that’s just how good she is at her job. She is loud and absolutely erratic but that seems to be working so far! And lastly, there’s Patty, the woman who got fired so Matt could take her job. She is looking over her own bunch of projects and while she should be cutting off Matt from her life, the equation that the two once shared simply does not let her. 

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Each episode touches upon an on-going issue in the world of showbiz, especially in Hollywood - commercial success vs critical acclaim, creative differences, struggling to give feedback as a studio head to a renowned director, the pressure of constantly being politically correct and inclusive during casting, an actor’s tantrums on set, massaging an actor’s ego, taking the fall for the whole team, the awkwardness of having the producer on set, making the next big Barbie or Scorsese film, the hypocrisy of the award season and acceptance speeches and lastly, fighting the argument that making movies is just as important as any other career field. This is every truth bomb that the show drops on us via these 10 episodes in a very chaotic way! The chaos almost reminds you of Hulu’s The Bear. Both shows have a similar way of getting to the point - it begins with chaos, there’s immense screaming and shouting within the team, the captain of the ship comes up with a solution and the episode ends with being the most wholesome yet jolting experience for you as a viewer.

The cameos in this show are no fool’s game. It feels like Seth Rogen has used all his contacts to bring the best of the best to the show. There are cameos by icons like Martin Scorsese, Olivia Wilde, Zoe Kravitz, Zac Efron, Anthony Mackie, Adam Scott and Dave Franco. They just add to the idea of Hollywood glitz and glamour that we have in our heads. Seth Rogen has meticulously and authentically put together a version of what Hollywood is today. Drawing inspiration from his own instances in the industry, he brought this show to the world for every cinephile who enjoys the creative process of filmmaking. It ultimately is a satirical comedy about how good content might be going extinct because of the new era that we live in and while makers in real life aren’t able to figure it all out, you look at Matt Remick as a hope to bring back the good old days. That in itself is enough to yearn for more!

The Studio is currently streaming on AppleTV+

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