Apple TV+’s The Studio shows so much of the inner-workings of Hollywood, that those of us who have zero experience working within the system might just assume that that’s how it works. But we have to remember it’s a TV show, and so embellishments will be made. Or, as one actual studio exec put it: there’s a lot of horsesh*t.
In The Studio, Seth Rogen plays Matt Remick, a makeshift amalgam of studio suits, running Continental Studios through some truly hectic days and nights, greenlighting a Kool-Aid movie, pulling off oners and getting Zöe Kravitz high as a kite. And while there’s always truth in satire, for Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group CEO Tom Rothman, The Studio isn’t a full-on accurate representation of the business. “In each one of those episodes, there is a kernel of brilliant, blinding truth, and that’s what makes great satire. The show is wonderfully satiric. Besides that kernel, everything else is horsesh*t. Maybe some days, but most days we’re not morons. I did take it with the sense of humor intended. When I took the stage a few months ago at CinemaCon, I walked out and said, ‘Hi, everybody, I’m Seth Rogen!’ which was good for a laugh there.”
Providing more detail on what hits the right note and what misses, Rothman added, “What it gets right is that there’s a fundamental truth of studio executives trying to do the right thing, and there being many, many obstacles to doing [so]. The difference there is it depicts a great deal of moral compromise in pursuing that. That’s not really the way it is. Most people are people like me, who love movies, have a lot of integrity and are just trying to do the best we can.”
The Studio earned 23 Emmy nominations, the most-ever for a first-year comedy. Amusingly, more than a fifth are in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category, with the likes of Bryan Cranston, Dave Franco and even Martin Scorsese in competition. The sole nominee not in The Studio is The Bear’s Jon Bernthal, who actually won last year.
The Studio has been renewed for a second season, although there are no details on the sophomore outing just yet.
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