Editor’s Note: This article was updated on 5/27/2025 to reflect copy edits.
Apple TV+ has brought a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood filmmaking to the small screen in its new artsy workplace sitcom “The Studio.” Co-created by Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck, Evan Goldberg, Frida Perez and Seth Rogen, who doubles as the show’s leading man, the standout first season has been running since March 26 with weekly releases through May 21.
The show follows newly appointed studio head Matt Remick (Rogen) at the fictional film production company Continental Studios. Remick is a continuously aspiring creative who has been shoehorned into the role of studio executive for the past 20 years. He nerds out over Paul Thomas Anderson and Orson Welles on sets and dreams of making meaningful arthouse-style films but isn’t typically able to execute his vision.
Remick is tasked with navigating an industry landscape that doesn’t support his artistic goals. He wants to turn prestige films into box office hits, but those projects are a rare find. Remick and his associates cite “Barbie” as an example of the kind of film they want to make while developing a project in partnership with Kool-Aid. For this hypothetical project, they attempt to tap featured Martin Scorsese to write and direct a film about the Jonestown massacre, the tragic event marking more than 900 deaths of cult members that inspired the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid.”
The show includes a wide array of cameos from longtime film industry legends like Scorsese and Steve Buscemi as well as more recent breakout stars like Greta Lee and Quinta Brunson. While these cameos serve largely as fan service, they ground the show more firmly in reality — a necessity for a show based in a field so far removed from the vast majority of its audience.
“The Studio” highlights a growing issue in the entertainment industry that has been affecting free artistic expression. Marketability and mass appeal have always been key concerns for studio executives, but the recent era of film production has intensified the need for universally appealing stories. Considering how fickle audiences have become, universal appeal now comes at the expense of stylistic experimentation in filmmaking.
The show experiments with filmmaking techniques in the way it’s shot and written. Each episode contains a relatively small number of shots compared to most shows produced in the last few years. Despite the continuous shots — known as oners — the scenes do not drag. The use of handheld cameras further contributes to an incredibly immersive viewing experience, a truly refreshing addition to the current TV landscape.
The second episode, “The Oner,” is the best example of this technique. The 25-minute episode being filmed in one shot is a meta exercise in production, as the episode is also about filming oners. Remick calls the oner shot type a “perfect marriage of artistry and technicality,” and the episode delivers on that sentiment with grace.
The show is carefully planned and executed to pay homage to classic films and genres. The fourth episode, “The Missing Reel,” serves as a tribute to the 1974 neo-noir “Chinatown” and leans heavily into the detective noir subgenre. The episode puts Remick in the role of detective as he follows a trail to find a stolen film reel containing a movie’s most ambitious and expensive day of filming.
This episode draws attention to the rise of film cameras in movies and television in recent years to evoke a vintage feeling. Though the show is shot digitally, the built-in grain of the cameras used evokes the film look and feel. While the show’s cinematographic aesthetic and mid-century Hollywood set designs give “The Studio” a retro-inspired look, the show feels current because of how firmly rooted the plot is in today’s film industry landscape.
Throughout the show, Remick and the rest of the studio executives grapple with appeasing audiences. The seventh episode, “Casting,” depicts the long, drawn-out process of casting the studio’s Kool-Aid movie in the most socially conscious way possible. When the casting dilemma is finally resolved and announced, audiences are instead angered by the use of artificial intelligence in the animation process, which was used to cut production costs. Studios just can’t seem to win.
Remick struggles with the internal conflict between his creative dreams and his obligation to run the studio as a business. He wants more than anything to support the vision of the artists working with the studio but is continually confronted by the reality of running a corporatized production company.
Additionally, Remick feels underappreciated by the public. As studio head, he isn’t credited in any of the films he helps get produced. The closest he can get to public recognition is getting a shoutout from creatives at awards shows, which he desperately vies for in Zoë Kravitz’s speech during an episode recreating the Golden Globe Awards.
The show is painfully self-aware of the issues it chooses to highlight. In episode six, “The Pediatric Oncologist,” Remick is forced to confront the fact that movies are not the most important thing in the world, even if his world revolves around them. When Remick attends a ritzy charity gala fundraising for child cancer treatment with his new girlfriend Sarah (Rebecca Hall), he meets a group of doctors who have little care for the world of film and TV. He chaotically spirals in his defense of the industry he loves and has devoted his life to, but the debate between the arts and sciences ultimately ends in a stalemate.
“The Studio” champions the creatives and executives behind the entertainment industry while acknowledging that they aren’t perfect and that we shouldn’t expect their work to be perfect either.
The show is an excellent fusion of the quiet flamboyance of indie films and the over-the-top humor of a network sitcom. It’s perfect for film bros, Letterboxd enthusiasts or anyone who reads articles from the arts and entertainment section of a newspaper like this one.
The series was recently renewed for a second season, so there is still much in store for Remick and the rest of the Continental Studios team.
Camille Robinson is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at camilllr@uci.edu.
Edited by June Min and Jaheem Conley.