The Studio takes a satirical deep dive into the inner workings of Hollywood from the point of
view of the offices of the fictional Continental studios, as the staff rushes from conflict to conflict, navigating the chaotic world of movie making and the spacious personalities that inhabit it. Dropped into the thick of this tornado of greed, fame, and ego is cinephile Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) who was just appointed as the head of the studio. But his romantic attitude toward cinema and the movie making process, att finds himself at odds with the dominating Hollywood ethos of profit before quality, which is personified through the greedy CEO of the studio, brilliantly portrayed by Bryan Cranston. As Matt navigates his way through Hollywood, trying to maintain his default morals while keeping actor, director, and studiohead content.
This trifecta of happiness Matt needs to maintain is the cause of his and the viers emotions when watching the show. Fast, rapid jazz music plays over each scene, with each done in one continuous take. The camera shakes and stumbles t the tempo of the show, panning from character to character as they bicker about how to solve whatever creative conflicts they have stumbled into.
The conflicts include the first episodes critique on legacy brands in Hollywood, with the studio head telling Matt to action a Kool Aid movie that can be nothing but mediocre at best, and Matt’s attempt to get a legend like Martin Scorsese to direct it with the movie being about something hilariously different.
The show covers the disconnect and often times rivalry between studio head and filmmaker, as Matt’s naturally nice demeanor turns him into a yes man who most would consider unfit to have a job as unscrupulous as a producer. This and his love fro films causes him to get in the way of the more egotistical parts of Hollywood. His antics and failure to balance these his natural personality with requirements of his job leads him to struggle for respect among his colleagues and subordinates, and needs the help of the Hollywood veteran he replaced, Patty (Catherine O’hara) to guide him through his tenure.
From its cinematography to the clever writing that blends into the chaos of a stressful job occupied by a stressed man with stressed people surrounding him under the pressure of the greed of the studio and the egoism that comes with celebrity.