The Studio | 2025 SXSW TV Review

Coming from executive producers Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg comes their new comedy series, The Studio on AppleTV+. The Studio offers a brilliantly comedic and insightful look at the tumultuous world of filmmaking, capturing both the chaos and intense pressure of life on set while offering a captivating glimpse behind the scenes.

Continental Studios, a major Hollywood studio staple, has shockingly ousted its lead executive, Patty Leigh (Catherine O’Hara). Ready and eager to take the reins is the people-pleasing creative, Matt Remick (Seth Rogan). Patty’s mentorship has helped shape Matt’s leadership and innovation, but a promotion to this degree in the movie industry has always been his lifelong dream. In exchange for his new position, the CEO of Continental Studios, Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston), has tasked Matt to create a revenue-generating idea that involves the childhood classic, “Kool-Aid”. His goal is to make indie films that have a real message and the potential to win an Academy Award, while making billions. Matt struggles with how to mesh corporate decisions and personal desires, and at one point, even leaning on Martin Scorsese for his concept.

Catherine O’Hara and Seth Rogan are certainly enough star-power to attract a variety of audiences, but are supported by a tremendous cast with pop-up cameos. Don’t worry, I won’t tell you those ones because they are too fun to see in real-time, but previous announcements on The Studio give indication. Matt’s executive team includes the marketing guru, Maya (Kathryn Hahn), and his quasi-competition in Sal Seperstein (Ike Barinholtz) who reprise their infamous comedy style of loud and boisterous fun. The cast is overall fairly outlandish and dramatic, but fit right in with the stereotypical Hollywood celebrity dramatics.

One of the best elements of The Studio is the way in which each episode is filmed. Each scene is one shot, which is incredibly tasking because it entails everyone getting everything right – which is rarely the case in non-fictional filmmaking. This method creates and sustains continuous tension throughout the entirety of the scene, and often into the next. You know that feeling when your roller coaster ride is about to take off, you’re strapped in, and your heart starts pounding? That’s an episode of The Studio – for a whole hour. We would all be remiss to not give Rogan and Goldberg praise for how successfully they pulled this off.

The Studio humorously reflects on the reality of being in the industry and working in a corporate environment. When the big boss shows up (Matt), Sal is charged with finding a way to keep him away from all the action, since disaster seems to follow. We’ve all been there, wanting to make sure all the t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted. But at some point, you almost feel pity for Matt and his endless bad luck. The Studio is a non-stop comedy that is relatable to all audience viewers.