Episode Review: The Studio Episode 1 - "The Promotion"

Welcome back to the blog readers. I had only recently heard about this new Apple TV+ series called The Studio (2025) about a fledgling film studio and definitely got curious when people who had seen the whole season hailed it as a possible show of the year contender. So naturally, I decided to hop on the gravy train and take a stab at this episode, titled "The Promotion," written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez, and directed by Rogen and Goldberg. Would I think it any good? Stick around to find out.

NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.

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Here's the thing about this. I was initially hesitant to go through all the bells and whistles and start doing whole reviews for this show, especially because this spring is going to be filled with a lot of great television. Daredevil: Born Again (2025) is wrapping up, with Andor (2022-25) and The Last of Us (2023-) beginning their runs soon. But all bets were off when I watched the first episode and absolutely loved it. The performances (especially from Seth Rogen) were top-notch, the comedy was bang-on-the-money, and the satire of Hollywood was so welcome.

I want to start by talking about the performance of Seth Rogen as our protagonist Matt Remick. As an ordinary man that loves film in an extraordinary setting (the film industry), we get a gateway into a character that is in awe of the environment he is in while having to balance the expectations from his money-hungry superiors. And I think Rogen is able to handle the magnitude and gravity of this character extremely well. I say that, especially knowing that he has done great character work in his career. Everything from the inner turmoil and the laugh-out-loud comedy (and trust me, there are a few of those moments), Rogen is able to masterfully craft into a memorable character right now. It is way too early to make a proclamation like this, but if they are able to keep this up over the last 9 episodes of the season, an Emmy nomination may be coming his way.

I next want to talk about the story of this episode, because Hollywood is lampooned in a way that I never have seen before. We start on an unnamed film set in which Paul Dano is playing some sort of an outlaw filming his death scene in said film. At the shoot is Continental Studios executive Matt Remick, who is passionate about making real films that are celebrated and not solely financially successful. A rumor begins to spread around other executives at the studio that current studio head Patty Leigh is being removed from her position due to a drug issue, and learns of this officially from CEO Griffin Mill. Mill is willing to give Matt the job if he is able to attest to getting a film made with the studio's newly acquired IP: Kool-Aid. He reluctantly accepts and is given the title of studio head by an enthusiastic Mill. I want to interject for a minute because the real issue with Hollywood is their overreliance on IPs and franchises (basically making money) over legitimate films, and I think what this episode says about the mindset of studios is going to hit too close to home for a lot of people.

Two weeks later, Matt is given a deadline to get a director for the Kool-Aid film, and he meets with filmmaker Nicholas Stoller to hear his pitch. Matt's friend and Continental executive Sal Seperstein loves the pitch and convinces Matt to hire Stoller as filmmaker, but Matt takes on a meeting with Martin Scorsese, who has written a script for a film regarding the Jonestown massacre. Matt convinces Scorsese to call the film Kool-Aid and offers to buy the script for $10 million and give him a production budget of $250 million. Sal and Continental's head of marketing Maya blow back on this idea hard because it is not marketable, with Maya already having made a teaser based on Stoller's pitch for the film. The group is supposed to meet with Mill to discuss the greenlighting of the film, and Matt is adamant on producing Scorsese's pitch, but panics in the meeting and shows Maya's teaser for Stoller's pitch. He also asks Matt why he spent $10 million on Scorsese's script and Matt tells him he bought the script to kill the project. Mill greenlights the film, but there is one problem: upon the acceptance of Scorsese's pitch, Stoller was told no and went on to talk to Patty, leading Matt to go to Patty's house (since she has not spoken to him since being given her job) and convince her to join on as a producer.

Upon arriving to Patty's house, she opens the door and breaks down, leading her to accuse him of conspiring to steal her job, something he vehemently denies out of a deep respect for his mentor. She agrees to talk to Stoller and become a producer on the film, but wants a non-exclusivity clause that Matt reluctantly accepts. When discussing the day's events, Matt is worried that he was hired to help kill the industry he loves so much, but Patty tells him not to worry since he had, no sorry, has, the best mentor. Matt and Sal then attend a party by Charlize Theron (that the former was invited to) and Matt laments over having to tell Scorsese the bad news. To their shock, he is at the party and Sal breaks the news, leading to Scorsese calling Matt a deceitful, spineless suit and crying. Steve Buscemi arrives at the party, having been offered the lead role of Jim Jones by Scorsese, and chastises the two as he reveals this was Scorsese's final film, leading Theron to throw them out of the party. The two then decide to watch Goodfellas (1990) at Matt's house as they discuss their love for Scorsese despite the day's happenings.

The Studio completely shocked me with a premiere episode filled with a lot of heart, a lot of great character moments, and a whole lot of belly laughs. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.