There’s been a lot of hubbub lately about the mass exodus of film and television production from Hollywood. For a town so identified with show business—Hollywood literally defines the term “industry town”—Los Angeles has found itself at quite a crossroads, watching the vast majority of its core jobs being shipped out of town, out of state and even out of country, where it’s cheaper to produce. In a recent viral conversation in a podcast that shed a very sad but true light on the state of the industry at the moment, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe, two former castmates in the television series Parks & Recreation, which shot entirely in Los Angeles back from 2009-2015, lamented the fact that shows don’t film in Hollywood anymore. Lowe, who hosts a game show called The Floor, noted that he films the show in Ireland because it is cheaper to fly 100 people over to Ireland than it is to film on the Fox lot just down the street from where they live in Southern California.
This current state of the business of show is one of the many underlying themes behind the newest Apple TV+ genius show The Studio. Creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg aren’t going to let Hollywood go down without a fight, as not only have they made a show that is clearly and very intentionally filmed entirely in Los Angeles, including on studio lots, but they have made a show that is a love letter to the industry, with all its flaws and foibles, egos and eccentricities, talents and tantrums, in a show electric with satire and yet purring with sentimentality. The Studio is one of the most rewarding experiences available on television and well worth that AppleTV+ subscription you’ve been putting off.