The Studio TV Pilot Beat Sheet Analysis
Why We Chose to Do a Save a Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis of The Studio Pilot
Nominated for 23 Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, the Seth Rogan-Evan Goldberg hit hits the Save the Cat! beats beautifully.
The Studio
Created by: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg & Peter Huyck & Alex Gregory & Frida Perez
Written by: Peter Huyck
Directed by: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
S1 E1: “The Promotion”
The World: The frequently soulless world of Hollywood film studios
Franchise Type: Fool Triumphant
An underestimated “fool” is pitted against an establishment but proves their hidden value to everyone, resulting in their triumph! Fool Triumphant stories are about heroes who don’t fit in but can teach us something about life.
The 3 elements of a FOOL TRIUMPHANT story are:
1) A fool whose innocence is their strength and whose gentle manner makes them likely to be ignored—by all but a jealous “Insider” who knows too well.
2) An establishment, the people or group a fool comes up against, either within their midst, or after being sent to a new place in which they do not fit—at first.
3) A transmutation in which the fool becomes someone or something new, often including a “name change” that’s taken on either by accident or as a disguise.
Pilot Episode Genre: Man with a Plan
Platform: Apple TV+
TV Genre: Satirical comedy
Story DNA
Hero: Matt Remick, the new head of Continental Studios
Goal: To produce quality films
Obstacles: It’s all about the money, money, money
Stakes: Matt’s artistic soul. And his paycheck.
Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis for the The Studio TV Pilot
Opening Image
As snow falls and ominous music plays, a man (um, is that Paul Dano?) runs out of an isolated mountain cabin, laughing maniacally before being shot. Bleeding on the ground, he looks up at his assailant and sarcastically wishes him well as the new “boss.” And—“Cut!”
We pull back to see that we’re actually on a soundstage in sunny California where Continental Studio exec Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) has shown up to grovel a bit before their star, ‘cause yes, that is Paul Dano playing himself playing a character in Continental’s new movie. This winking, uber-meta Opening gets us off to a roaring start for a series about whether life imitates art or art imitates life or movies imitate each other trying to imitate life or… yeah, you get it.
Theme Stated
CEO Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston) states proudly: “At Continental, we don’t make films; we make movies.” The Studio is all about the dichotomy of producing award-winning films or profit-driven movies and the very rare talent (hello, Greta Gerwig) that can somehow do both at the same time. Matt Remick tries to walk this tightrope and we’re never quite sure if he’s a budding genius or an absolute hack; funnily enough, he has the same question about himself, making him a likeable Fool.
Set-Up
In his frustrating thesis world, Remick is on his way to take a meeting with the JENGA company to see if they can possibly squeeze a movie idea out of their building block game. It really chaps his hide and in a Save the Cat! moment, Remick waxes rhapsodic about his love of film and laments to his assistant Quinn (Chase Sui Wonders) that he could be making the next Rosemary’s Baby or Annie Hall rather than the IP-driven shlock his studio creates to stay financially afloat—except, you know, he’d like to do a film that wasn’t directed by a pervert. Quinn retorts, “Turns out perverts make great movies,” and Remick sighs, “They really do.”
In their bizarre industry, nearly any vice, peccadillo, or legit crime can be excused if there’s talent involved and money made.
Remick is mercifully deterred from his JENGA journey when he starts hearing rumors that the longtime studio head Patty Leigh (the always brilliant Catherine O’Hara) has been fired, or quit, or ran away, or whatever. Anyway, she’s gone and Mill wants to see Remick in his office, so either he’s getting fired or maybe promoted, and OMG, it’s all so exciting and exhausting and maybe now Remick will get invited to Charlize Theron’s star-studded party?
Catalyst
Mill tells Remick Leigh is out and he’s considering Remick to replace her.
Debate
It’s a legit and rapid-fire Debate as Remick has to convince Mill that he’s the guy for the job, starting by yelping “I’m the guy for the job!” It’s going to take a bit more arm-twisting, however, but as Remick lists all his accomplishments, Mill seems more concerned about why his green juice is not on his desk, damnit.
Remick regroups and goes for the heart of the matter: “Film is my life and being the head of Continental is the only job I’ve ever wanted.”
Of course, in this bloodthirsty and bottom line business, that’s the main reason Mill hesitates to give Remick the job; Matt cares too much, he’s too artsy-fartsy, he is obsessed with (gag) quality. It’s not until Remick promises to make a huge, four-quadrant movie based on the IP for Kool-Aid (yep, the yummy sugar ‘n’ food-coloring drink with the glass pitcher-pitchman that bursts through a wall yelling his signature catchphrase, “Oh, yeah!”) that Mill officially makes his decision.
Break into Two
Matthew Remick gets the job and his longed-for and anxiety-inducing antithesis world is heralded with an old-fashioned film title card, “THE STUDIO”, and music straight out of a 1930s screwball comedy.
B Story
There are many B Story relationships in Remick’s world—Quinn, vice president of production Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz), head of marketing Maya Mason (Kathryn Hahn)—but none as, shall we say, pungent as his best-frenemyship with Patty Leigh. They buddy love and loathe one another, exchanging deep ruminations on the nature of cinema followed by trying to one-up the other on signing deals. Their relationship is the much-needed heart of the series and provides some of its most genuinely funny moments.
Fun and Games
Riding high on moxie and Red Bulls, Remick announces that they are going to make an auteur Kool-Aid movie, like Gerwig did with Barbie. All they need is a Gerwig-level genius to come up with a great take. Remick tosses around Wes Andersen and Guillermo del Toro’s names, but the other execs talk him off his high horse—he’s not getting an Oscar® winner for a movie about a kid’s drink, for God’s sake. They tell him to make a movie for the studio, and a film for himself.
Frustrated by his limits and with Mill breathing down his neck, Remick half-grudgingly agrees to go with Nick Stoller as writer/director, a financially and artistically safe choice as Stoller knows how to make a decently fun movie out of IP like The Muppets or Captain Underpants. But Remick is immediately lambasted on social media for greenlighting a ridiculous Kool-Aid movie days after his Variety article where he promised to “revive cinema and make bold choices,” making him yell obscenities as he drives his convertible down Melrose Avenue.
Midpoint
In an inspired and laugh-out-loud false victory, Remick’s problems are seemingly solved when Martin Scorsese pitches a movie idea about the Jonestown Massacre. Which, as we all recall, ended in the suicides of over 900 members of a cult who drank… you know. Remick buys the idea on the spot and runs out into the Continental atrium shrieking in victory, “I got Martin Scorsese to write my Kool-Aid movie!”
Bad Guys Close In
Unfortunately, nobody else is quite as pumped. Maya Mason screams for a Xanax and Remick’s entire team flips out, especially since he killed the deal with Nick Stoller without telling them. Remick marches into Griffin Mill’s office to stand up for his vision, only to fold like a soft shell taco when Mill mildly questions his wisdom. When Remick panics and tries to renegotiate with Stoller, he discovers that an angry and vengeful Patty Leigh told Stoller not to work with Remick. He is soooo screwed.
All Is Lost
Remick has to beg Leigh to get Stoller back and ultimately promises her a production deal that’s far more lucrative than he’s really allowed to offer, all to make a movie he didn’t want to make in the first place.
Dark Night of the Soul
Remick admits to Leigh that he is miserable as the studio head. As angry and resentful as he was when he wanted the job and felt like he’d never get it, he’d take anger and resentment over feeling like he’s a hack who’s single-handedly destroying cinema. There is a whiff of death as Remick reconciles himself to a loss of innocence. “Heavy is the head…” muses Leigh.
Break into Three
Remick acknowledges what a great mentor she was, so in his quest to be successful, he has to ask himself WWPLD? (What Would Patty Leigh Do?)
Finale
Remick gathers the team (all the other cowards and ass-kissers in his office) and executes the plan—he’s going to give the bad news to Scorsese’s agent on Monday and avoid seeing Marty for the rest of their natural lives.
Shockingly, this brilliant maneuver fails when Remick runs right into Scorsese at Charlize Theron’s party and has to break it to him—well, he actually makes Sal break it to him—that not only are they not doing Scorsese’s Kool-Aid, but Marty can’t take it to another studio because Remick bought it so he could kill it.
Just when we think it can’t get any worse (seriously, what could be worse than Martin Scorsese sobbing?), we get a high tower surprise from none other than Steve Buscemi, who tells Remick that Scorsese planned to retire after this film; it was to be Marty’s magnum opus. Remick digs down deep and comes up with the new plan: run away. And Charlize Theron helps the plan along by telling him to get the fuck out.
Final Image
An emotionally exhausted Remick and Sal drink martinis and watch Goodfellas (arguably Scorsese’s true magnum opus) and we sense both Remick’s yearning and his resignation. Even if he can’t make truly great films, he can still watch them. And maybe that bit of synthesis is enough for tonight; after all, he’s got nine more episodes to be the Fool Triumphant.
