‘The Studio’: Seth Rogen’s New Show Is Inspired by Something Judd Apatow Told Him During ‘Freaks and Geeks’
The Studio, Seth Rogen’s new series from Apple TV+ about a movie studio executive, started years ago with Freaks and Geeks. Director-producer Judd Apatow made a comment to Rogen on the set of the ‘90s teen drama that he’s never forgotten. Ahead, what Apatow told Rogen and how it helped inspire The Studio.
Rogen remembers Apatow telling him studio execs are ‘terrified of losing their jobs’
In a February 2025 Esquire interview, Rogen, who stars in—and writes, produces, and directs—The Studio, opened up about the inspiration behind the comedy. Turns out, the inspiration is decades old, in part from Rogen’s time on Freaks and Geeks, the short-lived 1999 teen comedy-drama that’s since developed a cult following.
So what exactly inspired Rogen? Something Apatow said to him before they hopped on a call with the network way back when. “Judd [Apatow] let me listen in on a notes call from the network for Freaks and Geeks when I was like 16,” Rogen, now 42, recalled.
“And before the call began, he said: ‘The thing to keep in mind is that everything they say to us on this call is based in the fact that they’re all terrified of losing their jobs every second of every day.’”
The Studio follows Rogen’s character, Matt Remick, as he suddenly finds himself in the top job at a fictional movie studio. His co-stars include Bryan Cranston, Kathryn Hahn, Zac Efron, Catherine O’Hara, Anthony Mackie, and Martin Scorsese, just to name a few.
Words from an unnamed movie executive ‘schmuck’ also helped inspire ‘The Studio’
Apatow’s comment during Freaks and Geeks isn’t the only thing that stuck with Rogen from his formative years in Hollywood only to help create The Studio. So did something a young executive told him at a meeting in the early 2000s.
He and his childhood best friend/longtime collaborator, Evan Goldberg, were getting notes on a screenplay when the exec made a memorable comment. “I got into this job because I love the movies,” the executive, who is now a higher-up at a major movie studio, said. “And now I feel like it’s my job to ruin them.”
Even now, decades later, Rogen hasn’t forgotten those words. “That was said to us in a meeting 20 years ago by the schmuck who was dealing with us on some bad script that never went anywhere, and we just never forgot it,” Rogen said.
The words show up, almost verbatim, in The Studio. (They’re front and center in the show’s trailer.) With a sweeping view of the Los Angeles, Calif., skyline behind him, Matt (Rogen) says, “I love movies and now I feel like it’s my job to ruin them.”
‘The Studio’ premieres in March 2025 on Apple TV+
The Studio is coming to Apple TV+ soon. Well, in about six weeks, at the time of writing. The Studio premieres on March 26, 2025. (Don’t worry, there’s lots of TV to watch until then like The White Lotus Season 3 and Paradise, the political drama/thriller from This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman.)
While the story centers around Rogen’s studio head character, it’s also a “love letter to L.A.,” which has become especially poignant in the wake of the wildfires that transformed much of the city in January 2025.
