The Studio Season 2: Exciting New Storylines and International Film Festival Dreams!

The Studio concluded its initial season with grandeur, dedicating two episodes to delve into the madness of CinemaCon – an actual industry event happening in Las Vegas. With the first season now over, viewers find themselves pondering about potential storylines for the series, which fortunately has been granted a second season.

Russ Milheim from TopMob recently had a chat with Peter Huyck and Friday Perez, the brilliant minds behind The Studio, about their upcoming concepts and the creative process that resulted in Cinemacon.

The Studio Season 2 Could Have an International Film Festival Episode

“That Would Be a Dream to Do an Episode Set There.”

TopMob: “What are some concepts in the film industry that, hypothetically, you would really want to tackle in new episodes?”

Peter Huyck proposes one idea we might consider is creating an episode centered around a major international film festival. It would be fantastic to set an episode within such an event. We discussed this extensively during our previous season, but unfortunately, we didn’t make it there. Thus, the International Film Festival could serve as an intriguing setting for potential Season 2.

On Friday Perez’s part: This ties in quite nicely with the thrill of unveiling a movie, the anticipation that builds from its release, right down to the theater-going experience on its opening day, and the box office excitement. However, it’s crucial that we aim to cover all aspects thoroughly…

Regardless of how far we venture, we aim to create an engaging compendium that captures the essence of filmmaking in today’s era. We’re determined to cover all aspects – from festivals and releases to development phases. In essence, this will serve as a comprehensive resource on movie production.

Co-showrunner actually shared a similar sentiment with TopMob in a previous interview.

Although The Studio hasn’t been renewed for Season 2 just yet, it’s likely that fans should start getting excited about an extraordinary global movie event instead.

Creating an Authentic CinemaCon for The Studio

“We Did a Group Trip for Research the Year Before.”

TopMob: “Cinema Con, those last two episodes in the show, were great. And I had actually just been to Cinema Con prior to watching those, I was like, wow, this is close to home. What avenues did you go to make sure you were mimicking the event as well as you could? And just also how studios present their slates.”

Peter Huyck: Well, we did a group trip for research the year before. That was super fun.

Friday Perez: It was the best. Like is the best work event trip I’ve ever been on, right?

In a lush green room filled with studio heads, it seemed as though Rihanna and Martin Scorsese were engaged in conversation. The experience felt almost unreal to me, marveling at how these individuals gather in intimate spaces to showcase their upcoming films to cinema proprietors. That excursion was undeniably the highlight of our journey.

Instead of merely saying we watched, we actually ventured behind the scenes since it was Seth and Evan who granted us access to those incredible backstage areas filled with activity. This allowed us to experience everything firsthand, making us feel as if we were truly a part of the real scene.

John: You might have heard about CinemaCon, its presentations, but it doesn’t truly make sense until you step into that massive theater and, as you stroll around the casinos of Caesars, you realize – it’s a peculiar blend of a huge presentation-level press event with the quirky charm of Vegas that never fails to amuse.

User: What was particularly amusing, yet not fully explored, was the significance of concessions at CinemaCon. We were planning to depict scenes involving a variety of new theater equipment, such as vibrating seats and scent machines, which would have added an interesting twist to the episodes.

We found ourselves exclaiming, “Oh dear, we’ve exhausted our space for episodes as we aimed to feature—an astounding variety of hot dogs, infused with nacho cheese, where the hot dogs seemed to be nestled within the cheese. It’s hard to fathom they’re creating every kind of popcorn… An endless array of candies. We delved into that section for quite some time…

We unintentionally fell ill due to our habit of eating almost anything we came across, including cheesy hot dogs with popcorn-like coatings, and found it amusing. However, that aspect wasn’t explored in the episode because we ran out of time.

TopMob: “Well, Cinema Con is a yearly occurrence. So you know, if the studio becomes a yearly show, there you go. You have a repeat visit.”

Peter Huyck’s suggestion: Imagine if each television season concluded at CinemaCon. In such a scenario, the last episode, whether it’s a triumph or a letdown, would be experienced alongside David Franco consistently.

Letting Actors Go Crazy In The Studio for CinemaCon

“All of the Guest Stars Basically Came Really Down to Clown.”

TopMob: “What was it like crafting those crazy scenarios for actors like Dave Franco, Brian Cranston, Zoe Kravitz, and basically just being like, getting them to do whatever you guys thought was the most wild, funniest thing to do was?”

Dave is considered as one of the group’s friends, and he has a long-standing friendship with Seth. They’ve undeniably collaborated before, and he was quite forthcoming. He mentioned casually, “We shared a few scenes.” And he added, “I will be present.

I’m always supporting the teams, but if there’s any excess equipment you can spare, feel free to toss it my way. The more often he appeared on screen, the more hilarious he became. He was full of positive vibes and had us laughing non-stop. So repeatedly, we exclaimed, “We need more David Franco! We’re creating additional content because he was with us in Las Vegas at the casino. He’s a knockout!

In contrast to Bryan Cranston, who has been in comedy and Frida for years, this is her first show. However, I’ve been working for quite some time, and I’ve never encountered anyone more prepared to perform than Bryan Cranston during that CinemaCon episode. His wardrobe was astonishing, his physical humor was exceptional, as he tumbled out of fountains and into gondolas. It was the most remarkable display of physical comedy I’ve ever witnessed.

Friday Perez: Essentially, most of our guest stars boiled down to being clownish in nature. They all thought it was fun since they were playing themselves, so they understood their roles better than anyone else. We didn’t need to create their characters for them.

After establishing a foundation, they became eager to showcase diverse, humorous, and playful aspects of their personalities. Bryan, who has been deeply immersed in the Walter White character for so long, continually dedicates himself to it and works tirelessly. However, this opportunity seemed to provide everyone with a chance to unwind and have some fun.

Peter Huyck: Zoe Kravitz shines in the realm of comedy. She’s hilarious and knocks each episode out of the park. She appeared in the Golden Globes episode, where she was a riot, but for the climax, we felt compelled to invite her back again because she’s becoming a household name.

My initial job in Los Angeles was on the Larry Sanders Show, and once a character is part of the show’s universe, they can always reappear.

Currently, I’m in my Connecticut hometown, where I recently bumped into Ron Howard at a supermarket. We chatted with his wife for about half an hour, and he mentioned that it had been years since he’d had this much fun. I replied, “Ron, you’re a world-renowned figure, but you really should come back more often!

The Studio Writers on the Kool-Aid Man

They Got Lucky That the Idea Was Crazy Enough, No One Was Developing It Yet

TopMob: “The first topic I want to talk about is the Kool-Aid Man, I gotta pick your guys’ brains about what were those alternate pretentious ideas, or four quadrant story angles that you guys were playing around with when fleshing those ideas out?”

Friday Perez: Kool-Aid was one of the rare first ideas that we kind of stuck with, right?

Peter Huyck: It seems countless ideas the industry has joked about or nearly realized, such as Hungry, Hungry Hippos, have indeed come true. Interestingly, a Jenga movie is currently in development, making it challenging to find an idea so foolish it’s funny that isn’t already being worked on and developed actively.

It appears as though they mentioned playing Monopoly, but it might have been just an analogy for a complex negotiation. Seth and Evan indeed held productive discussions with Scott Rudin, who holds the rights to Monopoly or presented an impressive idea and strategy. Many of these projects are in fact deeply under development.

We chose the Kool-Aid Man as our focus since it appeared nobody else was working on creating a new one at the time, making it an opportunity for us.

Perez: That one was unusual in that it was just stupid enough that no one’s attempting it currently, which is beneficial, but also realistic enough to have a distinct character. There’s definitely a character there. It’s like… And we are all aware of what he does. So, yes, it had quite the cinematic feel. That particular one, we found ourselves drawn to once we discovered it early on.

TopMob: “Did you guys see the news yesterday that Bill Hader is developing a Jonestown series for HBO?”

In simpler terms, Peter Huyck expressed that as they discussed it further, they believed Mark Scorsese should create a movie about Jonestown. He thought this could potentially become one of the greatest films ever made, and hearing this idea would make the concept feel more authentic for the show. Now, with Bill Hader working on it for HBO, he’s overjoyed because Hader is outstanding, and he thinks the story will be compelling.

The Studio is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Be sure to check out TopMob’s other interviews with the talent behind The Studio:

The Studio Season 2 Gets Hopeful Update from Showrunner Alex Gregory

2025-05-21 20:12