How 'The Studio' Shoots Complicated Oners For Every Shot

It feels like it's only been out for a few days, and everyone, including me, is raving about The Studio on Apple TV+. It's an inside look at Hollywood via a satirical comedy television series created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, along with Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez. The series stars Rogen as Matt Remick, the head of Continental Studios, and follows his attempts to save the floundering company amidst rapid changes in the film industry. It's a pretty relevant watch for our readers! One of the things I've been admitting about the show is how many oners they shoot! In the pilot, there are a ton of long takes, and in the second episode, the whole story is built on getting an oner. Recently, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are on a soon-to-be-released episode of The Filmmaker Toolkit podcast where they talked about why they're shooting long takes. We already knew the series was inspired by Robert Altman's The Player, which opens with an 11-minute shot. But that was just the opening idea for them. “If you’re making something about Hollywood, to do something technically difficult asserts your position as someone who has any right to be speaking about this stuff,” Rogen said. “‘The Player does that. He’s doing one of the hardest things you can do, and now he’s gonna go make fun of movies for the next two hours. But he’s clearly doing it from the position of someone who understands every intricacy and challenge of filmmaking.”They really wanted to shoot this show like you're in Hollywood and the world is swirling around you. That's what inspired them to shoot without cutting. And to use just one camera and one lens to do it. “We want you to feel the panic and the stress,” Goldberg said. “There’s no better way to plunk you right in it, and if you’re in it, you’re not cutting to a wide shot.”So how did they do it? Well, they landed on a 21mm lens after a lot of long discussions and tests with cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra.The effect is watching something with little to no distortion, it looks like reality. We can feel the pressure in every room, and the lack of cutting makes it continue to mount. “Your head’s on a swivel and you’re trying to keep up with what’s happening,” Rogen said. “It was a way to see Hollywood through our lens — literally because we only use one lens the whole time, a pretty wide lens that replicates what you take in as you’re standing there watching people talk.”While I was laughing through the first two episodes, it was stressful. and it totally brought me back to being an assistant at times, which gave me ulcers. A little more behind the camera and lens, Newport-Berra told IndieWire, “We decided on the 21mm because it’s quite wide, but it doesn’t distort too much.” He expanded on using just one lens, saying, “It takes one more element out of the conversation so we’re able to focus on the camera movement and blocking. We know what our field of view is to the point that halfway through the shoot any actor knew exactly what I could see. If I’m six feet away from them, they’re in a cowboy. If I’m two feet, it’s a close-up. If I’m 20 feet, I have an extreme wide.”Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. And the day they had Scorsese on set, they decided to use multiple cameras in order to move quickly to calm the nerves and avoid wasting his time. But hey, that's the kind of guy you make exceptions for! Let me know what you think in the comments.

Mar 27, 2025 - 23:15

How 'The Studio' Shoots Complicated Oners For Every Shot

It feels like it's only been out for a few days, and everyone, including me, is raving about The Studio on Apple TV+.

It's an inside look at Hollywood via a satirical comedy television series created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, along with Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez.

The series stars Rogen as Matt Remick, the head of Continental Studios, and follows his attempts to save the floundering company amidst rapid changes in the film industry.

It's a pretty relevant watch for our readers!

One of the things I've been admitting about the show is how many oners they shoot! In the pilot, there are a ton of long takes, and in the second episode, the whole story is built on getting an oner.

Recently, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are on a soon-to-be-released episode of The Filmmaker Toolkit podcast where they talked about why they're shooting long takes.

We already knew the series was inspired by Robert Altman's The Player, which opens with an 11-minute shot. But that was just the opening idea for them.

“If you’re making something about Hollywood, to do something technically difficult asserts your position as someone who has any right to be speaking about this stuff,” Rogen said. “‘The Player does that. He’s doing one of the hardest things you can do, and now he’s gonna go make fun of movies for the next two hours. But he’s clearly doing it from the position of someone who understands every intricacy and challenge of filmmaking.”

They really wanted to shoot this show like you're in Hollywood and the world is swirling around you. That's what inspired them to shoot without cutting. And to use just one camera and one lens to do it.

“We want you to feel the panic and the stress,” Goldberg said. “There’s no better way to plunk you right in it, and if you’re in it, you’re not cutting to a wide shot.”

So how did they do it? Well, they landed on a 21mm lens after a lot of long discussions and tests with cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra.

The effect is watching something with little to no distortion, it looks like reality. We can feel the pressure in every room, and the lack of cutting makes it continue to mount.

“Your head’s on a swivel and you’re trying to keep up with what’s happening,” Rogen said. “It was a way to see Hollywood through our lens — literally because we only use one lens the whole time, a pretty wide lens that replicates what you take in as you’re standing there watching people talk.”

While I was laughing through the first two episodes, it was stressful. and it totally brought me back to being an assistant at times, which gave me ulcers.

A little more behind the camera and lens, Newport-Berra told IndieWire, “We decided on the 21mm because it’s quite wide, but it doesn’t distort too much.”

He expanded on using just one lens, saying, “It takes one more element out of the conversation so we’re able to focus on the camera movement and blocking. We know what our field of view is to the point that halfway through the shoot any actor knew exactly what I could see. If I’m six feet away from them, they’re in a cowboy. If I’m two feet, it’s a close-up. If I’m 20 feet, I have an extreme wide.”

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. And the day they had Scorsese on set, they decided to use multiple cameras in order to move quickly to calm the nerves and avoid wasting his time.

But hey, that's the kind of guy you make exceptions for!

Let me know what you think in the comments.