How Did 'The Studio' Accomplish That Golden Globes Episode?
This week's episode of The Studio took inside Hollywood to another level, as they recreated the Golden Globes and took us through a tense storyline that asked questions about art, artists, and who gets the credit for the finished product. In order to achieve that look and feel, they didn't use the real Golden Globes, but they did rent out the Beverly Hilton Ballroom, where the actual Globes take place, and shot inside that. On an upcoming episode of The Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, show creator and star, Seth Rogen, talks about just how they brought it all together. “We were adamant that it had to be shot at the Beverly Hilton in the actual room where the Golden Globes were,” Rogen continued, “I’d say rightfully, a lot of our producers and partners, and the studio, were like, ‘Why? Who will know the difference?’ And we were like, ’It just has to.’ I thought a cool part of the show is to really give people, whether they know it or not, what the experience of it is like.”Well, that realism paid off, because you're just in it the whole time. And the long takes they use within the show made it feel like we were in the middle of a show, behind the scenes on a mission. It truly pulled us in and gave us a glimpse behind the curtain of how Hollywood functions. Rogen said of the plan using oners, “We had this idea in our heads, it’d be cool if you started in the limo when you walk through red carpet, and you walk through the lobby, and you walk into the ballroom, and just actually show people what that’s like on a very moment to moment basis.”When you're renting a hotel, those location fees can be a nightmare. So when they produced the episode, they only had about 12 hours to load in, and then had to shoot the entire episode in just four days. Rogen said, “When the Golden Globes go there, with whatever longstanding deal they have with that hotel, they have weeks to prepare,” said location manager Stacey Brashear. “That’s because they buy out the whole hotel. They put up all the actors there, they put up the workers there, it’s a huge ordeal.”But that was not the case for the show, so they had to shoot quickly, and it feels like that translated well to the screen. Everyone feels natural and like they're really stressed. Turns out, they probably were! Everyone had to chip in to maintain the realism. 'The Studio' Credit: Apple Production designer Julie Berghoff has worked on a ton of different projects in Hollywood, but when it came to this episode, she knew she had to ask questions and see what they could accomplish. She said, “I’ve never done an award show, which is a totally different game.” Berghoff continued, “There is a philosophy and method to designing an award show, so I did contact the [Globes] production designer. He was very forthcoming and kind in sharing what they do, because Seth and Evan wanted everything authentic, while they were literally jackhammering the garage next to us.”The thing I love about this show is that it feels like Hollywood is embracing it as well. In fact, Berghoff even had help from the real Globes team to make it all look perfect. She elaborated, “[The Globes] team was very kind and took some meetings with us to talk about the process, and I think they considered renting us their set, but it is a very expensive set and they’re protective of it. I don’t blame them because we’re a film crew, and we can be [Berghoff simulating the speed and deliberate nature film and TV production] bam, bam,” she continued, “So I had to build it, and because I had limited time to load in, I had to come up with a set that we could almost just load in and shoot it.”The show had around 500 people in the main scenes of the Globes, so they were always trying to wrangle that number of extras, stars, and cameos to make things work. Rogen said, “The show is all shot on a 21mm lens, it’s pretty wide, so as soon as anything’s in the distance, it’s very small. And normally, if I’m sitting in the audience at the Golden Globes watching someone on stage, you would just cut from a closeup of me to a closeup of the person on stage, but we can’t do that [because of the conceit each scene is one continous shot],” Rogen continued, “We realized very early in order to make the episode work [we had to] make sure all these famous people, who I’m in the story with, aren’t just an inch big on your screen.”The way they solved this was so clever. They worked with Berghoff to add LED screens all over the room, like a real awards show. That way, the cameos could be far away, but we'd get larger shots of them so you'd know who was there, even if they didn't get a ton of screentime. Again, I love how real this show feels and how these cameos showed up for at times, small and thankless roles, but they bought in. It speaks to Seth and Evan's funness to be around and also to people embracing them and wanting to be a part of what they do. It really sets this apart from other shows and makes this an episode to reme
This week's episode of The Studio took inside Hollywood to another level, as they recreated the Golden Globes and took us through a tense storyline that asked questions about art, artists, and who gets the credit for the finished product.
In order to achieve that look and feel, they didn't use the real Golden Globes, but they did rent out the Beverly Hilton Ballroom, where the actual Globes take place, and shot inside that.
On an upcoming episode of The Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, show creator and star, Seth Rogen, talks about just how they brought it all together.
“We were adamant that it had to be shot at the Beverly Hilton in the actual room where the Golden Globes were,” Rogen continued, “I’d say rightfully, a lot of our producers and partners, and the studio, were like, ‘Why? Who will know the difference?’ And we were like, ’It just has to.’ I thought a cool part of the show is to really give people, whether they know it or not, what the experience of it is like.”
Well, that realism paid off, because you're just in it the whole time. And the long takes they use within the show made it feel like we were in the middle of a show, behind the scenes on a mission. It truly pulled us in and gave us a glimpse behind the curtain of how Hollywood functions.
Rogen said of the plan using oners, “We had this idea in our heads, it’d be cool if you started in the limo when you walk through red carpet, and you walk through the lobby, and you walk into the ballroom, and just actually show people what that’s like on a very moment to moment basis.”
When you're renting a hotel, those location fees can be a nightmare. So when they produced the episode, they only had about 12 hours to load in, and then had to shoot the entire episode in just four days.
Rogen said, “When the Golden Globes go there, with whatever longstanding deal they have with that hotel, they have weeks to prepare,” said location manager Stacey Brashear. “That’s because they buy out the whole hotel. They put up all the actors there, they put up the workers there, it’s a huge ordeal.”
But that was not the case for the show, so they had to shoot quickly, and it feels like that translated well to the screen. Everyone feels natural and like they're really stressed. Turns out, they probably were!
Everyone had to chip in to maintain the realism.
'The Studio'
Credit: Apple
Production designer Julie Berghoff has worked on a ton of different projects in Hollywood, but when it came to this episode, she knew she had to ask questions and see what they could accomplish.
She said, “I’ve never done an award show, which is a totally different game.” Berghoff continued, “There is a philosophy and method to designing an award show, so I did contact the [Globes] production designer. He was very forthcoming and kind in sharing what they do, because Seth and Evan wanted everything authentic, while they were literally jackhammering the garage next to us.”
The thing I love about this show is that it feels like Hollywood is embracing it as well.
In fact, Berghoff even had help from the real Globes team to make it all look perfect.
She elaborated, “[The Globes] team was very kind and took some meetings with us to talk about the process, and I think they considered renting us their set, but it is a very expensive set and they’re protective of it. I don’t blame them because we’re a film crew, and we can be [Berghoff simulating the speed and deliberate nature film and TV production] bam, bam,” she continued, “So I had to build it, and because I had limited time to load in, I had to come up with a set that we could almost just load in and shoot it.”
The show had around 500 people in the main scenes of the Globes, so they were always trying to wrangle that number of extras, stars, and cameos to make things work.
Rogen said, “The show is all shot on a 21mm lens, it’s pretty wide, so as soon as anything’s in the distance, it’s very small. And normally, if I’m sitting in the audience at the Golden Globes watching someone on stage, you would just cut from a closeup of me to a closeup of the person on stage, but we can’t do that [because of the conceit each scene is one continous shot],” Rogen continued, “We realized very early in order to make the episode work [we had to] make sure all these famous people, who I’m in the story with, aren’t just an inch big on your screen.”
The way they solved this was so clever. They worked with Berghoff to add LED screens all over the room, like a real awards show. That way, the cameos could be far away, but we'd get larger shots of them so you'd know who was there, even if they didn't get a ton of screentime.
Again, I love how real this show feels and how these cameos showed up for at times, small and thankless roles, but they bought in. It speaks to Seth and Evan's funness to be around and also to people embracing them and wanting to be a part of what they do.
It really sets this apart from other shows and makes this an episode to remember.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
