<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a big year for Seth Rogen\u2019s Point Grey Pictures.<\/p>\n
The 15-year-old production company founded by Rogen, his childhood friend and longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg and producer James Weaver is coming off a huge awards season for its comedy, \u201cThe Studio.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Apple TV series, which simultaneously pokes fun at the institutions of Hollywood while also peeling back some of the industry\u2019s mystery, is now the most-awarded new comedy in TV history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Studio\u201d has won 13 Emmys, a BAFTA TV award in the international category, two Golden Globes and three Critics Choice awards. It\u2019s currently filming its second season, with most details still under wraps.<\/p>\n
I spoke with Rogen, Goldberg and Weaver about the success of the show, which primarily films on the Warner Bros. lot, and what\u2019s next for Point Grey.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never, literally, won any awards before this, so I by no means expected this,\u201d Rogen said, with a chuckle. \u201cI hoped people would creatively recognize that we were really swinging for the fences, but awards were not really something that I was thinking that much about.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the show, the Canadian actor and comedian plays beleaguered movie studio head Matt Remick, who must balance the art of filmmaking with the economics of the business. In a nod to Hollywood\u2019s pull toward intellectual property, one storyline focuses on the studio embarking on a movie about the Kool-Aid Man, which Rogen\u2019s character only reluctantly agrees to pursue.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, what is interesting, and what people don\u2019t seem to think about Hollywood, is that the people involved in it actually care about movies, even the ones who make bad ones, even the ones who make choices that stop good ones from being made,\u201d Rogen said. \u201cIf you really just wanted to make money, there are much easier ways to make money where you don\u2019t have to deal with people like me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also noted that there\u2019s a role for movies such as the fictional Kool-Aid flick.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could argue it\u2019s the Kool-Aids of the world that keep theaters open,\u201d Rogen said. \u201cIt\u2019s our fake Kool-Aid movie that allows smaller movies to exist and allows theaters to take risks on smaller movies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Studio\u201d also stemmed from a desire to make a pure comedy, despite the tough time comedies have had<\/a> recently in the marketplace.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just all agreed that we wanted to make something that was just funny,\u201d Goldberg told me. \u201cIt just felt like the world stopped making those, and we just wanted to make something that when you tuned in, was just absolutely hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n Los Angeles-based Point Grey, which has 15 employees, is named for the Canadian school where Rogen and Goldberg met (the first project they wrote together, which became 2007\u2019s \u201cSuperbad,\u201d was based on their experiences there). Despite their comedic reputations, the more serious-sounding company name was deliberate so it could be used with any kind of project.<\/p>\n In fact, the company got its start with the Joseph Gordon-Levitt-led dramedy \u201c50\/50\u201d about a 20-something who learns he has cancer. Over the years, Point Grey\u2019s projects have spanned genres, including supernatural series \u201cPreacher,\u201d 2016\u2019s \u201cSausage Party,\u201d the satirical superhero show \u201cThe Boys\u201d and biographical mini-series \u201cPam and Tommy.\u201d<\/p>\n A Point Grey project is \u201cgenuinely original\u201d and \u201cdaring,\u201d said Weaver, Rogen\u2019s former assistant who now serves as president of the company, which has a first-look film deal with Universal Pictures and a first-look TV deal with Lionsgate. He declined to discuss financials but said the company is profitable.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve managed to be really productive in terms of the amount of things that we\u2019ve made, and we try to be smart about how we run our financials,\u201d Weaver said. \u201cThe company is doing quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n Point Grey is in production on \u201cTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem\u201d; just wrapped a romantic comedy for Amazon MGM Studios starring Cameron Diaz and Stephen Merchant; and recently screened an animated film at Cannes called \u201cTangles\u201d that\u2019s based on a graphic novel about Alzheimer\u2019s. <\/p>\n The production company may eventually expand into video games (\u201cWe love video games,\u201d Goldberg told me), and plan to continue to navigate the changes in Hollywood, which is reeling from a continued drought in local production<\/a> that my colleague Stacy Perman and I wrote about recently.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I feel like people are very fatalistic about the trajectory of the industry, but it\u2019s not like the industry is going down, the industry is just changing,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cWe just are very flexible and embrace the change, and hopefully in doing so, we don\u2019t get left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n After 1,810 episodes as the host of \u201cThe Late Show,\u201d Stephen Colbert signed off for the final time Thursday.<\/p>\n CBS has said it canceled Colbert because the show was losing $40 million a year as viewers have increasingly migrated away from late-night viewing in the streaming era.<\/p>\n But many in the TV business are skeptical of the claim and believe Skydance wanted to silence Colbert, a frequent Trump critic, to pave the way for its deal last year to acquire parent network Paramount. (The Federal Communications Commission\u2019s approval of the transaction came days after the show\u2019s cancellation was announced.)<\/p>\nA serious L.A. business<\/h2>\n
Stuff We Wrote<\/h2>\n
Number of the week<\/h2>\n