In the first episode of the Apple TV+ show The Studio, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese sells his script to the fictional Continental Studios, only to be told later by a studio chief played by Seth Rogen that the project, about Jonestown, has been killed.
Instead, the company is fast-tracking a soulless brand-based cash grab: a Kool-Aid movie.
“Just give me back my movie and let me go sell it to f****** Apple, the way I should have done it in the first place,” a despairing Scorsese says.
The line could practically be an ad for how Apple TV+, the tech giant’s streaming service, has positioned itself as a creative haven for filmmakers trying to sell bold, original ideas.
But the question hanging over the company was, just how serious was it about its Hollywood ambitions? Would it be the next big power player? Or would it become just another deep-pocketed short-timer?
