Movie making isn’t life or death – or, at least, it shouldn’t be. But try telling that to the studio suits who are calling the shots. That’s the jumping off point for satirist Armando Iannucci’s new comedy The Franchise, a sharp, unforgiving skewering of the Marvel superhero movie machine.
The eight-part series revolves around the studio set of fictional film Tecto: Eye of the Storm, and the chaos of the business is shown to us through the eyes of Daniel, the First AD (that’s assistant director – but The Franchise gives you no time to get up to speed with all the movie jargon). Played with wide-eyed fear that often mutates into frustration by Himesh Patel, Dan is responsible for the smooth running of the set – something that is A) largely beyond his control and B) almost impossible.
He’s aided – and often hindered – by ingenue Third AD Dag (Lolly Adefope), who is expected to know everything about her job despite it being her first day and the fact that she’s not allowed any headphones to listen to what’s being filmed. Also on the floor is visionary director Eric (Daniel Brühl), whose dreams of bringing his award-winning artistic flair to a billion-dollar franchise are slowly being chipped away at – especially as the studio execs keep trying to cut his legions of “fishmen”.
With Jon Brown (previously a writer on Succession) as head honcho and writer, Iannucci has taken more of a backseat for The Franchise as an executive producer. But his pedal to the metal style of storytelling is stamped all over it. Just like Veep and The Thick of It, we’re thrown right into the eye of the storm with no chance to work out what’s going on or who anyone really is – the first episode takes place a month into shooting. In any other hands, the mayhem might be too much too soon, but Iannucci and Brown turn it into an immersive, non-condescending riot of a comedy.
The Franchise isn’t, however, laugh-out-loud funny. Just as in Succession, the humour comes from fast-witted quips rather than obvious punchlines: “What if this isn’t a dream factory? What if it’s an abattoir?” asks Dag absentmindedly; “happiness,” the crew all mutter, glum-faced, while convincing themselves and each other that the film they’re making is worth the aggro.
Among all the green screens and the superhero costumes, the crew are just trying to get through their workdays relatively unscathed – you don’t have to be working in Hollywood to be able to know how that feels.
The outlandish ridiculousness of Hollywood’s superhero obsession is the biggest joke. Actors (including one played by a wonderfully vicious Richard E Grant) are blinded by studio lights designed to emulate the brightness of the sun, sound effects not being cued up in time so crew members have to shout “waterfall” to mimic the sound of crashing water, and the death of hundreds of trees shipped in from Kyoto only to be cut from the script. That most of the set mishaps are inspired by real filmmaking catastrophes only makes it more outrageous.
Under all the sarcastic jibes, however, is a commentary on how the real people in the creative industries are being throttled by paper-pushing suits whose only aim is to make the biggest profit possible.
It’s no accident that the most unlikeable character is an obnoxious American studio exec who haunts the Tecto studio who happily tells people (who are more or less contractually obligated to do as he says) to “shut the f**k up”.
The Franchise isn’t damning enough to cause some sort of reckoning upon Hollywood’s franchise factory. But it is cutting enough to lift the curtain on what it’s really like to pander to an industry that constantly changes its mind and has no room for originality. The truth may not be pretty – but it certainly is laughable.
‘The Franchise’ continues next Monday at 10pm on Sky Comedy. The full series is streaming on Now
