Some of Hollywood’s most successful people have started their careers as assistants — Frida Perez, co-creator and executive producer of The Studio, is among them.
Raised in the Bronx by schoolteacher parents who immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, Perez moved to Los Angeles and worked a series of assistant jobs after graduating from Brown University.
"I was an assistant to an agent, and then I was assistant to two executives at Seth’s production company, and then I started working for Seth," she says.
The "Seth" she refers to his Seth Rogen, who joined her on stage at the 77th Emmys to accept their awards. Perez was Rogen's assistant for a few years before they teamed up to create The Studio. The Apple TV+ comedy, which casts Rogen as the head of a fictional Hollywood movie studio, swept the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, winning 13 Emmys and making Emmy history in the process as the first freshman comedy series to take home that many awards.
Frida Perez (second from left) and her fellow writers accept the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series / Invision/AP
Perez made history, too, as the first Latina to win an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. She was also the first Latina to be awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
In this exclusive interview with the Television Academy, Perez talks about the feedback she got after her historic Emmy honors, explains how the idea for The Studio came about and reveals her favorite character to write for.
Television Academy: You had an epic Emmy night. What did it feel like as you were going through the evening?
Frida Perez: I was very much trying to be present and just observing everything and just feeling everything. It just felt like a big celebration for everyone, which was really, really nice. Like a cherry on top of a really awesome first season.
How did it feel to know you were breaking barriers as a Latina woman in the television industry?
It’s a hard thing to identify with in the moment. But, after it happened and on Instagram, I received a lot of really, really nice feedback. Many people reached out and said how much it means to them, and I got them so excited, and they had pride. I honestly didn’t realize so many people would have that takeaway from it. It makes this whole seemingly self-indulgent experience feel a little less so.
Aside from famously being an assistant at the start of your career, you made short films on the side. [Editor's note: Perez was a Sundance Ignite Fellow for her 2019 short White Noise. Her 2022 film, Bottle Bomb, premiered at the Chicago Latino Film Festival and 2023’s Detox was featured in the National Association of Latino Independent Producers’ Women in Film Incubator, sponsored by Netflix.] Can you talk about how that experience making short films helped your career?
Being an assistant is a really good job. There's a creative aspect to it, but it wasn't enough for me. I wanted to write and direct and produce my own work. So I would spend my weekends making shorts. It was a good exercise in doing something no one asks you to do and seeing it through to the end. I had to fight tooth and nail to get money, to get actors. I didn't go to film school. I didn't have connections to crew or anything. It was very difficult, and I felt like I was building something out of nothing. But that was great, ultimately.
The Studio's Seth Rogen / Apple TV+
On to The Studio: How did the idea for the series come about?
I was Seth’s assistant for six months, and then Covid happened. So we were off in our own worlds. Seth was writing a lot, and I was reading and giving notes on his scripts.
Right after Covid, when the world started opening up again, Seth found himself on set a lot — which was amazing for me because I want to direct and produce. So, I wanted to see it all happening. Seth and I were talking a lot about film, his path [in the industry] and all the stories he had to tell.
When we were thinking of The Studio, we were on set for Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, and that movie is so much about making movies. Seth and I were also watching The Larry Sanders Show at the time and we were just really thinking about what it all meant — especially with me at the beginning of my career and Seth at an advanced part of his career. With those projects, there was just an interesting comparison that was happening at the time. I was looking to him for advice, and he was looking to me, I think, wondering, "What legacy am I going to leave?" And then Seth said, "What if I played the studio head?" That’s when it all really started going.
You wrote the pilot for The Studio with fellow co-creators Seth, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory. What was the process like? I understand there was a lot of texting going on.
Yeah. Seth and Evan are so busy that it kind of just happened naturally. We did some hours-long sessions where we all went around a table and just sat and talked. But the creative process is so unruly. It’s not a job where you show up every day. You have ideas when you’re doing the dishes or when you’re on a walk. That kind of free-flowing creative vibe was what we kept going — a never-ending conversation, really.
And then, obviously, you write — but that’s after hours and hours of discussion. Hours of putting ideas in, throwing them out. It was nice that it was an untraditional room because it fed the process that the work needed without constraints.
The Studio's Chase Sui Wonders / Apple TV+
You’re currently writing season two of The Studio.
The day after the Emmys, we got back to work!
Is there a certain character you especially love writing for?
I love the Quinn character a lot — her age, where she is in her career. Chase Sui Wonders is truly the most perfect person for the role. I find it really fun to write for Quinn and for Chase. I’m excited to see where that character goes.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Studio is now streaming on Apple TV+.
