The Franchise follows the crew of ‘Tecto: Eye of the Storm’, a fictional film made for a fictional cinematic universe. Sounds exciting, right? The catch is that not even Maximum Studios, the fictional studio behind the film, is all that interested it. Instead, the studio is allocating most of its resources and attention to the summer tentpole film, ‘Centurios 2’.
The series is a satirical comedy meant to poke fun at the production of superhero films within a cinematic universe. You know the ones. Unfortunately, unless you’re tuned in to the behind-the-scenes of these films, you may miss some of the jabs and jokes but that doesn’t mean the series isn’t entertaining for the average viewer.
…AND ACTION
As a long-time fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I was instantly interested in the premise behind The Franchise. With two actors who have starred in Marvel productions (Daniel Brühl, Richard E. Grant) and The Boys actress Aya Cash, it seemed like they’d be bringing their real life experiences to this show. However, Daniel Brühl said that his time with Marvel was not an inspiration for his role, but instead a “total disaster” of a film he refused to name.
While Daniel Brühl claims Marvel was a “well-oiled machine,” Maximum Studios, the fictional studio behind Tecto: Eye of the Storm, certainly is not. In the beginning of the series, viewers quickly learn that there is not much communication between the crews of ‘Tecto’ and ‘Centurios 2’, which are filming simultaneously. When a sudden script change on the latter creates chaos for the former, it’s only the beginning of trouble between the two sets. As the series goes on, mishaps, studio meddling, and more cause stress on the set of ‘Tecto: Eye of the Storm’.
A PEEK BEHIND-THE-SCENES
If you’ve ever been interested in how a movie is made, The Franchise gives a simplified, yet over-the-top idea of just that. Daniel Kumar (Himesh Patel) is Tecto’s first assistant director who is doing his best to keep the set alive and thriving must juggle the happiness of the crew and of director Eric Bouchard (Daniel Brühl) who is slowly slipping into madness. For example, Eric nearly begins a war with China after an on-set rant about the country was leaked online. Eric does, however, have his assistant Steph (Jessica Hynes) to help keep him happy by any means necessary. While I’ve never personally been on a professional film set, I can only imagine the frustration and pressure it puts on the cast and crew.
The cast also has their fair share of problems. Peter Fairchild (Richard E. Grant) plays the role of Eye and he believes he should be first on the callsheet over actor Adam Randolph (Billy Magnussen) who plays the titular hero, Tecto. Adam is often subjected to Peter’s bullying and ego on set. I very much enjoyed the dynamic between the two characters, the young actor, trying to become a household name and the veteran actor who has seen better days.
STUDIO HEADACHE
What I felt was most realistic about The Franchise, despite how often it slipped into absurdity, was the studio making last minute changes. If you’re familiar at all with behind-the-scenes of Marvel and DC, then you’ll know that occasionally the studios make choices that affect the overall outcome of the projects by starting projects before the predecessor has been finished, or cutting storylines and characters last minute.
At one point, the script calls for a cameo of a popular character, and instead, the studio sends The Gurgler, who is anything but loved. In another episode, the studio also decides that it hasn’t been uplifting women enough and asks producer Anita (Aya Cash) to help. Their solution is to give the Lilac Ghost (Katherine Waterston) a giant staff so that she looks more powerful. I did find it funny that their solution was to only give her the aura of more power, without giving her a larger or more important role in the film.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Although The Franchise has its moments of hilarity, it also often slips into absurdity too often. When I first heard about the series, I was hoping it would straddle the line between parody and realism a little more than I felt it did. A lot of the humor for me also fell flat, though there was never a moment where Dag (Lolly Adefope) didn’t make me laugh, she was by far my favorite character in the series by being the other half to Dan’s straight-man act.
There were some choices in the series that I found odd, like the studio head Shane, who is never seen and is name dropped several times an episode. The only person who seems to have communication with him is Bryson (Isaac Powell) and Pat Shannon (Darren Goldstein), who is seemingly The Franchise’s answer to Kevin Feige.
While I didn’t love The Franchise there were some good moments, but perhaps this show should have been made at the height of superhero mania. My biggest complaint is that I wish they would have somehow been able to drop a short version of Tecto: Eye of the Storm after the finale. I would have loved to see a few finished scenes of the fake movie.
Overall, I think the show was just okay and I wouldn’t be opposed to another season, if that’s the route they choose, but I could also leave it at just this one season.
All episodes of The Franchise are now streaming on Max. Check out the trailer below:
The Franchise follows the crew of an unloved franchise movie fighting for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe. The comedy series shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking to ask: How exactly does the cinematic sausage get made?
The Review
The Franchise
While I didn't love The Franchise there were some good moments, but perhaps this show should have been made at the height of superhero mania. My biggest complaint is that I wish they would have somehow been able to drop a short version of Tecto: Eye of the Storm after the finale. I would have loved to see a few finished scenes of the fake movie.
