Seth Rogen Wrote All the Celebrity Cameos in ‘The Studio’ with ‘Specific’ Stars in Mind (Exclusive)

Seth Rogen was not expecting The Studio to be quite so star-studded.

Rogen created, wrote and directed the new Apple TV+ series with longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg and also stars in it as movie lover Matt Remick, the head of a fictional Hollywood movie studio that’s feeling the pressure. The 10-episode series sees stars from Dave Franco and Zoë Kravitz to Martin Scorsese, Ice Cube and Adam Scott make cameos, and Rogen tells PEOPLE that each storyline was written with those celebrities specifically in mind.

“It was all about the stories of the episodes and kind of who served the various storylines and it was pretty specific for the most part,” Rogen, 42, says of how he and Goldberg chose what A-listers would be involved.

“We would write it to our idealized version of who we could get maybe, and we very often got those people, which was shocking.”

Rogen adds, “People in general are pretty cool to make fun of themselves and Hollywood and seem to get the joke, which was nice.”

Speaking to PEOPLE on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of the series on March 24, Rogen said that the inspiration for the one-of-a-kind show came from his own love of movies — and his thoughts on the industry as a whole.

“It really is just our perspective of all of it. I think we are constantly frustrated by Hollywood and disappointed in Hollywood, and aggravated by it, but at the same time, we see the magic,” Rogen said.

“We are believers in the magic of the movies and we know nothing else. And so for us, there is amazing potential in Hollywood, we just hope that it is used properly. But we love movies and the show itself was an opportunity to kind of bring that to life cinematically while telling these stories.”

His costar Ike Barinholtz, who plays fellow movie exec Sal Saperstein, told PEOPLE at the premiere that making the show was “no easy feat” and required people like Rogen and Goldberg who “love this business.”

“I think they surrounded themselves in this project with people who love this industry and have been doing it for a long time. There’s a version of this show that is a cynical show, and it’s very angry and hateful and wants revenge, but that’s a very different show. This show, they love [movies], it’s reverence, it’s adoration,” Barinholtz, 48, said.

“You’ve got to be honest about the things you love. You got to rip on the things you love a little bit and go there. So I think they struck the perfect balance … It’s a very real love letter to Hollywood.”

Along with Rogen and Barinholtz, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn and Chase Sui Wonders also star in The Studio, as well as recurring guest star Bryan Cranston.

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The first two episodes of The Studio premiere Wednesday, March 26 on Apple TV+.