Euphoria: A Case Study

Anna Krenik

New Age Television

MFM04 - MA70090O
 HBO’s Euphoria (Euphoria 2019) debuted in 2019, consisting of two seasons, sixteen

episodes and two specials. The premise is rather simple, as stated on the HBO website,

“Euphoria follows a group of high school students as they navigate love and friendships in a

world of drugs, sex, trauma and social media” (HBO, 2022). Told primarily through the eyes of

Rue, a drug addicted high school student, the show follows her and her friends as they handle

addiction, infidelity, blackmail, and other extreme traumas. The creator of Euphoria, Sam

Levinson, is primarily credited as the writer and executive producer as well as director of the

majority of episodes between both seasons. In an interview with Matt Zoller Seitz, Levinson

discussed the creation of the show, describing the genesis of Euphoria in his early twenties “after

spending the majority of my teenage years on drugs and really battling addiction” and the

eventual creation of the show in his thirties (Vulture, 2019). The series is produced in partnership

with A24 and includes executive producers Ravi Nandan, Kevin Turen, Hadas Mozes

Lichtenstein, Tmira Yardeni, Mirit Toovi, Yoram Mokadi, Gary Lennon, Ron Leshem, and

Daphna Levin. Season two brought on Drake and Future the Prince as executive producers as

well (HBO, 2022). With a large budget and creative ingenuity, Levinson has created a show that

revolutionized the teen drama genre. Euphoria is unique, narratively as well as creatively

through its conception and continued production.

Son of Oscar winning director Barry Levinson, Sam Levinson made waves in the indie

film circuit with his feature Assassination Nation (Assassination Nation, 2018), a film about four

teenage women who “fight to survive” after a hack releases the personal information of everyone

in their hometown (IMDB, 2022). Narratively Assassination Nation seems directly in line with

the show that Euphoria would become, and visually it compares in artistic quality to Euphoria:

center framing, shallow depth of field, and using lenses that ‘dirty’ the crisp quality of a digital
camera. While he had been working on the concept for Euphoria for years, Assassination Nation

was proof to investors that a story about teenagers could be stylized and successful with

audiences. “Coming off the back of Assassination Nation, Levinson doubled down on his

penchant for high-paced, stylised direction that explores themes like the internet, drugs, and sex

from a teenager’s perspective in Euphoria” (Calver, 2022).

As for the conception and development of the show itself, Euphoria is an adaptation of an

Israeli show Ophoria, or ‫ אופוריה‬in Hebrew (HBO, 2022). The Israeli show was “a drama about

messed-up middle-class kids in Israel” broadcast by cable company HOT and debuted in 2012.

Created by Israeli filmmakers Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin, the original premise, which has

carried through to the American adaptation, was to “give parents panic attacks and younger

viewers a voice” (Schiff, 2022). While the Israeli show was cancelled after one season, the

American adaptation has found success with international and domestic markets. In early 2022,

Euphoria became HBO’s “second-most watched show since 2004 behind only Game of Thrones,

per the pay TV channel” (Maas, 2022) and has won nine Emmys including Outstanding Lead

Actress in a Drama Series. The show has currently been renewed for a third season (HBO, 2022).

With success like this, it is clear to see that the investment in Levinson’s creativity paid

off. HBO is known for large production budgets, namely Game of Thrones which cost around

$16 million an episode. Even with the lack of fantastical beasts and warfare, Euphoria boasts an

estimated $11 million per episode budget. This large budget comes with a push from production

companies to increase interaction with younger audiences, as written in Variety, “HBO identified

a need for a younger-skewing, buzzy drama and aggressively went after it” (Schneider, 2019).

While a large portion of this budget goes to paying the cast, Levinson’s artistic vision certainly

impacts the price per episode. In an interview with American Cinematographer, Marcell Rév
describes the camera and lighting setup used to achieve the look of Euphoria. Shooting the first

season primarily on the Arri Alexa 65, Rév used “this very fast T1.6 lens that had a 65mm focal

length, and we basically shot 95 to 98 percent of the show on that one lens. It’s equal to a 35mm

lens on a Super 35mm camera — so it’s a nice size for a close-up, but if you go further back, you

can do a nice wide shot at the same time.” While the entire first season was shot on digital, the

second season was shot on film stock. “The cinematographer chose to pair the 35mm Arricam

LT with Kodak Vision3 500T film stocks, although he also shot some 16mm on the Arri 416.

The shift to film also necessitated a change in the lens kit, with Arri Master Primes, Kowa Cine

Prominars, Cooke S4s and Zeiss Super Speeds called into service” (Kogge, 2022). The specific

style of the camera, the complex lighting setups and use of neon lights, and the extensive

soundtrack create the universe of Euphoria at a significant cost.

The late 2010s brought in an increase of ‘raunchy’ teen dramas with unique artistic

styles. Unlike previous teen shows, such as Freaks and Geeks (Freaks and Geeks 1999) and

Skins (Skins 2007), that had a push to feel ‘real,’ newer teen shows have turned to highly stylized

looks. Euphoria is an obvious example of this shift, but narratively similar shows such as

Netflix’s Sex Education (Sex Education 2019) or Hulu’s Pen15 (Pen15 2019) have been made on

much smaller budgets. Pen15 started with a short proof-of-concept shoot, a 15-minute episode

with a budget of $150,000, funded by production company Party Over Here. In 2016, this

episode was sent to different platforms, finally landing with Hulu. “Hulu ultimately committed to

a one-season contract, with a budget that Zvibleman kiddingly described as ‘maybe the lowest

you can make a show for and still have a union crew’” (Syme, 2021). Sex Education similarly

started with a push for younger-skewing content and an increase in funding of the Netflix UK

production arm. Showrunner Laurie Nunn developed a pilot with production company Eleven
that was refused numerous times before Netflix picked it up. “We couldn’t really find a home for

it, people didn’t know what to do with it. I thought it had died a death, and then it ended up in the

hands of Netflix and it came back to life, which was wonderful” (Palmer, 2021). Both Sex

Education and Pen15 have specific artistic styles: in color, in framing, and in performance by the

actors. Despite the success of both shows, Euphoria boasts a much larger budget and still pushes

the envelope creatively in the television industry.

In a 2019 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Levinson shared how he got involved in

this project early on.

I had gone in to sit down with [HBO’s Head of Drama] Francesca Orsi. I asked her what

she liked about the Israeli series and she said just sort of what a raw and honest portrait it

is of drugs and being young and everything. So, I started talking about my own personal

history with drugs. I was a drug addict for many years and I’ve been clean for many years

now. But we just kinda just talked about life for about two hours, and then she said,

“Okay, go write that.” I was like, ”Uh all right.” And I went back and sat down and I

wrote kind of a 25-page outline that consisted of mainly dialogue because I’m not

organized enough to actually write outlines and sent it over. And she said, you know, said

“This is great. Write the first script.” And we kinda went from there. (Stack, 2019).

This is an incredibly unique way to have a show commissioned, but the personal touch and

experience of drug addiction comes through in the storytelling of the show. HBO’s investment

into Levinson’s creativity is almost unparalleled when you consider how much creative control

he has over the show. In a New York Times article, Marc Tracy points out some of these unique

features that have garnered criticism from fans and creators alike, “It has no writers’ room, as

most shows like it do, HBO confirmed, so fans might feel it fair to impute most creative
decisions to Levinson. It has ballooned in popularity, drawing outsize attention. Perhaps most

importantly, it tells complex stories about people whose stories are often not lent nuance in

popular culture: people of color, drug addicts, queer and transgender people — and high-

schoolers” (Tracy, 2022). Notably, the only shared writing credit for the show is Hunter Schafer,

the actress who plays Jules, for the special episode “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” which

shares an in depth look at Jules life as a transgender queer woman. Having a white, straight, male

showrunner who is responsible for the portrayal of numerous characters of color and different

sexualities is a dangerous game to play as a production company, but Euphoria has managed it

with an incredible reception amongst many demographics. Season two brought on an increasing

amount of criticism to Levinson for his portrayal of women and queer storylines, though there

has been no evidence to suggest HBO wishes to change the production process for season three.

Euphoria is certainly a unique show, from conception to development to creation.

Throughout its two-season arc, Levinson has maintained the majority of creative control from

pre- to post-production. From the development of each episode, with a feature-film sized budget

and no writer’s room, to the artistic style seen in each frame. With the third season on the

horizon, Euphoria continues to impress the masses and change what the worlds knows about

teen drama television.

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