# Swimming with Sharks (2022)

> A young intern infiltrates a notorious Hollywood studio with a secret agenda aimed at its formidable CEO.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/119047

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 23 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, thriller
- Created by: Kathleen Robertson
- Network: Roku Channel
- Cast: Kiernan Shipka, Diane Kruger, Donald Sutherland, Thomas Dekker, Finn Jones, Erica Alexander, Ross Butler, Gerardo Celasco
- TMDB rating: 6.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11343686/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, sardonic, corrosive, seductive, unsettling

## What critics say

Audiences rated the series mixed, with its Hollywood-studio thriller premise seen as a sharp but uneven take on ambition and obsession.

## Synopsis

Swimming with Sharks (2022) is a United States limited series created by Kathleen Robertson and released on the Roku Channel. Kiernan Shipka plays Lou Simms, a seemingly naive intern who joins the Hollywood production company Fountain Pictures, where she has quietly researched the studio's feared chief executive, Joyce Holt (Diane Kruger). Lou's engine is a slow, calculated campaign to get close to her idol and to exploit the studio's cutthroat hierarchy, while every week her obsession sharpens and the cost of her deception grows. Donald Sutherland and Thomas Dekker round out the principal cast as figures tangled in the studio's power struggles. The six-episode run is one continuing story rather than a case of the week, built from boardroom maneuvering, staged favors and quiet betrayals set against the glossy, high-stakes world of Los Angeles entertainment. The tone is tense, sardonic and corrosive, with a thriller's unease and a satirical eye on ambition and image. Fans of The Devil Wears Prada, The Player and Succession will find resonance in its portrait of a company where everyone is a predator. Its rating is mixed, with audiences unconvinced by its execution.

## Shows like Swimming with Sharks

- [Malice (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/160291)
- [Bad Banks (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/66546)
- [Hollywood (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/73940)
- [Irma Vep (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/96296)
- [UnREAL (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55459)
- [Corporate (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/65842)
- [WHAT / IF (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/70058)
- [Chloe (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/118789)
- [The Studio (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/163312)
- [Dirt (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/264)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt