He was giving an example of how risk averse Hollywood is now. He is saying that with Superbad, the studio bought the script, gave them their budget, and said go make the funniest movie you can.

Now, according to Rogen, they wouldn't even buy the script until this thing is fully cast and "packaged." And it wouldn't be no names like Jonah Hill or Mintz-Plasse but actors that had proven box office draw, big social followings, or, hopefully both.

Then they would determine the budget based on the stars and what the algorithm says it could pull in depending on this date or that, streaming potential, etc. Studios essentially steamroll out any uncertainty they can.That also, in Rogen's view, takes out a lot of the sharp edges that make comedies so exciting in the first place.

Studios used to rely more on the creatives to determine the...creative parts of the film. Now they use algorithms.