“This Isn’t About Movies” – Google’s A24 Deal And The Future Of AI Filmmaking Tools

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Google invests in A24.
A24 is the one that you're starting to see in a lot of different places, and they did Backrooms, and Backroom was obviously incredibly successful. So this story came out about Google wants to put $75 million into a film company. Wait, what? Google? Yeah, they're going into it. You know what $75 million is to Google? Is what $5 is to the average person, just so you know.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:22)
They spent that much on coffee filters this morning.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:24)
Exactly, and by the way, as much as people think that's a joke, that's not a joke. Literally, $75 million to them is what $5 is to the average person, maybe $50 is to the average person. It's like, yeah, let me just try it out and see what happens. So let me read this to you. Google is investing in independent A24.
As part of a new AI research partnership between the two companies, the giant has given them $75 million into the recent hits Backrooms and Marty Supreme. According to people familiar with the MatterDoe alphabet unit, Google is a major player in online entertainment through YouTube. The deal marks the first time it has taken a stake in a studio, Google's DeepMind AI unit and A24, aiming to create new tools for movie production and distribution. Disney signed a partnership with OpenAI last year that abruptly ended with the tech company shut down its Sora video tool in March. Netflix recently acquired AI startup founded by Ben Affleck that can tweak scenes without reshoots, but by and large, mainstream Hollywood has done little with AI thus far. Scott Belsky, an A24 partner who oversees this technology and innovation work, said, this is because developers have pushed AI as a way to make movies faster and cheaper, which doesn't appeal to filmmakers. We think there are better uses that preserve creative control and support risk taking, and new tools won't look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with.
Their multi-year non-exclusive deal doesn't give Google access to A24 data, including its film and television library. Ilan, why is this so important?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:54)
So, number one, I think it just really, it's a smart move from Google to go to A24, because A24 is very respected as filmmakers. They're a company that makes really unique, high-quality, artistic films. So bringing AI into that sector is really, really smart. That's a good way to do it. I also think we're starting to very, very quickly, you know, they're saying that AI is not a huge part of Hollywood yet. This year was the first year where you're really starting to see the major integration of AI into film. There's multiple studios that have dedicated, big studios that have dedicated exclusive AI projects. There were two film festivals this year. Sundance, I believe, and TIFF, I believe it might have been, had full AI films. So Google going into this space to normalize the use of AI in film is a very smart move doing it through A24, in my opinion.
And I think that AI is going to be heavily normalized in the next three years in AI. We're going to start seeing a lot of projects that are almost made entirely in AI, but even just as a supplemental tool, it has tremendous value. Will it erase some jobs? 100%, obviously, we know that's coming, but it does do an incredible job at certain things when it comes to filmmaking.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:01)
You have to look at the background of the people that are speaking when you're in Silicon Valley. And Scott Belsky wrote a book, it's actually on your shelf, a bright yellow book called The Messy Middle.
And he wrote that when he was at Adobe. And at Adobe, he was working on building all kinds of tools for all kinds of uses. That is the DNA structure of Scott, who is a partner at A24. So when I hear that voice talking, and I know his preset mind on building tools and making tools better, I believe that this is an investment. Thrive Capital also made an investment in A24. So I believe what we are seeing here is what's going to come out of here is not a studio in what we think. I think they are a studio, but I think you're going to see tools and you're going to see a lot of things coming out of it as opposed to what I first reaction was, I dove into it because I said 75 million, that won't even fund a small biopic about two, freedom loving entrepreneurs that create a search company. You know, you can't make that movie for 75 million.