A24 has accepted a $75 million investment from Google, and the two companies are now working together to build AI tools for the filmmaking process. According to Engadget, the multiyear deal does not give Google access to A24’s film and television library, so existing titles are off the table for now. Google says the partnership “aims to expand what is possible in the future of entertainment.”
The first tool in development will use AI to generate storyboards. A representative from A24 told The Wall Street Journal that the tools “won’t look anything like the prompted generative type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with.” The long-term goal is to get these tools into the hands of A24’s filmmakers directly.
“We believe breakthroughs happen when you get technology into the hands of the best minds in the field,” said Eli Collins, a vice president of product at DeepMind. It’s a careful pitch, framing AI as a creative aid rather than a cost-cutting measure. Whether filmmakers and crew members see it that way is another question entirely.
The deal lands at a complicated moment for A24. The studio has had a remarkable run lately:
- Backrooms, directed by Kane Parsons, made over $300 million, making it the studio’s biggest film ever
- Marty Supreme pulled in nearly $200 million and earned multiple Oscar nominations
- A24’s revenue has more than doubled over the past two years
- The company was recently valued at $3.5 billion
That success makes this partnership more significant than it might otherwise seem. A24 has built its reputation on backing emerging filmmakers who connect with younger audiences. Those audiences tend to be openly hostile to AI in creative industries. Parsons himself has called the technology “genuinely harmful” and a sign of “cultural and economic rot.” Having the director of your most profitable film on record with those views is not a small thing.
A24 is betting that positioning these tools as assistive, not generative, will soften that reaction. It’s the same approach Ben Affleck’s AI startup took before it was acquired by Netflix. That company built tools aimed at post-production work like color grading and relighting, framing them as aids for professionals rather than replacements. The argument is that AI handles the tedious parts so creative people can focus on the actual creative work.
The problem is that the “tedious parts” are someone else’s job. There are roughly 2,000 working storyboard artists in the Hollywood system. There are around 400 colorists and nearly 2,800 union members working in set lighting. These are real professions with real people in them, and the “it’s just a tool” framing doesn’t fully address what happens to those workers when the tool gets good enough.
Hollywood is already deep into a broader argument about where AI belongs in the creative process. The writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 put AI use in contracts on the table, and studios and unions are still working out the details. A24 stepping into this space, with Google’s money behind it, adds another data point to that ongoing fight. The studio’s indie credibility may cushion the initial reaction, but the underlying tension isn’t going away.
