Google DeepMind takes its first equity stake in a film studio, matching A24's last funding round.
The partnership explicitly excludes A24's content data, unlike Lionsgate's Runway deal.
Scott Belsky says AI tools will focus on assistive workflows like storyboarding, avoiding prompted generation.
Backrooms director Kane Parsons called generative AI 'cultural and economic rot', echoing wider industry concerns.
Google DeepMind and A24 announced a research partnership on Monday, with the tech giant investing roughly $75 million in the independent film studio. The deal, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, marks Google's first equity stake in a film studio. The collaboration gives A24 access to DeepMind's research infrastructure, while DeepMind researchers will work alongside the studio to develop new production workflows.
“We believe the best way to develop tools that empower artists is to work directly with them. By collaborating with filmmakers and industry leaders like A24 from the beginning, we can build new AI features to support artists in authentic, meaningful storytelling that helps enable their creative vision.”
The multiyear, non-exclusive agreement explicitly bars Google from accessing A24's content library or data, distinguishing it from other studio-AI deals such as Lionsgate's partnership with Runway, which trains custom models on its IP. The initial focus is on assistive tools, not prompted generation. Scott Belsky, the A24 partner who oversees the studio's tech arm A24 Labs, told the Journal that the tools "won't look anything like the prompted generative type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with." One early application is AI-generated storyboards, a process that Belsky said filmmakers like Martin Scorsese have endorsed.
“We believe there are better uses that preserve creative control and support risk-taking.”
The announcement deepens Hollywood's uneven embrace of AI. Disney briefly licensed characters to OpenAI while simultaneously suing AI firms for copyright infringement. Netflix acquired Ben Affleck's AI startup InterPositive earlier this year for post-production tools. Lionsgate expanded its deal with Runway to develop new IP and AI-generated shows. A24's move arrives amid widespread crew concern: there are roughly 2,000 storyboard artists and 2,800 union lighting technicians in Hollywood, and the studio's own top-grossing director, Kane Parsons, has called generative AI "a symptom of cultural and economic rot."
The partnership caps a banner year for the studio. Kane Parsons' Backrooms earned over $300 million, becoming A24's highest-grossing film, while Marty Supreme took in close to $200 million and earned multiple Oscar nominations. The company's revenue has more than doubled in two years, and it was last valued at $3.5 billion. The Google investment matches the amount Thrive Capital contributed in the studio's last funding round.
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Google's $75 million investment marks its first stake in a film studio, as A24 and DeepMind collaborate on AI-assisted production workflows.
AI text based on reports by IndieWire, The Verge, Deadline and other publishers. Published .