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Chris deFaria, a former animation president at Warner Bros. and Comcast’s DreamWorks, is betting he can create the next Hollywood franchises with the help of AI — and just raised $11.6 million in venture capital to do it.
His company, Chronicle Studios, is backed by Patron and Point72 Ventures, with participation from Z Ventures, Sands Capital, and others.
DeFaria and his cofounder, Aaron Sisto, met a few years ago through mutual friends. Sisto is a partner at First Spark Ventures, a firm cofounded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The pair saw marketing and distribution as the best way to help creators take their shows to the next level and ultimately develop the next generation of franchises.
As AI began to gain traction, deFaria and Sisto sensed an opening to use the tech to help boost audience growth, believing that conventional marketing methods were losing effectiveness.
That contrasts with some other players in Hollywood, who have sought to apply AI to the creative process in areas like visual effects and idea generation.
“AI can’t really make stories that are enduring,” deFaria said. “The biggest pain point is getting an audience. There’s wonderful stuff being done. I’m not sure anyone’s getting to see it.”
Chronicle is starting with a focus on animators, where deFaria’s background lies. It provides funding, a business plan, and a homegrown suite of AI tools to help them distribute their shows and build a loyal fan base in return for an equity stake.
The tools do things like automate the creation of thumbnail photos for YouTube and monitor social media for reactions to the content.
They plan to invest as much as 40% of the $11.6 million raised in creators, in the form of multiple investments over time per creator. So far, they’ve evaluated some 200 creators and invested in six, with a goal of backing up to 15 by the end of the year. Checks run in the neighborhood of $50,000.
Chronicle wouldn’t identify any of the creators it’s backing, but said they’re in various stages with projects that include a short film that’s coming out and another that’s due next year. One creator they pointed to as the type they would like to back is Vivienne Medrano. She’s the creator of the YouTube animated series “Hazbin Hotel” and “Helluva Boss,” and got a first-look deal with Amazon’s Prime Video. Medrano has built a fan base partly by showing the process behind her animation.
YouTube is a natural starting point for many of the projects Chronicle is backing. The Google-owned platform is increasingly becoming a home for TV-like series, with top creators or media companies launching shows or distributing existing episodes there.
Chronicle isn’t alone in chasing the independent creator opportunity. There’s Further Adventures, a new studio that’s investing in digital creators and independent filmmakers. Promise, an AI studio, launched last year and has gotten backing from Peter Chernin’s North Road, Andreessen Horowitz, and Google.
Others have tackled the distribution side of creators. Jellysmack helped YouTubers recirculate their videos on other platforms like Facebook and Snapchat in exchange for a cut of ad earnings. Amazon-backed Spotter provides capital and services, including an AI product, to help creators come up with new video ideas and elements.
Chronicle’s long-term goal in all its work with creators is to help them monetize their projects in various ways. That could be by selling or licensing to a streaming service, creating a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel, or even staging a musical.
That’s why they say they’re not using AI just for short-term monetization gains on YouTube but rather to build loyal fan bases.
“Hacking views does nothing for us,” Sisto said. “If you’re just hacking views, you won’t get fandom or community.”
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