Chris Defaria, former Animation President of Warner Bros. and Comcast's DreamWorks, bets that with the help of AI, he could create the next Hollywood franchise.
His company, Chronicle Studios, is supported by Patron and Point72 Ventures, along with participation from Z Ventures, Sands Capital and others.
Defaria and his co-founder Aaron Sisto met through a mutual friend several years ago. Sisto is a partner at First Spark Ventures, a company combined with 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 felt an opening to use technology to drive audience growth, believing traditional marketing methods were losing their effectiveness.
This contrasts with other players in Hollywood who are trying to apply AI to creative processes in areas such as visual effects and idea generation.
“AI can't really create lasting stories,” Defaria said. “The biggest problem is getting an audience. There's something great about it. I don't know if anyone can see it.”
Chronicle focuses on animators with Defaria backgrounds. Provides a suite of funds, business plans, and homemade AI tools to help them distribute their shows and build a fan base that is loyal to the rewards of equity interests.
The tool automates the creation of thumbnail photos for YouTube, monitors social media for reactions to content, and more.
They plan to invest 40% of the $11.6 million raised by the creator in the form of multiple investments per creator. So far, they have valued around 200 creators and invested in six with the goal of supporting up to 15 by the end of the year. The check runs near $50,000.
Chronicle didn't identify any of the creators it supports, but said they are in various stages, including short films that will come out and projects planned for next year. One creator that they pointed out as the type they wanted to support is Vivienne Medrano. She is the creator of the YouTube animated series “Hazbin Hotel” and “Helluva Boss” and has signed a first look deal with Amazon's Prime Video. Medrano has partially built a fanbase by showing the process behind her animation.
YouTube is the natural starting point for many projects supported by Chronicle. The Google-owned platform is becoming the home for series like television, with top creators and media companies launching shows and distributing existing episodes.
Chronicle doesn't just pursue opportunities for independent creators. There is further adventure, a new studio investing in digital creators and independent filmmakers. Promise, an AI studio, launched last year and was supported by Peter Chernin's North Road, Andreessen Horowitz and Google.
Others are working on the distribution side of creators. Jellysmack has helped YouTubers recirculate videos on other platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat in exchange for reduced ad revenue. Amazon Backed Spotter offers capital and services, including AI products, to help creators come up with new video ideas and elements.
Long-term goals Chronicle's goal in all of our work with creators is to help monetize projects in a variety of ways. It can also be selling or providing licenses to streaming services, creating free ad-supported streaming television (Fast) channels, and staging musicals.
That's why they say they use AI to build a loyal fanbase, not just to increase short-term monetization on YouTube.
“Hacking views are of no use to us,” Sisto said. “If you're just hacking the view, you won't get fandom or community.”
