08 = Newsletter Individual #5

Issue #15

Jun 4, 2026

8 min read

The A24 Effect: What the Google DeepMind Deal Means for You.

My read on what happens when the world’s most credible indie studio invites an AI lab into its productions, and what solo creators should be doing about it right now.

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8 min read

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A24 is not a studio that makes decisions lightly. This is the company that said no to commercial compromise for a decade while building the most culturally trusted brand in independent film. When they agreed to let Google DeepMind researchers into their active productions, it was not a technology bet. It was a statement about what AI in filmmaking should look like. Scott Belsky, who runs A24 Labs, was direct about it: the tools they’re building won’t look anything like prompted generation. The first tool on the table is a storyboard generator. Not a text-to-video engine. Not a scene replacement system. A storyboard generator. That choice tells you everything about the philosophy behind the deal.

“A24 didn’t let Google into their films to make them cheaper. They let them in to make the pre-production process worthy of the films they’re making.”

I’ve spent 16 years watching the pre-production process either protect a film or quietly destroy it. The storyboard is where a director’s decisions become visible before they’re expensive. A tool that sharpens that stage without replacing the judgment behind it is the right kind of AI for filmmaking. The deal is also a signal to every independent creator: the studios that survive AI are the ones that use it to protect creative control, not outsource it. That positioning is available to solo creators right now, not just to studios with $75 million partnerships.

The 4-Step Workflow

Step 1

Read the Deal Correctly

What Google bought was access to process, not content.

The partnership gives DeepMind researchers a seat inside A24’s active productions. It does not give Google access to A24’s content library or its data. That structure is deliberate. A24 kept creative and intellectual property leverage in the room. The tools developed will feed back into the Google ecosystem. Creators who understand this dynamic understand where the industry is heading: AI tools built by filmmakers, for filmmakers, tested on real productions. The question for solo creators is not whether this changes things. It is whether you are building the skills to use what comes out of it.

Headline read → Structural understanding

Step 2

Position Around Creative Control

The studios that win AI are the ones that use it to protect judgment, not replace it.

The A24 deal signals a clear direction. The filmmakers and studios that will matter in the next five years are those who can articulate where AI belongs in their process and where it does not. That articulation is a creative and strategic skill, not a technical one. Start building it now. Document your workflow. Know which decisions are yours and which ones AI can assist. The ability to say precisely what you use AI for, and why, will be a meaningful differentiator as studio-grade tools become available to independent creators.

Generic AI use → Defined creative position

Step 3

Build Pre-Production Skills First

Storyboarding is where the A24 deal starts. It should be where you start too.

Google Flow’s mood board and scene builder workflow, from Whisk ingredients through to Veo 3.1 generation, mirrors exactly what A24 Labs is building at scale. The pipeline goes from reference images for character and environment, through keyframe generation, through animated sequences with synchronised audio, all inside one workspace. This is the pre-production workflow the deal is designed to professionalise. Creators who build fluency here now are positioned for what studio-grade AI tools look like when they reach the broader market.

Post-production focus → Pre-production fluency

Step 4

Watch the Guild Response Carefully

The real test of this deal is how it handles the people adjacent to it.

The deal sits directly adjacent to the livelihoods of at least 2,000 working storyboard artists in Hollywood. The guild response will shape how far tools like this can go and how fast. For independent creators, this is relevant in two ways. First, knowing the boundary between AI-assisted pre-production and displaced human work is important for how you talk about your process publicly. Second, the guild negotiations will likely produce transparency and disclosure standards that affect every creator using AI in film production, not just studio productions.

Tool adoption → Industry context

Tool of the Week

featured

Google Flow

AI filmmaking workspace from mood board to finished scene

Flow is the closest thing currently available to what A24 and DeepMind are building together. The workflow runs from visual mood board in Whisk, through keyframe generation in Nano Banana, through animated video with native audio in Veo 3.1, all without leaving one workspace. The Scene Builder gives directorial control over camera angle, motion, and continuity across generated clips. For pre-production work specifically, the ability to go from reference image to animated storyboard frame in one session is the most underused capability in the current creator toolkit.

Try it yourself

Prompt Recipe

Copy & Use

You are a pre-production supervisor building an AI-assisted storyboard inside Google Flow.

Context: I am developing a [DESCRIBE PROJECT: e.g. 3-minute branded short film / documentary scene / narrative short] with the following visual tone: [DESCRIBE TONE: e.g. naturalistic, warm, intimate / high-contrast, cinematic, tense]. My main character is [DESCRIBE CHARACTER: appearance, clothing, emotional state in this scene].

Task: Generate a storyboard sequence of [NUMBER: 3-6] connected shots for the following scene: [DESCRIBE SCENE: setting, action, beginning and end of the sequence]. For each shot specify:

— Shot type (wide / medium / close-up / POV)

— Camera movement (static / push-in / tracking / handheld)

— Key visual element in frame

— Duration (5-8 seconds)

— Audio: ambient sound, dialogue if any, music tone

Format: Return each shot as a numbered card. Shot number / Shot type / Camera / Visual / Duration / Audio. Keep each card under 40 words.

Constraints: Maintain consistent character appearance across all shots. No fast cuts between shots in the sequence. Prioritise pre-production clarity over cinematic flourish — this is a planning document, not a finished script.

Pro Tips:

Mini Case Study

Real Results

Hand-drawn or outsourced storyboards, slow iteration, expensive revisions late in pre-production.

After: AI-Structured

Flow mood board to animated keyframes in one session. Director decisions made earlier, cheaper, and with more visual clarity.

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Vani Aggarwal

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