A24 opens – A24 is partnering with Google DeepMind through a $75 million, non-exclusive research agreement that gives the AI lab access to the studio’s filmmaking workflow—while explicitly excluding A24 film data from training. The deal arrives as A24’s brand continues to
A24 has built a reputation on restraint—an aesthetic that made it feel less like a factory and more like a point of view. People treat the studio name like a shorthand for movies that stay cool under pressure. from merch to tattoos. and even to the theater and restaurant that carry “A24” onto the street.
Then. on Monday. that brand got something it’s rarely associated with: a major AI investment tied directly to how its films get made. Google DeepMind invested $75 million in A24. putting the research team closer than ever to the workflow behind projects like “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “Backrooms.”.
The partnership is non-exclusive and framed as research. DeepMind gets access to A24’s production process. In return, the collaboration is set up to support development of AI infrastructure and tools. The messaging is built around “responsible AI” and the promise that artists stay in control while technology serves the creative vision.
A key detail sits in the fine print: the deal explicitly excludes A24 data. That means Google won’t train on A24 films. But A24 still chose to open the filmmaking process itself to negotiation, and the partners say they hope to collaborate closely with A24 filmmakers.
A24 partner Scott Belsky told the Wall Street Journal that the new tools “won’t look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with.” The promise is meant to calm the most visible fears about how AI can be used. Still. the discomfort isn’t limited to one kind of system. and the tension remains visible in the timing: A24 spent years protecting the “how” behind its output. and it’s now selling access to that process to the highest bidder.
For A24, it’s not just about a library—it’s about workflow. The studio’s approach to how projects get selected. how filmmakers are encouraged to take risks. and how problems get solved when the answer can’t be “more money” is described as cultural infrastructure. not internal plumbing. That’s the trade at the heart of the partnership: DeepMind can’t access films like “Moonlight. ” but it can take a seat in the room where the next “Moonlight” gets made.
This comes just after A24’s biggest theatrical hit with “Backrooms.” In a recent interview. Kane Parsons said he had “zero interest” beyond interrogating AI as a story idea and called generative AI a source of “creative rot.” Parsons’ stance underlined how independent creative authority can scale outside the studio system. Now that process sits next to a deal that places the development of AI infrastructure inside A24’s workflow.
If AI starts helping with storyboards. reshoots. and editing—moving from optional to standard. and then to default—that shift won’t be announced in advance. A24 is betting it can take the capital and infrastructure without ceding the judgment that makes it A24 in the first place. Belsky told WSJ the tools will “preserve creative control and support risk-taking. ” though the real question is whether that stays true once the tools become essential.
What’s certain is the direction of travel. For years. the most credible argument inside independent film has been that taste and creative authority aren’t only artistic—they function as a distribution strategy. That same argument now takes the form of a research asset. with AI’s calls made from inside the house rather than outside it.
The week’s industry conversation also continues to circle around how filmmakers build careers in a landscape shaped by creative choices and financial constraints. IndieWire Managing Editor Christian Zilko curated weekly recommendations that include practical screenwriting guidance and distribution strategy. plus reporting on the unglamorous financial realities faced by indie filmmakers.
Within that broader debate about how indie films survive, the A24–DeepMind deal lands like a new kind of question. A studio that became a cultural marker for cool, artist-first filmmaking is now negotiating its workflow with an AI partner—while insisting that the creative control remains intact.
A24 Google DeepMind $75 million AI partnership filmmaking workflow Scott Belsky creative control Backrooms Everything Everywhere All At Once Moonlight generative AI responsible AI independent film