All Access

Media Deals

Media Deals Alerts

Alert

Standard

Media Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Generative AI has the potential to improve the Hollywood production cycle by making it more efficient, Chris Giliberti, CEO of AI startup Avail, tells Tim.

Why it matters: Giliberti is part of a growing chorus of evangelists working to convince a nervous industry of AI's benefits.

Zoom in: Avail is one of many startups that popped up during the AI gold rush, seeking to win over studio and production executives with tools designed to make the production cycle easier.

Giliberti, a former Gimlet Media executive, said that script reading was his biggest pain point during his producing days.

"I would receive dozens of scripts per week. That's thousands of pages. I was woefully overwhelmed with reading material," he says.

Since launching in December, Avail has been used by employees at many of the major studios and talent agencies, including management firm Range Media Partners, one of its investors.

Avail has raised $11.8 million from Seven Seven Six, General Catalyst, Shari Redstone's Advancit Capital, Liontree and Range Media Partners.

The big picture: The use of generative AI is one of the most hotly debated issues in Hollywood and played a leading role during last year's twin labor strikes.

"The broad perception that AI is coming to take jobs — there are probably certain areas where I can understand the fear," Giliberti admits.

Many writers and actors remain nervous that studios will eventually want to use generative AI to replace their work, while also cutting them out of profits.

But AI tools can help make certain parts of the production easier, such as enabling executives to read more scripts. "Access is a big problem in Hollywood," Giliberti says. "We're increasing the employment prospects of writers by getting more of them in front of executives."

What's next: Avail plans to build more products to address other problems in the production life cycle, with budgeting being its next focus.

Avail will build on its Q&A function, which allows users to ask questions about filming locations and ways to reduce expenses.

1 big thing: Pitching GenAI in Hollywood

Photo illustration of Avail co-founder and CEO Chris Giliberti next to images of a film set clapper and binary code

Chris Giliberti. Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo. Photo courtesy Avail

An appeals court has set a fast-track schedule to hear the case against ByteDance ahead of its Jan. 19 deadline to sell TikTok's U.S. assets. 

Why it's the BFD: The September oral arguments will set the stage for both the U.S. government to proceed with its sale-or-ban ultimatum and for American suitors to circle the app to scoop it up from its Chinese owner, Michael Flaherty writes.

Zoom in: Legal briefs for the ByteDance side must be filed by June 20 and for the Justice Department by July 26. Reply briefs are due by Aug. 15, according to Reuters. 

TikTok and the Justice Department have sought a ruling by Dec. 6.

TikTok ban case receives September court date

2. The BFD: 🎶 See you in September

Animated illustration of the TikTok logo glitching and turning into a no symbol.

Go deeper in our full database in the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• Iris.ai, a Norwegian AI engine for scientific text understanding, raised €7.6m. Silverline Capital led and was joined by the EIC. axios.link/3UX8R7f

• Pro League Network, a niche-sports gambling company, raised $2.2m from Roger Ehrenberg, Chris Grove, Kevin Garnett and others. axios.link/4bBBQ7G

• Bridgepoint acquired a majority stake in LumApps, a French social intranet for the enterprise, for $650m. LumApps had raised just over $100m in VC funding from firms like Goldman Sachs, Bpifrance, Idinvest Partners, Iris Capital and Famille C. axios.link/3yLb2Db

• The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy, received a three-year, multimillion-dollar grant from Melinda French Gates. axios.link/4bXMbus 

• Verizon inked deals with NBCUniversal's Peacock for +play, its subscription management platform, and YouTube Premium for myPlan, its mobile phone plan with content perks. axios.link/3KqmYwI

3. Deal flow

• Mark Reynolds, previously of BBC Studios, was named global head of documentaries at Bertelsmann's Fremantle. axios.link/3yEzDd4

• The Daily Beast will do voluntary buyouts to cut costs by $1.5m. axios.link/3x0S0Iw

4. Movin' on up (or out)

💰 Exclusive: The Daily Wire made $22 million from commerce in 2023 (Axios)

"The Daily Wire, a conservative media and entertainment company ... which finished 2023 with a profit and more than $200 million in top line revenue, sees an opportunity in commerce to serve the same interests as its media brand," Sara reports.

😬 Sam Altman is starting to look a lot like Mark Zuckerberg (Axios)

"Startup founders embrace 'ask forgiveness, not permission' and 'move fast and break things' because, in their world, recklessness often pays off. ... Some of Facebook's biggest mistakes have led to real harm in the offline world. But missteps in deploying AI could cause even greater nightmares," Megan Morrone writes. 

🍿 HBO's MoviePass documentary sheds light on Black founders written out of their own story (Fast Company)

"Even if [former MoviePass CEO Mitch] Lowe's connection to Netflix, and not just his whiteness, is what helped MoviePass secure more funding after he took charge, [co-founder Stacy] Spikes still struggled against people's presumptions while getting the company off the ground," Joe Berkowitz writes.

5. Channel surfing

an illustration of a poster that has a remote control in front of a sunset and says "channel surfing" on a dorm room wall

🤖 Situational awareness: The Atlantic and Vox Media each have inked separate licensing and product deals with ChatGPT parent OpenAI, Sara Fischer exclusively reports.

@kerrymflynn: "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" at Showcase Cinemas. Unfortunately could not help with the MDW box office numbers, but I've since watched "Fury Road" and am ready to save the theater industry! 

✏️ Thanks to Michael Flaherty for editing and Katie Lewis for copy editing this newsletter.

Thank you for reading Axios Pro Media Deals! Please ask your friends, colleagues and GenAI skeptics to sign up.

May 29, 2024

1 big thing: Pitching GenAI in Hollywood