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Hollywood Makes A Splash In AI Storytelling, And It's Branded Content
Darren Aronofsky's new series has Google, Salesforce and Time Studios behind it. Here's why that changes nothing for independent AI creators.
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Last week, Hollywood director Darren Aronofsky and his AI-focused venture Primordial Soup launched an AI-generated Revolutionary War series titled “On This Day ... 1776” (video below). They have a reported deal with Google DeepMind and are using Google’s Veo 3 technology to recreate pivotal moments from the American Revolution, with episodes dropping on the 250th anniversary of each event. Salesforce sponsors the project; its subsidiary Slack was reportedly “integral to the production.”
As I wrote in my analysis of the $1 trillion ad marketplace, “storytelling creates moments, but infrastructure captures value.” Aronofsky’s series reflects how that marketplace concentrates rewards with those who control measurement systems, sales operations and institutional capabilities—not individual storytellers. The project combines:
Creative vision (Aronofsky’s filmmaking craft and reputation)
Technology infrastructure (Google DeepMind’s Veo 3)
Corporate sponsorship (Salesforce/Slack integration)
Distribution platform (Time Studios’ YouTube channel)
Editorial credibility (Time’s historical documentarian brand)
This structure mirrors insights from the CES panel I analyzed last month: NBCU’s scene-level targeting, Adobe’s timeline compression, and AWS’s praise for MrBeast’s distribution infrastructure all show value concentrating with capabilities, not content.
The project structure is also identical to branded content—the dominant business model for YouTube creators according to eMarketer: “On This Day ... 1776” showcases Google’s technology and promotes Salesforce’s collaboration tools through Time’s YouTube channel.
In one sense, this mirrors one path discussed in recent essays: AI storytellers being paid to create content for advertisers, no audience required. It is also the opposite of a second path: storytellers producing and publishing their own AI content for their own audiences on YouTube, X, Instagram and other platforms.
One important difference with “On This Day ... 1776” is that Aronofsky and his production company have the support and funding of technology giants. Also, the videos leverage a “combination of traditional filmmaking tools and emerging AI capabilities”, including ”a mix of SAG-AFTRA voice actors.” Primordial Soup’s post-production team edited, mixed and color graded the episodes.
They seem like a “third path” for AI storytellers—prestigious original storytelling with Hollywood talent and institutional backing.
Past essays related to today’s analysis:
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