Why CAA Bet on This AI Startup: ‘Consent and Control’ for Clients
The agency's Alexandra Shannon and Moonvalley CEO Naeem Talukdar tell me about the tech trained entirely on licensed video data
I write every other Tuesday for paid subscribers. I recently covered how actor Tye Sheridan and Nikola Todorovic’s Wonder Dynamics is enabling indie budget sci-fi. I also reviewed Google’s Veo 3 and reported on why Hollywood won’t be distributing AI films anytime soon.
Earlier this month, CAA — the famously buttoned-up talent agency that reps A-listers from Tom Cruise to Zendaya — made an unusually loud splash in the AI space by investing in Moonvalley, a startup building visual intelligence models for filmmakers. That’s right: CAA, the king of the 10-percenters, the Hollywood power center whose physical headquarters is rendered in glass, steel and perfectly calibrated lighting, was investing significantly into the future of AI.
The announcement came as part of Moonvalley’s $84 million Series B funding round, led by General Catalyst with participation from Comcast Ventures, CoreWeave, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator (also an investor in Ankler Media) and the preeminent talent agency in town (whose exact stake in the round was not announced). It brings Moonvalley’s total funding since its 2023 launch to a crisp $154 million, which is either a bold bet on ethical AI, or just enough money to train a model legally and ethically so it won’t be crunching terabytes of pirated data and accidentally casting Timothée Chalamet in every single role.
“This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” Alexandra Shannon, head of strategic business development at CAA, tells me. “We don’t think the genie is going back in the bottle. So our job is to think about core principles of consent and control, and to think about how we can protect talent in the age of AI by supporting companies that protect talent rights.”
The deal is arriving at a time when Hollywood is operating like a boiled frog with respect to AI. Each day we feel the heat rising in an industry that will inevitably be transformed by new technologies. So it’s not surprising to me that after a few years of anxious conversations in Hollywood about whether AI will deepfake away everyone’s jobs — or worse, automate the next season of True Detective — CAA is planting a flag.
They’re not the only ones pursuing this kind of AI investment. Early last year, WME partnered with Vermillio and Loti to help protect its clients’ images and voices (check out Ashley Cullins’ interview with Vermillio CEO Dan Neely for more on how that tech works). More recently, Verve announced a partnership with Incantor AI, a company that intends to track IP rights for all content created across its AI platform. So what’s old is new again — some of the most powerful gatekeepers in town continue to build moats while much of the industry seems to be crumbling around them.
Talent agencies and studios, in short, need to do something to protect their clients and their talents. And CAA’s viewpoint is that an investment in Moonvalley isn’t about hawking a cool new product to artists on its roster. It’s about shaping the future of AI in entertainment by backing the companies that build it right. In other words, they’re not waiting for the AI apocalypse.
Today I dive into:
Why CAA is betting on an AI startup you’ve never heard of — and what it says about who survives the coming disruption
Moonvalley’s flagship AI tool, Marey — and how it avoids legal gray zones and protects creators
Why filmmakers are embracing Marey thanks to features like frame-level control and ownership
A look at Moonvalley founders’ unique blend of AI expertise and hands-on Hollywood experience
Details on Uncanny Valley, Natasha Lyonne’s new AI-driven project with Brit Marling and another surprise collaborator
How Moonvalley’s focus on transparency and creator rights sets it apart from flashier rivals OpenAI and Runway
Why slower, safer AI like Marey might actually win in Hollywood’s transformation
CAA’s bigger play: building the infrastructure of AI-era Hollywood, not just cashing 10-percent checks