In an entertainment landscape upended by generative AI and social media, a new Los Angeles-based studio is wagering $12 million that the next global franchise will not come from Hollywood, but from YouTube. Founded earlier this year by former Warner Bros. and DreamWorks Animation executive Chris deFaria and AI investor Aaron Sisto, Chronicle is taking a venture-style approach to entertainment development, using proprietary AI tools to analyze and grow intellectual properties.
Chronicle co-founders Aaron Sisto (l) and Chris deFaria (r)
“What we’re doing is more akin to a VC firm than a studio,” deFaria told me. “We’re writing small checks to promising independent creators with authentic followings, and then backing what connects.”
Chronicle’s bet is that social platforms are where tomorrow’s franchises will be born. Their business model turns the traditional pipeline on its head: instead of building a film and hoping an audience shows up, Chronicle identifies fan-first properties already resonating online, then helps grow them into premium series or films. The studio focuses on animation, which deFaria calls “a digital-native medium that scales easily and plays across demographics.”
The team is already incubating six animated projects, with the first set to publicly debut this summer. These pilots will serve as test beds for Chronicle’s internal AI platform, which Sisto describes as “a distribution intelligence tool” designed to automate and optimize the “last mile” of IP development: building a fandom.
“Creators can make great content,” said Sisto, who worked at Eric Schmidt’s deeptech VC firm, First Spark Ventures. “But getting it seen and building an audience—that’s the real bottleneck. Our AI ingests everything from Reddit chatter to YouTube thumbnails, constantly adjusting distribution strategy. We’re not using AI to make films. We’re using it to figure out how people find and fall in love with stories.”
Chronicle’s $12 million seed round was led by Point72 Ventures and Patron. The studio is not offering tools to other creators, nor are they producing IP themselves. Instead, they function as a hybrid incubator and accelerator for indie animators—many of whom are still working day jobs at larger studios. Chronicle’s development capital helps these artists produce short proofs-of-concept and test engagement online, before doubling down on projects that show traction.
“What we’re really measuring is not views, but ownership,” deFaria said. “Is there a fanbase that feels like they discovered this? That wants more? That kind of audience can travel with a story from TikTok to television.”