Kalshi
PJ Accetturo was at a conference in San Francisco about half a mile from Google’s I/O keynote address in May when he heard about the tech giant’s new tool, Veo 3.
“That was the big aha moment I had,” Accetturo told Business Insider in an interview.
A few months prior, Accetturo launched an AI film studio hoping to capitalize on an untapped opportunity in the filmmaking industry, where he had built his career as a commercial director. While his videos generated thousands of views, he was struggling to find a way to monetize the content.
Accetturo said Veo 3 was the perfect format for “making fun of commercials.” The Google filmmaking tool has expanded AI cinematography capabilities, making video and audio integration more seamless.
Why Accetturo decided to try using Veo 3
While some have expressed concern about AI use in filmmaking for multiple reasons, including its potential to displace workers, Accetturo said he didn’t “have a ton of reputation to lose” by being among the first to try. He viewed the challenge of making AI film content as a way to differentiate himself, though, saying that he thought the first person who made a viral commercial ad with Veo 3 would “win.”
“I’m a perfectly mediocre director,” Accetturo said, adding that if he made it as the first big AI director in the space, he’d be a “really big fish in a small pond.”
For his first project with Veo 3, Accetturo decided to release a parody pharmaceutical commercial called “Puppramin,” in which puppies cured depression. He said he stayed up until 3 a.m. making the video with Veo 3.
Accetturo said he had finally found the right medium to attract companies. The next day, he said betting company Kalshi reached out and asked him to do a commercial for the NBA finals.
How the $2,000 Kalshi ad came together
The commercial featured absurd scenes, including a farmer floating in a pool of eggs and an alien chugging beer. A Kalshi spokesperson previously told BI that the video went from idea to live ad in three days and hit around 18 million impressions across mediums in the first 48 hours after it launched.
Accetturo said he’s currently in discussions with other brands about similar collaborations but isn’t ready to name them until the deals are finalized. He added that roughly 400 people have applied to join his studio in the past week. Prior to the ad’s release, he had brought on just a few contractors.
“It’s just kind of been this explosion, pipe bomb in my hand,” Accetturo said.
Accetturo said he’s charging businesses five-figure fees, while his production costs cap at around $2,000 per video. Meanwhile, he said traditional commercial shoots can involve crews of 20 to 100 people and cost companies hundreds of thousands.
Accetturo said companies are exploring the possibility of commercial ad campaigns on social media, or ads that could run weekly or daily. For Accetturo, the opportunity could be a game changer. Instead of spending weeks working before and after the shoot, he can spend a couple of days in his underwear creating the entire ad, he said.
Pj Accetturo
How AI speeds up his work
Accetturo has used — and continues to use — plenty of other AI tools in his production work, like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Midjourney. He said AI chatbots help him write jokes and organize scripts into shot lists. They also assist in building prompt structures with elements like time of day, lighting, characters, and dialogue. Then it fills in the details and generates about 10 prompts he can plug into Veo 3.
While he said he typically has to run the process 20 to 30 times to fine-tune the nuances, he said the advantage of Veo 3 is that it renders everything in “one shot,” allowing him to meet tight production deadlines.
“I just type in text and I get the voices, the sound effects, like everything,” Accetturo said.
Accetturo said this type of format will likely turn any roles that are “ancillary to the creative core,” which he considers to include writing and directing positions, increasingly unnecessary. He said lighting, catering, sound mixers — and even actors to some degree — will no longer be needed. For a TV show he’s developing, for instance, Accetturo said he hired one actor and used AI to transform that voice into multiple characters.
When asked about whether AI will eventually replace the creative roles as well, Accetturo said he doesn’t think AI will surpass human taste in creativity in the near future, but it’s a possibility in the next five to 10 years. Right now, people seem to be drawn to the “unhinged Grand Theft Auto-style” of commercials that Veo 3 can generate.
However, Accetturo said the approach might not work forever — and if that’s the case, he says he’ll find the next thing that does.
The post The filmmaker behind the AI-generated Kalshi ad built an AI studio. It didn’t kick off until Veo 3 launched. appeared first on Business Insider.
