Holywater co-founders CTO Anatoli Kasianov (left) and CEO Bogdan Nesvit (right).
Holywater, a Ukrainian startup now relocating to Los Angeles, has built an app-based streaming service powered almost entirely by AI. But before it entered the world of AI-generated video, Holywater was already a profitable media-tech company. Its book platform, My Passion, became one of the top romance reading apps in over 10 countries, generating $26 million in annual revenue. The company had a simple but effective system: AI-assisted writing tools helped authors craft stories based on proven engagement models, and if a book performed well with readers, Holywater invested in marketing and shared profits with the writer.
Holywater’s journey started with writers and stories looking for an audience.
The next logical step was video. Holywater launched My Drama, a vertical streaming app featuring low budget, live-action, short-form series tailored for mobile viewing. But as the demand for content grew, so did the costs of production. The company needed a way to create more stories faster—and that’s when AI entered the picture.
“We asked ourselves, ‘Who will disrupt us?’” said Bogdan Nesvit, co-founder and CEO of Holywater. “And the answer was obvious: companies that figure out how to generate books and video series with AI. We didn’t want to be disrupted—we wanted to lead the disruption.”
The my drama app from Holywater.
A Content Pipeline Built for AI
Holywater’s ecosystem consists of multiple apps, each playing a distinct role in content creation and distribution. It starts with My Passion, the company’s book platform, which uses AI to assist writers in generating stories based on proven engagement models. If a book performs well with readers—meaning it attracts attention and monetizes effectively—it moves to the next stage.
The most promising books are then adapted into video scripts and fed into My Muse, Holywater’s AI-driven streaming app. Using tools like LTX Studio and Runway, combined with proprietary AI, My Muse generates fully synthetic video series. Unlike other AI video generators that struggle with continuity, Holywater has trained its system to maintain character consistency, ensuring that viewers can form emotional connections with the stories over time.
One of its most successful AI-generated series so far is Queen of Hearts, a show adapted from an AI-generated book that found an audience on My Passion. “We created an AI-generated book, it performed well, then we made it into an AI-generated series, and that performed well too,” Nesvit said. “The future is already here.”
How AI Personalizes Content for Viewers
Unlike traditional Hollywood productions, where focus groups and marketing data help shape creative decisions, Holywater’s AI narratives are continuously refined based on audience engagement. The system learns from user preferences, analyzing which story elements resonate most and tailoring future content accordingly. “Our AI isn’t just automating production,” said co-founder and CTO Anatoli Kasanov. “It’s actively shaping stories that people want to see.”
Industry analysts have taken notice. According to Maddyness UK, Holywater’s approach represents “a fundamental shift in entertainment, where AI can test, refine, and deliver content at a scale and speed never before possible.” DevX similarly notes that “by leveraging AI to personalize storytelling, Holywater is creating an engagement loop that could redefine how media is consumed.”
My muse interface.
An Efficient Business Model
One of the key advantages of Holywater’s AI pipeline is cost reduction. While traditional episodic content can take months and millions of dollars to produce, Holywater can generate ten full episodes in just five days. The result is a business model with dramatically lower production costs—up to 90% less than conventional methods—allowing the company to monetize efficiently through advertising and premium subscriptions.
“Our books platform alone is generating $26 million in annual revenue,” Nesvit said. “That’s where we test our IPs. If a story succeeds there, we invest in turning it into a video series. And if the series succeeds, we can even license it to major studios.”
What This Means for Hollywood
Holywater’s emergence has sparked conversations about AI’s role in the future of entertainment. Some industry insiders are skeptical, arguing that synthetic content lacks the depth and artistry of human-created media. But as Nesvit points out, audiences are already embracing AI-generated stories—especially on mobile platforms, where lower visual fidelity is more acceptable.
Still from the AI generated Holywater streaming series, “Queen of Hearts.”
“The quality isn’t what you’d expect on television,” Nesvit admitted, “but it works on the tiny smartphone screen. And this is just the beginning. AI-generated content is janky today, but in a few years, it won’t be.”
The Road Ahead
Holywater plans to expand its offerings by opening My Muse to external creators, allowing writers and filmmakers to use AI tools to produce and distribute their own content. “We know how to do distribution, how to monetize,” Nesvit said. “Why not let other creators benefit from that too?”
For now, Holywater remains an experiment in the possibilities of AI-driven entertainment. Whether it becomes a major force in the industry or remains a niche phenomenon depends on how quickly AI can close the gap in quality. But Nesvit is confident.
“This isn’t science fiction,” he said. “It’s happening right now.”
