Martin Scorsese Joins Black Forest Labs and Uses AI to Storyboard
Martin Scorsese has joined Black Forest Labs as an adviser, and scorsese says he is using the company’s AI tools to storyboard a scene on an upcoming film. The move puts one of Hollywood’s best-known directors inside a practical AI workflow, not just in a public debate about the technology.
Scorsese and Black Forest Labs
Scorsese said, "Cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve." He added, "I utilized 3D with ‘Hugo’ and de-aging technology for ‘The Irishman.’" Those comments place the deal in a familiar part of his career: he has already adopted new tools when he thought they could serve the film.
Black Forest Labs said Scorsese joined it in a bid to push the bounds of creativity to create deeper and richer experiences for audiences. Robin Rombach called the partnership "a great proof point that this works." Black Forest Labs was co-founded by Rombach in Freiburg, Germany, in 2024.
Storyboard workflow in New York
A video filmed at Scorsese’s New York City office showed him using Black Forest Labs’ FLUX generative-AI model to help storyboard a scene. He discussed staging the crime film’s famous Steadicam shot that tracks mobster Henry Hill through the Copacabana nightclub, saying each vignette in the scene had to be intricately staged.
Scorsese said, "If you have a tool like this, you could figure it out much much quicker and you could save production time, and also less wear and tear on the crew." He said the tool can help him share what he is visualizing more clearly and efficiently with his creative team, including the production designer, art designer, and cinematographer.
Hollywood’s AI split
Scorsese’s move lands amid a wider split among Academy Award-winning filmmakers over AI. James Cameron is on the board of directors for Stability AI, Peter Jackson said last month at a Cannes Film Festival masterclass that "I don’t dislike" AI, and Guillermo Del Toro said last month that he slammed those who believe "art can be done with a fucking app."
Black Forest Labs said Scorsese was introduced to the company through BroadLight Capital, an investor in the firm. BroadLight Capital was co-founded by Rick Yorn, Scorsese’s manager, and CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz also helped seal the partnership. Scorsese’s spokesperson said he was introduced through BroadLight Capital, while his representative declined to comment.
The clean read here is that Scorsese is not treating generative AI as a stunt; he is using it as a previsualization tool that could speed up planning before cameras roll. If more directors follow that path, the real shift will be in development rooms, where storyboards decide time, labor, and how much is left to guesswork.
