For decades, Martin Scorsese has been regarded as one of the biggest names in world cinema. But now his name is attached to something that has angered part of his own industry. The 83-year-old director has joined generative artificial intelligence startup Black Forest Labs as an adviser. And American film unions immediately turned against him. In an open letter, they speak of “betrayal.” How did the creator of Gangs of New York and The Wolf of Wall Street become a symbol of the dispute over the future of film?
Scorsese’s statement
It began with a video released by Black Forest Labs last June. In it, Scorsese describes a scene from a city somewhere in the Caucasus. He talks about narrow cobblestone streets winding over small hills, and a driver who might be in his forties but looks sixty. And as he speaks, the company’s tool turns his ideas into images.
“For the past forty-five years, no one on set has known what image you have in your head,” he says in the video. That problem, he says, has always existed. How do you get what you see inside your head out? How do you transfer it to the screen through the weather, through the studio, through a crew of a hundred people? He elaborated on this for The New York Times. His support for AI mainly concerns storyboarding, the preparatory stage in which scenes are planned using drawings. “I’ve been drawing my own storyboards for seventy years,” he said. “Don’t forget that cinema is a young medium, about 125 years old. So we have to be open to how it can continue to evolve.”
He also pointed out that he had experimented with new technologies before. 3D in Hugo, de-aging effects in The Irishman. Now, he says, he can share his vision more quickly with the production designer, cinematographer, and architect. “During pre-production, time is money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craftsmanship,” he said.
Unions speak of betrayal
These words, however, infuriated American film production designers represented by a union comprising thousands of film, television, and theater professionals in the United States and Canada. The organization issued a letter addressed directly to Scorsese that does not mince words. “Mr. Scorsese, the business is not in flux,” the statement begins. This is a reference to the name of the product, Flux. The main accusation follows immediately. The Oscar-winning director is allegedly “turning his back on the human artists who have helped him create his most memorable works throughout his career.”
Union members argue that his solution bypasses the work of production designers, graphic designers, illustrators, architects, set designers, and others who have helped directors visualize films for decades. And they add a serious objection. Generative AI, they say, can create such “cinematic intelligence” only by ingesting vast quantities of copyrighted works. Most likely downloaded from the internet without consent, attribution, or payment.
“To think that their professional contributions can be replicated or overshadowed by generative artificial intelligence built on work most likely stolen from them and many other artists around the world is a betrayal of the collaborative nature of filmmaking,” the letter concludes. According to NBC News, Scorsese declined to comment on the open letter.
This is not an isolated development. At the beginning of the year, hundreds of actors, writers, and other creators joined a campaign against the repeated misuse of copyright by major technology companies. “Theft is not innovation, nor is it progress. It is still theft.” The participants did not argue that AI should be banned. Rather, they said it was possible to have both. “We can have advanced and rapidly developing artificial intelligence while also ensuring that creators’ rights are respected.” According to them, authorship does not merely sustain individual careers. It sustains the entire creative sector, which in America encompasses film, music, television, publishing, digital media, and supports millions of people.
Cracks within the industry
Forbes, however, points to something more interesting. The dispute is not only between studios and creators. Unity among the artistic unions themselves is also fracturing. Scorsese belongs to the Directors Guild of America, an organization representing directors. They share some of the concerns held by other professions, but they also have interests of their own. Their main concern is creative control over projects. And directors’ jobs are not yet directly under threat. At least not today.
“When I hear the word democratization, on the one hand I think it’s good to break down barriers for creators. But too often it means these creators get paid pennies, and when something succeeds, all the money flows to the technology companies and the platform,” said Russell Hollander of the DGA
Forbes adds a perceptive observation. The 85-year-old Scorsese has nothing left to lose and may also be speaking for other colleagues. For directors who see technology as a way to gain greater control over a film’s final look. Without the need to negotiate, collaborate, and compromise with other professionals. Some see such collaboration as an opportunity to involve other talented people in the creative process. Others would rather retain as much control as possible for themselves.
And similar incentives may apply to other crafts as well. Costume designers, set designers, or prop masters may see these tools as a way to save time and money. Perhaps even at the cost of reducing work for their colleagues. IATSE, which represents this entire range of professions, will therefore have a difficult balancing act ahead. To maintain a united front, it must manage a host of conflicting interests.
Meanwhile, Black Forest Labs, the company Scorsese joined as an adviser, is set to become a target. In the video, the director himself quoted a colleague as saying: “I wish the world could give you these tools too.” “Yeah, I know. We’d probably be on schedule,” Scorsese replied.
Sources: deadline.com and yahoo.com
