Martin Scorsese joins Black Forest Labs, uses Flux AI for storyboarding

Martin Scorsese, the iconic director behind films like Goodfellas and The Irishman, has taken on an advisory role at Black Forest Labs, the generative AI company known for its Flux text-to-image and video generation models. According to the New York Times, Scorsese is already using Flux during the storyboarding process for his next film. The director, who has famously hand-drawn storyboards since childhood, stated that the tool helps him "communicate what you see in your head" to his production designer, art director, and cinematographer more efficiently. Scorsese's involvement appears tied to his talent manager Rick Yorn, co-founder of BroadLight Capital (a Black Forest investor), and former CAA head Michael Ovitz, also an investor. While Scorsese didn't speak directly to the Times, his previous public statements show a measured embrace of AI: in 2023 he hoped new tech would evolve cinema, in 2024 he urged filmmakers not to fear technology, and in 2025 he advised learning new tools while keeping "the heart" in the art.

Scorsese's use of AI is limited to pre-production, but the implications are significant. Storyboarding is traditionally a human job — often done by the director or dedicated storyboard artists. Scorsese's endorsement may accelerate adoption of generative AI in film pre-production, potentially displacing some creative roles. Black Forest Labs' Flux models have already been adopted by companies like Adobe, VSCO, and xAI for image and video generation. The director emphasized that AI should not replace the human element in the final film — "the heart's gotta be there" — but as more filmmakers follow his lead, the line between AI-assisted and AI-replaced creative work will blur. For tech-savvy professionals, this signals that generative AI is moving from novelty to a standard tool in high-end creative pipelines, with all the efficiency gains and ethical debates that entails.