Albert Bozesan of Storybook Studios: AI pushes the boundaries

Albert, at Storybook you work "at the intersection of technology and creativity", as it's said. What does that mean?

Albert Bozesan: It means that we come from the traditional film industry and primarily see ourselves as storytellers. Unlike many AI companies, we focus on good stories that people find cool not because they were made with AI, but despite being made with AI. As a sister company of PANTALEON Films, we simply want to create good entertainment. My job as Creative Director AI Media is to build a creative bridge. I look at the story we want to tell and figure out how we can actually implement it with AI.

What path led you to Storybook Studios?

Albert: I've always seen myself on that bridge between technology and entertainment. My parents are both computer scientists who studied AI in the 80s at Stanford and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. So, I grew up with these topics. I eventually studied business administration and computer science at the Technical University of Munich – without graduating, because I founded my own production company during my studies. My co-founder Robert Sladeczek and I produced various content there, from entertainment to advertising, for clients like Audible, Hugendubel, and fritz-kola. Always with the goal of achieving a lot with few resources. When AI came along, it was just another tool for this purpose. That eventually led me to Dan Maag, Stephanie Schettler-Köhler, and Tobias M. Huber at PANTAFLIX, with whom I started Storybook.

How did you acquire the necessary skills for this?

Albert: For storytelling, I traveled to London and met Robert McKee, who gives very renowned story workshops. I also learned a lot from my scriptwriting mentor Tommy Krappweis. I've always taught myself technical skills online. This was especially true during the pandemic. That's when I started with 3D animation because we could no longer produce live-action films. For example, we couldn't shoot videos for one of our main clients, Hugendubel, for months. So, we locked ourselves in for a few weeks and decided to learn the 3D graphics software Blender.

How did your childhood and youth in Silicon Valley shape you?

Albert: What influenced me most about the American spirit is the ability to sell yourself well. I mean this in a positive way. It's about talking about what you do, what you find cool, and what you have to contribute. I see a need to catch up in this area in the AI field here in Germany. Fundamental technologies are being developed here that everyone is now using. For example, the team around Professor Björn Ommer from LMU invented Latent Diffusion, the technology on which all current image generators are based. Often, people mistakenly assume that these foundations come from Silicon Valley or the UK.

One of the upcoming Storybook projects: An AI-generated animated series for children

You just presented your current projects at the Seriencamp Conference. What news is there?

Albert: We started our talk at Seriencamp with an image of a production tool that doesn't yet exist: a hypothetical big red button that can generate films from start to finish – many wish for such a button. Everything currently indicates that this button will exist sooner or later. We look forward to this button not because we want to generate as much content automatically as possible, but because it will support our goal of producing the best possible content free from budgetary constraints.

We also presented our production "Space Vets." A children's series about veterinarians in space, largely generated by AI. The series aims to show what is possible when human heart and good storytelling meet technology. With "Space Vets", we can demonstrate how Storybook produces content that meets international standards.

What influence does generative AI already have on film and media production?

Albert: I don't know anyone who isn't working with AI in some way. Many do it without knowing it because tools like Photoshop already have AI features built in; it's mainstream now. The biggest influence, in my opinion, is in the video and image sector. What we often see now are writers who use AI to illustrate their concepts and are therefore much better able to sell their ideas. What used to be just text now has an original look through image-generating tools and gives many people the chance to attract attention in a completely different way.

How does AI specifically change workflows in the film industry?

Albert: It fundamentally changes workflows, simply because you can find a useful tool for every step. From financing to development and, of course, in video and audio. Also in terms of story – here I deliberately don't say screenplay! In terms of structure, AI can be a great tandem partner for writers. And also in organization. You can give ChatGPT simple instructions like: Generate a Python program that automatically sorts my files.

Another example: At the Munich DOK.fest, a colleague presented a tool that greatly simplifies editing. The AI looks at all the material and builds a so-called Latent Space. This is a virtual structure that organizes the files not by tags or titles but by content. You tell the AI, for example: Find footage where people are wearing something blue. The AI finds it and comes back with a useful result.

Fully AI-generated feature films could create a new genre

At Storybook, you're working on producing entirely with AI. Will we soon see AI feature films and streaming series?

Albert: I think it will develop similarly to the VFX sector years ago. Initially, individual AI elements will be seen. In individual scenes, also in backgrounds during Virtual Production. But eventually, the equivalent of Pixar – hopefully, that's Storybook – will come and say: Look, here's a fully AI-generated film. That would establish a completely new genre.

How accepted are AI-generated films among creatives and audiences?

Albert: I feel acceptance among creatives increases when they work with AI tools themselves. Once you realize how much easier it is to tell your own stories, you find AI great. So, I would encourage every creative to try it. Among audiences, I mainly observe on TikTok that people often don't care if content is AI-generated. As long as it entertains them, they find it super cool.

You emphasize how important good storytelling is to you. How do you think about combining AI and storytelling?

Albert: Our Storybook AIs help us think more boundlessly. Every film production company has a drawer full of concepts that would have been impossible to realize a few years ago. Now, we are tackling exactly these projects.

The cinema industry is in crisis and is reinventing itself. Does AI offer the right solutions?

Albert: Absolutely. If you are willing to really delve into the topic and not just scratch the surface of commercially available tools. We are largely independent of US services – most of our AIs run offline on our own computers in our Munich studio and have been adapted by our team for cinematic purposes. The crisis is primarily financial. We have seen how streaming services have effectively pulled out of Germany. An incredible number of projects have been canceled. As creatives, we are pleased when we can produce content independently of these studios.

What is the significance of Munich as a production location for your work at Storybook?

Albert: In America, the worlds of Silicon Valley and Hollywood still need to come together. In Munich, we are, in the best sense, a village that knows each other and where everyone constantly exchanges ideas. That's also one reason why we often have the opportunity to talk to filmmakers from Hollywood. There are directors who can't find anyone there who is as knowledgeable about AI. Often, the choice there is between creatives who aren't technically skilled yet and tech bros who don't understand what creatives need. The network we have built here in Munich is such a huge asset.