Europe is quietly overtaking Hollywood in AI—but are we even noticing?
This article originally appeared in German in Blickpunkt:Film, Edition 18/2025: https://e-paper.blickpunktfilm.de/de/profiles/00737e90782c/editions/ad03eb132b39b353388d
“AI from the Trenches” was the title of a panel at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, the world’s largest expo for film technology. The name wasn’t random—discussions around AI are increasingly combative. Politics pretends to steer the storm, capitalism actually does, and somewhere in between, the public, enthusiastic but often misinformed, is left to deal with the fallout. Art, culture, craft—everything we actually cherish—risks getting caught in the crossfire.
That’s how the critics see it, at least. The fear? AI is about to replace the filmmaking craft entirely—scripts written by language models, visuals by image generators, performances by synthetic voices. But here’s the twist: nearly everyone in the industry is already using AI. Quietly. Because the first to admit it risks public backlash.
Behind closed doors, across departments, creatives are using AI as a tool to amplify their work. Writers use it to summarize drafts and free up headspace for story. Audio engineers rescue flawed takes. Production designers turn pencil sketches into photorealistic renders in seconds—something unthinkable in an iterative design process.
So the pessimist interpretation misses the real story. We’re not fighting a war. We’re living through a peaceful revolution—one that gives Europe, and especially Germany, a historic advantage.
As Creative Director of Storybook Studios in Munich, I was invited to the panel as the European voice in the AI film scene. I was excited and honored to share my opinion on what I considered the “Land of AI.” But to my great surprise I found this: in Hollywood, the AI conversation is stuck in fear and resistance. In Europe, we’ve already moved on.
To my right sat Eric W. Shamlin, now heading the AI studio Secret Level, which sparked outrage last Christmas with a fully AI-generated Coca-Cola ad. What was forgotten in the backlash: Shamlin is a decorated industry veteran, with Emmys and Cannes Lions to his name, and employs dozens of seasoned VFX artists in his productions. The panel was hosted by Yves Bergquist, head of AI at the USC Entertainment Technology Center—founded by George Lucas and the studios to bridge tech and industry. Yet many of his peers are turning away, some even protesting in the streets.
Of course, there are real concerns—in Germany, too. I talk daily with professionals across departments about their future. But while Hollywood was paralyzed for months by strikes, Germany’s guilds pursued dialogue early on, negotiating not with emotion but facts. The EU’s AI Act also provided a clear legal framework, priceless when jobs are on the line. While American productions ground to a halt, we were already hiring writers and actors for AI-assisted projects—not to replace them with machines, but to help bring their vision to life despite limited funding.
In Vegas, that flexibility drew envy. Hollywood remains handcuffed by strike-era contracts. Collaboration with AI is tightly restricted. New negotiations are expected to be even tougher.
To bypass all that, a parallel scene has emerged in the US: the “AI video creators.” They want nothing to do with Hollywood. They chase millions of views on social platforms instead—no agents, no unions, no overhead. These creators, more tech-bro than auteur, claim Gen Z has no patience for stars or spectacle. And they might be right. Their numbers speak for themselves. A few million views per video may not match box office returns, but they also don’t have to be split. After a few ad deals, these creators earn more than the average filmmaker in LA—without ever stepping into a studio. Yet at the NAB Show, no one mentioned them. Ironically, they may pose a greater threat to Hollywood than any AI tool used by traditional filmmakers.
But use is only one side of the coin. Germany isn’t just adopting AI—we helped build it. Professor Björn Ommer’s team at LMU played a key role in developing the tech behind tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Flux. He’s now working on new multimodal models that may challenge even the latest versions of ChatGPT.
Hollywood’s traditional edge was budget. AI flattens that playing field. What once needed millions can now be done by small teams in Europe. While US guilds fear structural obsolescence, we’re finally growing into ours. In Germany, the mantra isn’t fewer people, more efficiency—it’s bigger projects, same teams.
Our midsize production houses are ideal for this moment. Agile teams adopt tech faster than bloated studio giants. While old structures block change in Hollywood, European firms are already integrating AI organically. We’ve always relied on doing more with less—that mindset is now a superpower.
At Storybook Studios, we’re testing this with director Peter Thorwarth. Real cast, real crew—on a budget that would’ve killed a short film. Without AI, it wouldn’t exist.
Europe is now directing the AI revolution. With clear regulations and nimble production models, we’re bridging the financial gap without losing our creative identity. Let’s turn the trenches into a playing field. The creativity is here. The tools and rules are finally catching up. Hollywood is watching. The scripts are ready. The crew is just waiting for someone to say “Action.”