AI is already changing filmmaking. The question for creatives isn’t whether that change is coming, but how we choose to engage with it.
At Maestro, we’ve always believed it’s better to understand emerging technology than fear it. That doesn’t mean ignoring the disruption AI may create across our industry. Jobs will change, workflows will evolve, and certain barriers to production will continue to fall. But understanding the technology helps demystify it and gives filmmakers a voice in how it gets used.
We recently put that philosophy into practice on a commercial campaign for Philadelphia Soccer around the FIFA World Cup. We needed to visualize a large-scale Fan Fest months before it physically existed. Using architectural renderings as a starting point, our team incorporated generative AI into a larger live-action and post-production workflow, creating imagery that would have been difficult to achieve practically within the project’s timeline and budget.
In this conversation between filmmaker Nik Diener and Executive Producer, Kris Mendoza, we unpack that process, what worked, what didn’t, and what we learned. AI is a powerful new tool, but tools don’t replace taste, perspective, collaboration, or storytelling.
For us, the goal is to stay curious, keep experimenting, and understand what’s possible. Because even as the tools change, the story still comes first.
