At the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi joined LTX Studio’s Ido Cohen for a conversation about creativity, AI, and the messy, human work that makes a great story. Together, they explored the value of creative friction, the role of control in the artistic process, and how AI-powered tools—like those in the LTX Studio platform—can accelerate parts of production without replacing the artist’s vision.

From Hollywood Strikes to Creative Friction: Why the Tension Around AI Matters

For more than 70 years, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has been a global stage for marketers, storytellers, and agencies to celebrate innovation and push the boundaries of creative excellence. Since the 1950s, it has served creative professionals by giving them a place to exchange ideas, and shape the future of marketing, advertising, and filmmaking.

This year, LTX Studio's Ido Cohen and Academy Award–winning filmmaker Taika Waititi shared a conversation on one of the most widely debated topics in creative industries today: the role of AI in storytelling.

The rise of generative AI has sparked markedly existential conversations across creative fields—raising concerns and questions about whether these kinds of technological advancements could lead to the erasure of highly specialized roles, the devaluing of human creativity, and infringement on copyright and ownership.

Such debates became mainstream during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, which shut down Hollywood for 148 days—the longest work stoppage in decades. One of the final contractual sticking points was the use of AI in creative materials: writers secured language ensuring AI-generated material cannot be considered literary or source material, and that existing scripts cannot be used to train AI without consent (New York Times).

Against this backdrop, Taika and Ido’s conversation takes on a great deal of significance. 

From the Blank Page to the First Pass: Tools That Make Room for Play

Everyone who works as a full-time creative is likely familiar with the famous Ira Glass “The Gap” quote—about bridging the space between the vision in your head and the work you’re capable of creating. Taika and Ido explored this idea in depth, with Taika breaking down the necessity of creative tension in the process: the discomfort of the blank page, the weight of imposter syndrome, and how time away from scripts can be essential to better writing.

What makes LTX Studio a unique partner in this process is its focus on closing that gap—bringing creatives closer to the vision in their head and reducing the dread that can set in when you’re staring at a blank page. With features like script-to-storyboard generation and style reference customization, creators can see their ideas develop at incredible speeds, making it easier to refine direction before committing to production.

Better put by LTX Studio’s Ido Cohen:

“We want young and up-and-coming artists to just play around with their ideas… the creative pipeline is not linear—it’s all about iteration.”

Ultimately, LTX Studio is built to help creators enjoy the process and accelerate the journey toward their vision without erasing creative friction. It works as a co-pilot—enabling faster iterations, more clarity, and sharper articulation of ideas while keeping the uniquely human part of creation intact. In the conversation, Taika pointed out the value of “fast-tracking certain parts of the process… getting off the blank page and having something to look at.” With LTX Studio, that “something” can be an initial storyboard, a sequence of cinematic frames, or even a clip rendered for final production—all capabilities meant to put creators in the driver's seat.

As Ido summed up:

“It’s all about you iterating with the ideas in your head.”

Show, Don’t Tell: Turning Ideas into Images that Your Team Will Understand

“It’s amazing how fast it can generate ideas.‍
I’ve spent half my time trying to explain what’s in my head, but with LTX Studio, I can just generate an image and say, ‘that’s what I mean.’ You still have to guide it, just like any good performance, but you’re in control. It’s amazing how fast it can generate ideas — it can accelerate the whole creative process.”
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Taika Waititi, Academy Award-winning Filmmaker & Director

When AI tools become a space to connect with your collaborators, it can save time, reduce costs, and help avoid the mental exhaustion professionals face when solving uniquely complex creative challenges. The LTX Studio platform is designed for creative professionals who work in this capacity on a daily basis, giving them the opportunity to not only test and learn together, but also to better align on the overall vision.

Features like script-to-storyboard generation, image-to-video workflows, and multi-image references allow creators to bring their ideas to life quickly—enabling faster stakeholder alignment, greater creative precision, and clear pre-production planning through a shared understanding of what the final product should look and feel like.

A New Era of Creativity: Keep the Heart, Speed Up the Process

So, what does this mean for the future of storytelling? According to Ido, it’s about “getting creatives closer to their ‘aha moment.’” And while Taika remains skeptical of certain aspects of generative AI, he’s clear about one thing: “I’m not scared for my job. I don’t think anyone should be scared. I think it’s a good tool.”

As long as the user remains at the center of the creative process, generative AI—and platforms like LTX Studio—can serve as groundbreaking advances for the creative industry, evolving the artist’s role rather than erasing it.

LTX Studio’s mission is to be a creative partner for professionals who want speed, clarity, and control. It’s a tool designed to support and amplify human creativity, not replace it—keeping the artist’s vision, voice, and intent at the heart of every story.