Issue 00 — Spring 2025
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Sten-Kristian Saluveer
now or never:
creative industries
at a crossroads
Sten challenges prevalent narratives around AI, platforms, and audience behavior — urging a move away from fear-based thinking and toward a deeper engagement with discovery,
data, and new creative tools. At the heart of the discussion is a call for creators, filmmakers and producers to reclaim their agency, reimagine their relationship with audiences, and shape their own technological ecosystem.
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GALLERY
The spark that ignited The Black Cube was a sense of urgency to understand the radical evolution in the relationship between technology and creativity. There is much optimism but also a feeling of insecurity. Are we in the midst of a crisis?
SKS Some would call it a ‘polycrisis’, though I wouldn’t necessarily, it feels abstract. I do believe, however, that we’re in a “now or never” moment.
Something I see constantly in my work is a sort of resistance to reality, a form of insularity in the industry that has created an economic crisis, a creative crisis, and a growing alienation from audiences. These issues have intensified over the past 24 months, fueled by COVID, geopolitical instability, shifting consumer habits and technological progress. But we’re indeed at a crossroads. We must acknowledge the challenges — and our capabilities as an industry — to respond and move forward collectively.
One major issue is this alleged divide between cinema and technology. Over the past 15 years, we’ve seen a growing aversion to technological innovation. It’s that Arthur C. Clarke notion: when technology becomes so advanced we no longer understand it, it feels like magic. It’s as if cinema has become a sort of dark magic, the arena for a polarized debate: artists vs. technologists, handmade films vs. AI-generated ones, platforms vs. traditional formats. These binaries are reductive and miss the point.
Technology today is vast and complex — petabytes, AI algorithms, opaque curation systems. It’s overwhelming. But instead of using tech to amplify storytelling, which we need more than ever to build community, we fixate on what it takes away. We blame the macro forces, rather than empowering the micro-level creativity. And because tech is evolving at breakneck speed — week to week, not year to year — we’re struggling to adapt. That’s understandable, but not an excuse to ignore it.
This fear-based response is shaping not just our industry, but the politics of culture, art, and representation. We see platforms as destroying cinema, YouTubers as replacing artists, and AI as an existential threat. These are semi-truths that foster a narrative of doom.
Instead, I would draw from Melvin Kranzberg’s laws of technology, especially the idea that technology is neither good or bad — and it’s never neutral. We project our fears onto it instead of examining our biases. Apply that to AI and cinema, and you’ll see where we are now. We lack a shared beacon, and that opens the door to confusion and mistrust.
To ground this, I often return to George Lucas — not just as a director, but as a revolutionary force in cinema who brought together technology and storytelling in unprecedentedly impactful ways. Through Lucas and Industrial Light & Magic, we got Pixar, Pro Tools, Photoshop, and modern editing tools. He showed that great storytelling fuels great technology, and vice versa. But in recent years, we’ve let fear and identity politics steer us away from that synergy. We’ve turned the tools that once empowered us into scapegoats.
And that, I think, is at the heart of today’s crisis — with audiences, with AI, with ourselves.
Great storytelling
fuels great technology,
and vice versa.
What does this mean for creators?
SKS Technology has radically transformed our reality. Historically, the film industry was shaped by craft and access — access was given to those who had the tools to create. Until recently, what separated professionals from amateurs was access to high-end equipment and cinema distribution. That gatekeeping created the idea of a “professional product” that would naturally find its audience.
But today, those barriers are gone. Anyone, anywhere, can shoot 4K on a phone and upload it to YouTube, which has 2.5 billion monthly users. We now compete on the same plane of storytelling — our greatest challenge, but also our greatest opportunity.
Yet, we’re still clinging to outdated ideas of what cinema should be, even as technology offers the widest reach and the most powerful tools we’ve ever had. Our obsession with the means of production has distracted us from two essential things: the audience, and their attention.
Understanding the audience doesn’t mean pandering — it means knowing who they are, where they are, and how to reach them in a world where they’re increasingly isolated and fragmented. Even if you create the most avant-garde work of art, you still have to ask: how will it find its audience?
The second point is audience choice. The average American spends roughly seven hours per day on entertainment and media. With an overwhelming amount of content, success is no longer defined by box office numbers but by relevance and personal impact.
So instead of chasing scale, we need to redefine success: not as mass reach, but as depth of connection. That’s where the future lies for creators — embracing technology, understanding the moment, and finding ways to speak directly to the audience where they are.
Instead of chasing scale, we need to redefine success: not as
mass reach, but as depth of connection.
From the artist’s perspective, this world can sometimes feel hypermediated. What does it mean to build a connection and speak directly to audiences? What tools are available to help us understand the vast amounts of audience data?
SKS I think part of the challenge is a self-imposed loss of agency. We often blame the platform, the algorithm, or the tech, rather than asking what we can do differently. One key area is discovery — a topic film schools rarely address. Understanding discovery isn’t about “civilizing” new audiences; it’s about deeply understanding what makes something relevant in their lives, and using that to create connection.
If we reclaim agency and make discovery a priority, the paradigm shifts. Platforms reflect what we collectively feed into them. When creators engage with algorithms intentionally and prioritize audience connection, we see real change — like with MUBI, Criterion, or niche channels that thrive on curation, intimacy, and trust.
Digital and intimacy aren’t opposites — they’re complementary. We must actively explore how to create meaningful connections in a fragmented landscape. That also means dropping the outdated idea of a passive audience. Today’s audience isn’t just watching — they’re choosing, responding, engaging.
So we must evolve from a creator-centric model to a more audience-aware, hybrid digital approach. Otherwise, we risk creating for a vacuum — artifacts for the dusty cabinet. The goal isn’t blind optimism or pessimism, but a pragmatic realism that empowers creators to truly connect.
There’s a saying: “In God we trust; everyone else, bring data.” And I fully agree, though it’s often misunderstood. Data doesn’t make decisions — people do. As Roman Coppola put it, AI is like having 100 assistants in the studio; helpful, but not a creative brain. Still, in today’s content-saturated world — 2,400 films produced annually in Europe alone — gut feeling just isn’t enough.
Understanding audience data is crucial: when they watch, what they watch, and why. It’s not about blindly following numbers, but using them to make smarter, more human decisions. Platforms like CRESCINE, the European Audiovisual Observatory, and Largo are part of a growing ecosystem helping creators make sense of it all.
Ultimately, however, this isn’t a tech problem — it’s a mindset shift. The power lies in how we use the data to understand audiences, navigate trends, and make responsible creative choices that honor both the art and the effort behind it.
We must evolve
from a creator-centric model
to a more audience-aware,
hybrid digital approach.
In a functioning ecosystem it is essential to have the talent and the skills to do this. What’s the status of our creative workforce?
SKS In a 2023 study with the European Film Academy, we asked respondents how secure they felt in their jobs and skillsets. Under 20% reported high satisfaction, highlighting a deep sense of industry-wide insecurity.
This disconnect points to a deeper issue in how we prepare people for the evolving demands of the industry. The traditional model — training more producers and directors — is no longer enough. What we urgently need are culturally literate data analysts, algorithm-savvy curators, film-oriented data scientists, and exceptional platform designers who understand both culture and technology. Education must adapt. We’re entering a landscape where creative and technological roles increasingly overlap — think of virtual production supervisors or directors now working image-first using AI tools. This demands a rethinking of education itself: a blend of formal and informal learning that supports cross-disciplinary skills.
The tools of image-making have been radically democratised, and with them come new creative processes and challenges. If we want European cinema to thrive, this is a “now or never” moment to align our educational infrastructure with the real needs of the industry and its future workforce.
What we urgently
need are culturally
literate data analysts,
algorithm‑savvy
curators, film‑oriented
data scientists, and
exceptional platform
designers who
understand both culture
and technology.
Education is so significant, but also only a part of the wider infrastructure that Europe must build to support the film industry. Don’t we also need technological resilience?
SKS The “now or never” moment is indeed about building our own resilient, culturally-driven technological infrastructure. We’ve become deeply dependent on global platforms, often outsourcing responsibility instead of asking what we can build ourselves. While creating state-of-the-art systems is costly, nothing stops us from developing what I call our own digital shelf: competitive, user-friendly solutions that support discovery and visibility.
It’s not just about great films, but about the infrastructure that carries them — cinemas, platforms, data, design. We need to stop complaining about biased AI tools and start supporting or creating ones that reflect our values. Europe has the talent: platforms like Hugging Face, Respeecher, and Mistral demonstrate that.
The focus shouldn’t be on whose algorithm is better, but on how these tools are used. What we need now are bold creators who use today’s tools in culturally rich, audience-driven ways and unlock new creative movements. The challenge isn’t the tech itself — it’s making sure it’s guided by strong, empathetic, and relevant storytelling.
Nothing stops us from
developing what I call
our own digital shelf: competitive, userfriendly
solutions that
support discovery and
visibility.