AI tools for directors & filmmakers
Curated directory of AI filmmaking tools by production stage — video generation, storyboarding, script development, editing, voice and music — with sourced capability notes.
Video generation
Runway
Generative video platform for filmmakers offering the Gen-4.5 video model plus GWM-1 world models for explorable environments and conversational video characters.
- Current flagship video model is Gen-4.5, positioned around motion quality, prompt adherence and cinematic realism. [runwayml.com]
- Offers GWM-1 general world models in three variants: Worlds, Avatars, and Robotics. [runwayml.com]
Google Veo
Google DeepMind's video generation model (currently Veo 3.1) that generates cinematic clips with native audio including dialogue, sound effects and ambience.
- Veo 3.1 generates audio natively, including sound effects, ambient noise and dialogue. [deepmind.google]
- Provides character consistency via reference images, camera movement controls (zoom, pan, dolly), scene extension, and output up to 1080p/4K. [deepmind.google]
- Available through the Gemini app, Google Flow, Google AI Studio and Google Vids. [deepmind.google]
Flow
Google Labs' AI filmmaking tool built for creatives and powered by the Veo video models, combining video and image generation. Regional availability is limited.
- Google describes Flow as a dedicated AI filmmaking tool that provides access to Veo 3.1. [deepmind.google]
Sora
OpenAI's video-and-audio generation model family. Sora 2 generates clips with synchronized dialogue, sound effects and ambient audio from text or image prompts, and is available via the OpenAI API.
- OpenAI API docs list Sora 2 as a flagship video-generation model with synced audio, text/image input, video/audio output, 720x1280 or 1280x720 generation, and per-second pricing of $0.10 for Sora 2 versus $0.30 for Sora 2 Pro. [developers.openai.com]
- Sora 2 generates video with synced audio from text prompts or images; Sora 2 Pro is offered at a higher per-second API price than standard Sora 2. [developers.openai.com]
- Sora 2 was announced by OpenAI on September 30, 2025. [openai.com]
Kling AI
Kuaishou's AI video generation platform. Kling 3.0 uses a unified multimodal architecture producing clips up to 15 seconds with native 4K output and multi-language native audio.
- Kling 3.0 launched February 4, 2026 with extended duration (up to 15s), native 4K output and native audio generation. [ir.kuaishou.com]
- Kuaishou also announced Kling O1, described as a unified multimodal video model. [ir.kuaishou.com]
Luma Dream Machine
Luma's AI creative workspace built around its Ray video models, combining image, video and audio generation on an infinite canvas, with storyboard development and image-to-video animation with camera motion.
- Runs Luma's own Ray3-series video models and Uni-1 image model, and also hosts third-party models such as Veo 3.1 and Kling. [lumalabs.ai]
Pika
AI video generation platform with the Pika 2.5 model, an agentic 'Pika Agent' for conversational creative work, an MCP integration, and photo-to-video effects.
Hailuo AI
MiniMax's AI video and image generation platform that creates videos from text or image prompts, with cinematic tools such as CineScope and Light Studio.
- Generates video from images or text prompts and includes cinematic creation tools (CineScope, Light Studio) and audio tools. [hailuoai.video]
Wan
Alibaba's AI creative platform offering text-to-video, image-to-video, text-to-image, image-to-image and image editing.
- Offers text-to-video, image-to-video, text-to-image, image-to-image and image editing. [wan.video]
Higgsfield
AI creative platform aggregating 30+ generation models (including Sora 2, Kling 3.0 and Veo 3.1) with a Cinema Studio mode and plugins for Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve Studio.
- Provides access to 30+ models including Sora 2, Kling 3.0 and Veo 3.1. [higgsfield.ai]
- Offers Cinema Studio for cinematic scene creation and integration plugins for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve Studio. [higgsfield.ai]
Storyboarding & previs
LTX Studio
Web-based AI filmmaking suite that turns scripts into scene breakdowns, storyboards and video sequences with persistent character profiles, camera direction controls and a timeline editor.
- Launched by Lightricks in February 2024 as an AI-powered filmmaking studio for visualizing stories from script to screen. [techcrunch.com]
- Includes an AI storyboard generator that breaks a pasted script into scenes and shot-by-shot visuals. [ltx.io]
Boords
Collaborative storyboarding platform for video and animation teams with AI image generation for frames, timed animatics with audio, and client review/approval workflows.
- Includes AI image generation that produces storyboard frame variants from scene descriptions. [boords.com]
- Converts boards into timed animatics with audio and tracks versions, comments and sign-offs. [boords.com]
Katalist
Script-to-storyboard AI platform that parses scripts to identify characters, scenes and actions, maintains character consistency across frames, and can turn storyboards into produced video.
- Converts scripts into visual storyboards automatically and maintains consistent character appearance with one-click character swapping. [katalist.ai]
DramaDirector
A research framework for geometry-guided short-drama generation that turns a global plot and local context into grounded multi-shot video plans and outputs.
- DramaDirector decouples each shot into static visual and dynamic narrative conditions, retrieving depth-pose references from real short-drama shots to guide first-frame generation and image-to-video synthesis. [arxiv.org]
- The paper introduces DramaBoard, a benchmark built from 35 live-action dramas, 2.8K episodes, and 81K shots with structured storyboards and multidimensional evaluation protocols. [arxiv.org]
Script & pre-production
Filmustage
AI pre-production platform that automatically breaks down scripts (cast, props, locations, VFX, wardrobe), generates shooting schedules and budgets, and runs an AI Production Agent that flags production risks.
- Automatic AI script breakdown tags cast, props, locations, VFX and wardrobe, and generates stripboards, schedules and budget templates. [filmustage.com]
- Its AI Production Agent analyzes scripts to detect production risks and optimize shooting days. [filmustage.com]
Sudowrite
AI writing partner for novelists and screenwriters with Story Bible for outlining-to-draft workflows, rewrite/expand/describe tools, and plugins including screenplay conversion.
- Story Bible guides writers from concept through outlining, chapter planning and draft generation in their own style. [sudowrite.com]
Celtx
Screenwriting and pre-production platform with industry-standard script editors, beat sheets, script analysis, scene breakdowns, shot lists, scheduling and budgeting, plus real-time co-writing.
- Provides multi-format script editors, story development tools including beat sheets, storyboards and script analysis, and scene-by-scene breakdowns. [celtx.com]
Editing & post-production
Descript
Text-based video and podcast editor: editing the transcript edits the video. Includes the Underlord agentic AI co-editor, Studio Sound audio cleanup, filler-word removal and translation.
- Core workflow is text-based editing — modifying the transcript updates the video automatically. [descript.com]
- Underlord is an agentic AI co-editor that can write or revise scripts, apply layouts and transitions, and execute edit requests. [descript.com]
Adobe Premiere Pro
Industry-standard editor with Firefly-powered generative AI features: Generative Extend adds frames and room tone to clips in 4K, Media Intelligence enables semantic footage search, and captions auto-translate.
- Generative Extend, powered by Adobe Firefly, extends video clips in 4K (up to ~2 seconds of video and up to 10 seconds of audio) and marks clips with Content Credentials. [helpx.adobe.com]
- The April 2025 release added Generative Extend generally, Media Intelligence semantic search, and automatic caption translation. [news.adobe.com]
DaVinci Resolve
All-in-one edit, color, VFX and audio post-production suite whose DaVinci Neural Engine powers AI tools such as Magic Mask, Voice Isolation, facial recognition, smart reframing and IntelliSearch.
- DaVinci Resolve 21 includes Neural Engine AI tools: Magic Mask, Voice Isolation, facial recognition, smart reframing, IntelliSearch and CineFocus. [blackmagicdesign.com]
- A free version is available; DaVinci Resolve Studio ($295, one-time) adds the Neural Engine and advanced features. [blackmagicdesign.com]
CapCut
Free online and desktop video editor with AI features including automatic multilingual subtitles, background removal, text-to-speech, noise removal, upscaling, and AI video generation.
- Offers AI auto-subtitles in multiple languages, video/image background removal, text-to-speech and an AI video generator. [capcut.com]
Voice, dubbing & music
ElevenLabs
AI audio platform with text-to-speech, voice cloning, dubbing, sound effects and music generation, plus speech-to-text and developer APIs.
- ElevenCreative suite covers text-to-speech, music generation, sound effects, voice cloning, video creation and dubbing. [elevenlabs.io]
- Offers 5,000+ voices in 70+ languages across multiple TTS models and Scribe v2 speech-to-text. [elevenlabs.io]
Respeecher
Enterprise voice cloning and speech synthesis service used in film and TV production, with engineer-supervised custom voice cloning, a real-time TTS API and a marketplace of AI voices.
- Credits include recreating young Luke Skywalker's voice for The Mandalorian and accent enhancement for Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones in The Brutalist. [respeecher.com]
- Also used in Emilia Pérez (singing enhancement) and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (preserving a deceased actor's voice). [respeecher.com]
Suno
AI music generation platform producing complete original songs (vocals, lyrics, full production) from text prompts, with stem separation, audio uploads and a web-based editing workstation.
- Generates complete original songs from a single text prompt across genres; commercial rights come with paid plans. [suno.com]
AIVA
AI music composition assistant that generates original tracks in 250+ styles, supports MIDI/audio influence uploads and custom style models, with licensing tiers up to full copyright ownership.
Concept art & look development
Midjourney
Image generation service widely used for concept art and look development, with style and character/omni reference features for visual consistency across shots; added video generation in 2025.
- V7 was released April 3, 2025 and introduced Draft Mode and Omni Reference, per Midjourney's official version documentation. [docs.midjourney.com]
Krea
AI creative suite for concept and look development: real-time image generation from rough sketches, multiple image models, video generation via integrated third-party models, upscaling, and LoRA fine-tuning for custom styles.