The industry is grappling with faster turnarounds, ballooning asset requirements, and existential questions about artificial intelligence. Creative director, Elliott Starr, has partnered with FORM Productions to launch Belief Studio, to conquer these challenges. The new AI-augmented creative production model is built to defend and use the one thing machines can’t replace…
Belief.
Starr, formerly of Impero, 20something, Fallon, and Leo Burnett, joins FORM as creative partner at Belief Studio, spearheading the studio alongside Form’s managing partners, Dave Kennedy and Jonathan Harris.
Their ambition is an agile, flexible production model that uses AI not as a replacement for human creativity, but an accelerant. Belief Studio is engineered to help agencies and brands do more with less, making production cycles more efficient, more imaginative, and more viable.
The new studio is built around the belief that, “AI can generate, but it cannot believe. It cannot move a room from a place of fear, to one of nervous excitement. Only people can do that. In a world of infinite intelligence, it’s this conviction, this ability to see something that isn’t tangibly there yet, and move others to, that matters most.
“…this new chapter, with Belief Studio, is about freeing creative people up, so they can focus on what they do best – thinking, feeling, judging, making, and building. Everything that makes work matter.”
The studio will sit inside FORM Productions, and work across all FORM clients, while also exploring standalone collaborations with agencies, creative companies, and brands. Belief Studio pairs human creativity with commercial pragmatism, using machines when applicable, but always driven by the very thing machines can’t have – belief.
“This isn’t about tech for tech’s sake,” stated Dave Kennedy. “It’s about bringing together the best of both worlds: the scale of new technology, with the artistic taste and craft of great human minds. We want Belief Studio to be the bridge between the two.”
In Starr’s most recent role, he worked on campaigns for VOSS Water, Aspall Cyder, and Sue Ryder, while helping Impero to win key pitches. He also created AI-inspired projects for brands such as Jameson Irish Whiskey, and a proactive project that created an AI revival of British philosopher, Alan Watts. He commented, “Anyone can press the big ‘Generate’ button. The same way anyone can write a headline, or pay a few pounds to run an ‘ad’ on social media. But if you’ve been in a great agency longer than 5 minutes, you know that isn’t why people pay us.
“They pay us for genuine creativity. For ideas they won’t have, that look like things they can’t imagine, and solve problems they haven’t considered. They pay us for the guidance and confidence on what those ideas should look like, sound like, and feel like. They pay us for what we will give to those ideas, so they enter the world the same, or better, than they were first envisioned. Maybe that sounds pretentious? In fact, it definitely does, but it’s the truth. And none of it comes from a machine. Though, a version of it might come from an orchestra of machines, given the right human conductor.
“For businesses who see advertising, and creative companies as a tax, mediocrity is cheaper, faster, and more accessible than ever. For those who genuinely believe creativity has the power to change and grow a business, it has never been a more exciting time.”
The team is clear-eyed about AI’s power, and their responsibility. They believe AI must be used ethically, transparently, and with awareness of its environmental impact. They also recognise that traditional production carries its own planetary weight. (Especially in flights, freight, and crews.) Belief Studio will guide partners through both, helping them make conscious creative choices.
Jonathan Harris noted, “Belief is a model fit for the pressures of modern production. It gives clients more agility and flexibility, without a quality compromise. The best work in our industry carries so much weight when it’s real. But it only gets there because a band of humans believed in it.”
Samantha Farrance, executive producer, FORM Productions, added, “AI is a tool to be used by film makers, it doesn’t replace craft. I’m asking myself the questions; How can this tool elevate our current workflow, production value, and creativity? AI offers a solution almost every time. Success of a campaign will still be rooted in the creative idea. If the idea is strong, AI will amplify it. If the fundamental idea is weak, you’re in trouble.”
