Pickford creates real-time interactive cinema experiences with ElevenLabs

Pickford is building interactive media experiences where audiences don’t just watch stories - they shape them. Their latest project, Whispers, premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and marked a milestone in audience-driven cinema.

In Whispers, the audience collectively plays the role of an unseen advisor, whispering suggestions to the film’s lead detective as they investigate a murder. Each audience input influences the story in real time - driving dialogue, shaping interrogations, and determining the final outcome. 

The experience can be viewed both live and online in group settings, allowing audiences around the world to participate collaboratively. This level of interactivity demands voice generation that feels emotionally authentic and adapts seamlessly to live audience input. For Pickford, that meant partnering with ElevenLabs.

Real-time dialogue powered by ElevenLabs

To make Whispers possible, Pickford integrated ElevenLabs Text to Speech using Eleven v3 to generate dynamic dialogue that responds to audience choices. Every spoken line had to be rendered instantly, with consistent emotional depth to maintain immersion across hundreds of branching possibilities.

“With Pickford, we need to respond to the audience's suggestions in real time - there are no second takes. Voices need to be generated fast and be emotionally resonant every time. ElevenLabs makes this happen.” – Stephen Piron, CEO, Pickford AI

Pickford’s vision merges cutting-edge technology with deeply human storytelling, where the audience becomes part of the narrative. Each performance is powered by ElevenLabs’ expressive voice models, enabling lifelike emotional delivery without latency - essential for maintaining the rhythm and authenticity of live cinema.

In collaboration with SAG-AFTRA

Unlike most AI-driven productions, Whispers was created under SAG-AFTRA’s newly established framework for AI collaboration, ensuring that every actor participated with full consent and fair compensation.

Pickford AI CEO Stephen Piron noted that working under SAG’s guidelines was essential to aligning innovation with fairness: “We want to work with the best talent in the world, and we want that talent to be paid fairly and generously […] we hope that this project sets a new standard for how human talent can be ethically compensated as the entertainment industry increasingly embraces AI.”

By adopting the union’s framework, Pickford has helped establish a precedent for how AI and human talent can coexist responsibly.

Building the next medium

Pickford sees this as the beginning of a new medium, where audience engagement reshapes how stories are told and experienced. With ElevenLabs, creators like Pickford can build experiences that respond, evolve, and feel alive in the moment.

Looking to build real-time experiences with voice? Get in touch here.