Our AI Ethos

“Our priority is human craft and human ideas, developed through living, breathing judgement, creativity and collaboration. We want technology to support that process, not replace it.”

Championing Human creativity

At The Pitch, we believe authenticity, both on and off screen, starts and ends with real people: our lived experiences, imagination, questions and relationships. Human connection, through creativity in writing and filmmaking, has been at the heart of our work for the last 17 years, and continues to be as we launch our new 2026 Writers’ Commission.

What has also made The Pitch unique in the UK film industry is our invitation for filmmakers to consider the Bible as a source of inspiration for stories. As a collection of poetry, history, wisdom and song, written by a variety of authors across centuries and cultures, the Bible speaks deeply into what it means to be human. Its characters are recognisable in their struggles and flaws, expressing the unfiltered highs and lows of the human journey.

However, we also believe technology, including advancements in AI, can be a useful tool to compliment creativity. Our approach is to explore what AI can offer without losing sight of the people, ideas and collaboration that give creative work its authenticity, heart and value.

A tool to support thinking, not a replacement for it

Every film project requires a team bringing different talents, and a variety of organisational and creative skill sets. At the administrative level, we have found AI can be incredibly helpful. We use it for tasks such as summarising information, tracking the various elements and goals of a project, or even interrogating concepts and ideas. When used well, AI can bring helpful critique or perspective in a small team setting such as ours.

But we do not see AI as a substitute for an individual’s writing voice, or the hard graft of working through what it is we want our films to say. We don’t want our filmmaking to be robotic or generic, and so we believe making creative decisions and exploring ideas is still best done with other people.

Our priority is human craft and human ideas, developed through living, breathing judgement, creativity and collaboration. We want technology to support that process, not replace it.

How we use AI on our website

We have used AI in developing some of this website’s text and imagery. We see this as an enhancement of our creative work, rather than a replacement for the human ideas and decisions behind it.

We want to be open about that use. We do not believe that valuing human creativity means rejecting every AI-assisted tool. It means being thoughtful about where those tools help, what they contribute and what should remain human-led.

No fake news!

We are opposed to using AI to intentionally mislead people.

This would include creating or doctoring images to suggest events that never happened, inventing endorsements or suggesting achievements and connections we do not have. Whilst we might make use of AI-generated imagery as an alternative to stock imagery, for background, texture or artistic imagery, we will not present AI-imagery as evidence of a real event or use it to make The Pitch appear bigger or more successful than it is.

So when you see that photo of Pitch producer Luke Walton receiving an Academy Award^TM on the news feed, you’ll know it was for his skills in producing rather than his mastery of AI! 😉

Staying open, keeping people central

Our approach will continue to develop as the technology changes. But the guiding principle and ethos will remain the same: AI should support human creativity, not stand in for it.

We value the conversation, challenge and unexpected discoveries that happen when people create together. Those are things we want to protect and encourage.

This extends to our application process, where we make a distinction between reasonable use of AI tools to summarise or shape your application answers, versus using AI to generate or originate the ideas themselves.

You can read our full commissioning terms and conditions here.