The Story the Industry is Beginning to Tell Itself
Reframing AI in the Screen Sector: Towards an Intentional, Human-Centred Future. What the BFI and Creators Are Now Saying About the Future of Storytelling...
What if the most important shift in our industry isn’t technical, but narrative?
In the past few months, I’ve been writing a series on Media Unmade, exploring how old editorial systems are collapsing while new ones - often creator-led - emerge. And now, the new BFI report on AI in the screen sector arrives, echoing many of the same concerns and possibilities. Not in opposition to creators, but often in harmony with them.
It feels like the industry is beginning to tell itself a new story - one that doesn’t just chase progress, but asks: progress toward what?
AI is moving fast — faster than most production timelines, distribution models, or union negotiations can keep up with.
What was once a fringe conversation is now mainstream. AI can animate characters, write scripts, mix vision, translate voice, and fill B-roll gaps in seconds. And it can do this at both ends of the spectrum — from blockbuster workflows (ST2110, Vislink, vPilot) to DIY creator tools (Runway, Descript, Pika). What’s at stake is not just how we make, but who decides, who profits, and whose creativity counts.
As I wrote in “The Shape of Future Content”, we are not just changing formats. We’re changing the function of content - and its intent.
The BFI’s report doesn’t make wild predictions. It maps the current terrain. But it does so with clarity and care.
It recognises AI not just as a technology, but as a force reshaping:
Labour: What does fair pay mean when a synthetic voice dubs in 10 languages?
Ownership: How do we define authorship in a hybrid workflow?
Understanding: How do we raise the baseline of AI literacy across our sector?
This resonates with what I explored in “The Reimagination of Editorial Functions”: the editorial layer doesn’t disappear - it decentralises. And we all need to learn to carry it.
There’s no single solution - but there are signs of a way forward.
The BFI calls for policy safeguards, open standards, funding for skills development, and a broad conversation between creatives, technologists, educators, and platforms.
Meanwhile, individual creators are already adapting - using AI as a co-pilot, not a replacement. We’re seeing:
Narrative agility - reshaping ideas across formats without losing the spine
Ethical grounding - visible choices, not invisible compromises
Community as co-authors - a creator and their audience, shaping meaning together
In “A Perspective on the Future of Creative Work”, I wrote that survival won’t come from perfection. It will come from clarity: of process, of values, and of voice.
Here’s what’s striking: from national institutions to independent Substacks, the story is converging.
We’re beginning to see AI not as the end of something, but as the beginning of a more intentional, possibly more human creative practice. The challenge is not to stop the machines. It’s to shape the systems in which they operate - to align them with human scale, purpose, and justice.
This convergence is an invitation: not to agree on everything, but to notice that we’re in the same story, even if we’re writing different scenes.
The tools are powerful. The questions are urgent. But the opportunity is real:
Don’t just adopt AI.
Don’t just fear it.
Use it - to craft. To clarify. To create something that matters.
Read the BFI Report:
AI in the Screen Sector: Perspectives and Paths Forward (June 2025)
Explore my ongoing series: