One episode.
Ten tools.
Every gate human.
Follow a single factual episode from pitch deck to transmission, through the ten connected tools we built for television. The AI drafts, searches, logs and tracks. A person signs off at every step.
It starts as a pitch. It ends on air.
To show how the tools connect, we follow one episode. Watch its version and status change as it moves from department to department. Open any stage to see what the AI does, where a person decides, and what comes out.
Signal House is a made-up programme used for illustration. The tools and the workflow are real.
Pitch deck and look
- Builds a look book from one reference: mood frames, palette, lighting.
- Keeps characters and places consistent across every frame, so a contact sheet reads like one programme.
- Lays the frames out as deck pages: cover, the look, the people, the episode grid.
- The producer chooses the look and the frames. Nothing goes in the deck they haven't picked.
- A commissioning deck, plus the look references every later AI shot is held to.
A script in the series voice
- Turns the topic into a beat sheet, then runs research with sources attached to every fact.
- Drafts a two-column broadcast script (narration and pictures) in the series' own voice, learned from scripts the team has already signed off.
- Scores every draft against a 20-point quality gate before anyone reads it.
- Later, when the rough cut comes in, it repaints the script in cut order so script and edit never drift.
- The producer locks the lines they love; the AI never rewrites them. They choose when it goes to the exec.
- A versioned script as Word, with every version kept and compared.
Every claim, checked
- Pulls every factual claim out of the script.
- Checks each one against your own source pack, and the web if you want, and shows the exact sentence that supports it.
- Flags wrong numbers and unsupported claims, riskiest first.
- The researcher fixes or defends each flag. It's a pre-legal aid, not a legal sign-off.
- A claims report as a spreadsheet, ready for the compliance meeting.
The exec gate
- Gathers everything waiting on the exec (scripts, AI visuals, cuts) into one queue, across every episode in the series.
- Plays cuts with timecoded notes that land on the frame.
- Tracks every episode on one board, from research to delivery.
- Nothing is approved by default. The exec must approve or request changes, and changes need notes.
- An approved script, and the edit is unblocked.
Script and cut, in sync
- The editor rewrites a narration line and hits re-record: a new guide VO line is back in seconds.
- Picture ideas go straight to the AI team as tagged briefs: visual, sound, archive, interview.
- Sending the edit back creates a new script version, so the producer always sees what the cut changed.
- The editor owns the cut. The producer is told the moment a new version is back.
- An updated script that matches the cut, plus briefs for new shots.
Guide VO on the timeline
- Reads the narration lines straight from the colour-coded Word script.
- Gives each role a consistent voice and records every line, keeping each take so you can compare and revert.
- Names files for the edit and zips them up. It also transcribes rushes and cleans noisy audio.
- It's guide VO for timing the cut. The final narration is still recorded by your narrator.
- Timeline-ready audio files, named by sequence and line.
Footage, found and cleared
- Turns the script's archive directions into a shopping list, line by line.
- Searches public and licensed archives at once. Every result carries a rights shield: clear, check or no.
- Keeps the footage log from sourced to in the cut to signed off, with costs and credits.
- The archive producer licenses and approves every clip. Rules stop restricted footage being used as an AI reference.
- A footage log spreadsheet and end credits, ready for the edit.
AI shots, every one traced
- A producer forwards an email, a WhatsApp or a voice note. The AI turns it into a structured request: episode, shots, priority.
- The AI team generates against the approved look from development.
- Every shot keeps a source record: the prompt, the model and the references it came from.
- The producer approves each shot for the cut. Nothing reaches the edit unapproved.
- Approved shots in the edit, each with a trail you can show a broadcaster.
AI spend, per episode
- Every tool reports what it spends, so cost is tracked per episode, per series and per service.
- Budgets are set per episode or per month, and an alert fires before you go over.
- The line producer decides whether to spend more or cut back, before the bill arrives.
- Spend against budget at any moment, per episode.
Picture lock, paperwork done
- Watches the finished episode and writes the as-broadcast script, timecoded.
- Logs every on-screen graphic for the textless elements list, and builds the archive log.
- Matches the edit list to the shot records and produces an AI elements log: every AI shot in the programme, with its source.
- The producer picture-locks. The post producer checks the logs and signs off delivery.
- Four broadcaster deliverables as spreadsheets, done when the cut is.
The AI drafts. People decide.
Every tool does the slow part: drafting, searching, logging, tracking. Every decision that matters stays with the person whose name is on it.
| Department | The AI does | A person decides |
|---|---|---|
| Development | Look book, consistent frames, deck pages | Which look, which frames |
| Script | Beat sheet, sourced research, drafts in the series voice | Every line that stays; when it goes to the exec |
| Research | Pulls and checks every claim against sources | How each flag is resolved |
| Exec | One review queue, notes on the frame | Approve or change. Never by default |
| Edit | Re-records changed lines, keeps script and cut in sync | The cut |
| Voice-over | Guide VO, transcription, audio clean-up | The final narrator |
| Archive | Searches, rights shields, the footage log | What's licensed and used |
| AI shots | Request triage, generation, source records | What's approved for the cut |
| Finance | Spend per episode, budget alerts | Whether to spend more |
| Delivery | As-broadcast script, textless, archive and AI logs | Picture lock and sign-off |
Worlds you can't film.
The pipeline runs the production. These pages show how we make the pictures themselves.
AI and television, answered.
What is Channel Changers?
Channel Changers is a UK AI studio for television and brands. It is directed by Sam Wilkinson, a television series director with more than 20 years in production, working with a circle of trusted collaborators.
How does AI fit into a television production?
We build AI workflows around the departments a production already has: development and editorial, research and archive, the production office, direction and camera, art and continuity, edit and post, sound and voice, and compliance and delivery. AI handles repeatable work such as searching, logging, drafting and generating. The team keeps the creative and editorial decisions.
Does AI replace the production team?
No. Our approach is augmentation. People set the brief, review every output and approve every creative and editorial decision. Named members of the production keep authorship and sign-off.
Can AI keep a character or world consistent across a series?
Yes. That is what the workflow is built for. Characters start as turnaround sheets and locations as reference images, and every shot and version is logged on one production board, so the same world holds from episode to episode.
What kind of shots can you make that a crew can't?
Period worlds, gaps in the archive, places you would never get a permit for, and the same world held across a whole series. We hand editors frames that are ready to cut.
Do you make branded films as well as television?
Yes. We have made films for Darwinium, ThreeFold Energy, Botivo and Boredom — Joy at Work. You can see them on the Branded page.
Which AI tools do you use?
We choose tools shot by shot. Recent work has used ComfyUI with Seedance for video and Nano Banana Pro on Google Flow for character sheets and stills. The Gondola workflow page shows one production end to end.
How much does a project cost, and how long does it take?
Every project is scoped to its brief, so we don't publish a rate card. Cost and schedule depend on running time, the number of worlds and characters, and how deeply we work inside your edit. A short call is the quickest way to get a figure.
How do we start a project?
Book a time on the live calendar or email sam@channelchangers.co with the brief.
Ten tools. One spine.
We built these tools for a major UK broadcaster and made 35 episodes of factual television with them. We can set the same pipeline up for your slate, a department at a time or end to end.