UK Film Sales Company Launches 'No AI Used' Label at Berlin, Calls for Global Certification Standard

At the European Film Market in Berlin this week, a London-based film sales company quietly planted a flag that could reshape how audiences understand what they're watching. The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) has branded its entire slate with a "No AI Used" certification — and is calling on the global entertainment industry to adopt a standardized labeling system for human-made creative works UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

The initiative, launched with prominent billboard placements at Potsdamer Platz advertising Al Pacino vehicle Billy Knight and David Krumholtz-led Forelock, represents the most visible commercial effort yet to create market differentiation between human and machine-generated entertainment. MSC CEO Paul Yates framed the move not as anti-technology posturing but as an economic and cultural imperative UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

"We're entering a tectonic shift," Yates told Deadline. "Human artistry is about to become more valuable and more vulnerable than ever. If we don't define it, label it, and protect it, it will simply disappear into the noise" UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

A24's Quiet Precedent

MSC's initiative builds on a quieter gesture by A24, which added a disclaimer to the end credits of its 2024 horror film Heretic stating that no generative AI was used in production. Where A24 treated the label as an afterthought buried in credits, MSC has elevated it to a front-of-marketing selling point — and wants the entire industry to follow UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

The company also drew inspiration from UK filmmaker and digital rights advocate Beeban Kidron and a broader industry campaign challenging governmental policies on copyright and AI training data UK Sales Firm Labels Films ‘No AI Used’, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

The Counter-Example: 'Killing Satoshi'

The timing of MSC's announcement is sharpened by developments at the opposite end of the spectrum. The same week at EFM, reports emerged that Doug Liman's upcoming Bitcoin biopic Killing Satoshi, starring Pete Davidson and Casey Affleck, plans to film entirely on AI-generated virtual stages with no physical locations. A UK casting notice disclosed that the production may use AI to "adjust" actors' performances — modifying lip movements, facial expressions, and body language in post-production UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

The contrast could hardly be starker: one company branding its films as certified human-made, while another openly plans to reshape actors' performances algorithmically.

Hollywood's Broader AI Reckoning

MSC's push arrives amid an escalating confrontation between Hollywood and AI developers. This week, the Motion Picture Association called on ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, to halt the use of copyrighted works in its new AI model Seedance 2.0, which went viral after producing a deepfake video of Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju.. The MPA said the service had carried out unauthorized use of American copyrighted works at an unprecedented scale.

A coalition of over 200 organizations including major record labels and guilds separately condemned Seedance 2.0 and called for immediate regulatory action.

These parallel developments underscore a widening fault line in the creative industries. On one side: companies like MSC arguing that human authorship is a premium category worth protecting and certifying. On the other: producers and AI developers treating human creativity as raw material to be optimized, augmented, or replaced.

The Organic Food Analogy — And Its Limits

Yates has drawn explicit parallels to organic food and fair-trade labeling, arguing that audiences deserve the same transparency about creative processes that consumers get about agricultural ones UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju.. "The dominant AI narrative is about speed and cost, half the time, half the price," Yates said. "That logic turns art into churn. Film has to define itself as the opposite of that, or it loses its soul and its economic power" UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

The analogy is instructive but imperfect. Organic certification relies on established agricultural science, government regulators, and enforceable supply-chain standards. No equivalent infrastructure exists for creative AI.

Legal experts have acknowledged the conceptual challenge. Alessandro Spano, a cyber law and AI specialist at King's College London, described the relationship between human and artificial intelligence in creative industries as inherently paradoxical, and praised MSC for pioneering this debate UK Sales Firm Labels Films ‘No AI Used’, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

The practical questions are formidable. What counts as AI use? Does AI-assisted color grading disqualify a film? What about AI-generated subtitle translations or automated scheduling tools used in production? Any credible certification system would need to draw lines that don't yet exist in industry consensus.

Critics and Skeptics

Not everyone in the industry views the labeling approach as viable or even desirable. Some producers argue that AI tools are simply the next evolution of filmmaking technology, no different in principle from the shift to digital cameras or CGI. Banning or labeling AI use, they contend, risks creating an artificial hierarchy that penalizes innovation.

Others point to enforcement challenges. Without a credible third-party audit system, a "No AI Used" label is essentially self-certification — a trust exercise with limited accountability. The risk of greenwashing, or in this case humanwashing, is real.

SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, has taken a more measured approach, negotiating specific protections around digital replicas and AI-altered performances in its 2023 contract rather than pursuing blanket labels. The union's framework focuses on informed consent and compensation rather than binary human-or-machine categorization.

Yates insists his company's position is not anti-technology. "We support AI as a tool," he said. "But we believe it's essential to clearly distinguish AI-generated material from human expression. Without clear labelling and standards, we risk being overwhelmed by a flood of synthetic culture" UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju..

What Comes Next

MSC says it has begun discussions with other international partners about expanding the label beyond film into publishing, music, and visual art UK Sales Firm Vows Not To Acquire Movies That Use Generative AI, Calls For An Industry Standard — EFMdeadline.com·SecondaryUK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating that no generative AI was used in the making of the film. MSC’s recent titles include Al Pacino and Charlie Heaton movie Billy Knight and Forge with Kelly Marie Tran and Andie Ju.. Whether the initiative gains traction will depend on whether distributors and exhibitors see commercial value in the distinction — and whether audiences actually care.

The early signals are mixed. Surveys consistently show consumer discomfort with AI-generated content, but purchasing behavior hasn't yet reflected those stated preferences at scale. The organic food analogy may ultimately prove more apt than Yates intends: organic products occupy a profitable but minority market position, coexisting indefinitely with conventional alternatives.

For now, MSC's billboards at Potsdamer Platz stand as both a marketing bet and a philosophical statement. In an industry racing to integrate AI at every level of production, one small company is wagering that human-made will become the premium label of the creative economy. Whether the rest of the industry — or audiences — agree remains to be seen.