From Development to Delivery - AI in HETV Unscripted & Unscripted content

AI is rapidly reshaping HETV unscripted and unscripted television across the entire production pipeline: from development and idea generation through to post-production and delivery. 

This four-part online course goes beyond surface-level experimentation to explore practical, real-world applications: how AI is influencing not just workflows, but storytelling itself. It will explore how ideas are developed and communicated, through to reconstruction, visual approaches and editorial decision-making. 

Grounded in case study-led learning and designed for freelancers working under increasing creative and production pressures, the course equips you with the tools, frameworks and critical awareness to use AI confidently and responsibly.

It addresses the growing need for ethical awareness when working with AI, including authorship, ownership, transparency and responsible use. 

Alongside current tools, participants will be introduced to emerging approaches such as agentic AI, helping them understand how unscripted workflows are beginning to evolve. 

Participants will leave with practical skills they can apply immediately, a more confident and strategic approach to AI across the production pipeline, and a critical understanding of how to use it in ways that genuinely enhance creativity, efficiency and the quality of their work.

The 4-part course is delivered by Unscripted TV Producer/Director and award-winning AI filmmaker and trainer Stephanie Ronan-Chlond.

This session is supported by the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund with contributions from UK high-end TV productions and the ScreenSkills Unscripted TV Skills Fund which invests in training for the unscripted workforce thanks to contributions from broadcasters, SVoDs and production companies.

It will be delivered by The Pipeline in collaboration with Stephanie Ronan-Chlond. 

Who it's for

This training is for HETV unscripted and unscripted TV freelancers across editorial, production and post-production roles, including researchers, assistant producers, producers, directors, development teams and senior creatives.

It is suited to beginners and those already experimenting with AI who want to move beyond trial and error towards a more confident and strategic approach.

The course supports early-career and experienced professionals looking to strengthen their development workflows, improve efficiency and enhance employability.

This is a nationwide programme, delivered online, so we welcome applications from across the UK. 

We always welcome applications from under-represented groups, including, but not limited to: those from minority ethnic backgrounds; people with a disability; people from the LGBTQ+ community and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

We offer inclusive training. If you have any needs which we can accommodate during the recruitment process and beyond, or would like support completing the booking form and/or would like us to send it to you in an alternative format please email the pipeline here.

You will need to be able to attend all four online sessions to be accepted onto the course.

The course has a maximum of 15/20 people, half the cohort will be HETV unscripted freelancers and half the cohort will be unscripted freelancers.

What it covers

The course content consists of 4 x 2-hour online sessions.

Session 1 - AI Foundations for Development and Production Workflows

• Build confidence and establish core concepts.
• Understanding current AI capabilities and limitations
  Ethical and compliance considerations introduced upfront
  LLMs for research, idea generation and format development
• Emerging agentic workflows for organisation, research and production support
• Supporting pitch materials: decks, visualisation and image generation
• Practical examples and exercises
   

Session 2 – AI in Storytelling and On-Screen Content

• Explore how AI is influencing storytelling, reconstruction and visual approaches within unscripted content.
• Reconstruction and visual storytelling
  Contributor protection and anonymisation
  Video generation for sizzles and development
  Asset creation for production
  Editorial decision-making and storytelling possibilities
   

Session 3 – AI in Post-Production and Audio

• Focus on practical tools that support the edit.
• Logging and transcript analysis
  Editing workflows
  Translation and subtitling
  Voiceover, dubbing and voice transformation
  Music generation and audio clean-up
  Agentic AI in post-production ecosystems
   

Session 4 – Ethics, Compliance and the Future of Production

• Help participants understand responsibilities and emerging industry trends.
• Accuracy, bias and representation
  Authorship, ownership and transparency
  Broadcaster policies and compliance considerations
  Shared responsibilities across editorial and production teams
  Future developments in agentic and enterprise AI
  Q&A and discussion

The Pipeline training hub delivers industry-led short courses and Masterclasses to meet the demands of the Screen Industries across the UK and globally. We work with Screen Skills, the Department for Education (DfE) and international colleagues in the USA and Nigeria.  Our Media City base in Salford offers studio and classrooms which play a central role in the delivery of our courses delivered online and face to face. Based alongside the BBC, ITV and over 250 digital and media businesses places us in the unique position to develop course content that is fit-for-purpose for industry professionals. Our teaching ethos combines theory and practice with all tutors being current acclaimed specialists in their field. 

Stephanie Ronan-Chlond

Stephanie Ronan-Chlond has over 15 years of experience in the screen industries, working as a Producer and Director on documentaries for the BBC, ITV1, Channel 4 and Sky One. Stephanie now works at the intersection of unscripted storytelling and creative AI as an award-winning AI filmmaker and trainer. Her work spans emotion-driven AI short films, branded content and artistic collaborations. She is also undertaking a practice-led PhD exploring AI filmmaking as a new creative medium. Stephanie delivers training to industry professionals on how AI can support development, production and creative workflows across film and television, and is passionate about helping storytellers enhance workflows, unlock new creative possibilities and navigate the rapidly evolving media landscape responsibly.

How to apply

There are four online 2-hour sessions, delivered weekly on Thursday mornings.

All four sessions are mandatory. 

Session 1: Thursday 9th July 2026 – 10:00 until 12:00

Session 2: Thursday 16th July 2026 – 10:00 until 12:00

Session 3: Thursday 23rd July 2026 – 10:00 until 12:00

Session 4: Thursday 30th July 2026 - 10:00 until 12:00

Click ‘Apply Now’ to apply for your place.

Contact information

Name: Lesley Howarth
Email: l.l.howarth@salford.ac.uk