The short answer. Choose an AI video production company on what it will put in writing, not on its reel. Before you sign, ask 12 questions: which aired films a third party credits, who directs, where you sign off before generation, which notes are included, which tools and indemnities apply, who owns the film, how faces are cleared, how it is labelled, what happens to your data, what is delivered, what should be shot for real, and what a paid test costs.
A reel proves a studio can make one shot look good. It does not tell you who carries the risk when a face, a voice or a frame turns out to belong to someone else, or what happens when your CMO asks for version seven. We make AI films and live-action films for brands in India and abroad, and we sit on both sides of this conversation: we answer these questions in pitches, and we ask them of the tools and partners we use. So we checked what the rest of the market says. We read the 34 pages that rank in Google for this question in the US, the UK and India, captured 10 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews, and audited what 24 AI studios on five continents publish on their own sites against the same 12 questions. This page is the result.
Published 21 October 2026. Laws, tool terms and studio pages were checked against their sources on 21 October 2026. This is a production company’s checklist, not legal advice; your lawyer reads the contract.
Key takeaways
- An AI video production company directs and produces commercials and brand films with generative AI, alone or mixed with live action. A tool such as Runway or Kling is software you operate yourself; you are buying judgement, not access.
- Most studios publish nothing on the questions that carry the risk. Of 24 AI studios we audited on 21 October 2026, 16 say nothing about consent for real faces and voices, 16 nothing about who owns the film, 18 nothing about labelling, 18 nothing about which notes are included and 18 nothing about price.
- The single most useful process question is where you sign off before video generation starts. A late change in an AI film is a regeneration, not a nudge, and only 5 of the 24 studios publish a client approval point before motion.
- Tool indemnities are narrower than studios imply. Google’s covers "unmodified" output, OpenAI’s excludes output that was "modified, transformed, or used in combination" with other products, and Adobe’s partner-model cover excludes publicity and privacy claims. Ask who covers the rest.
- The rules now differ by market. The EU AI Act’s disclosure duty has applied since 2 August 2026, New York requires ads to disclose synthetic performers, and India’s advertising regulator, ASCI, published final AI labelling rules on 29 September 2026. Ask for a labelled and a clean master.
- Start with a paid test on the hardest scene. Coca-Cola briefed three studios at once in 2024, and Toys"R"Us called its first AI film "a test". A studio that will not price one scene will not price version seven.
What is an AI video production company?
An AI video production company is a studio that directs and produces commercials, brand films and campaign series using generative AI models, either for the whole film or alongside footage shot on a set. It takes a brief, assigns a director and producer, and delivers a finished, cleared master, the same way a live-action production house does.
That last part is what separates it from software. Runway, Kling, Veo and Midjourney are tools you can subscribe to and operate yourself. Of the 10 AI engine answers we captured on 21 October 2026, none named a single studio; every one that named anything named tools. If the job is a hundred avatar explainers a week, a tool may be the right buy. If the job is a film with your brand’s name on it, airing on television or in front of millions on YouTube, you are hiring people, and the questions below are how you test them.
In India the same company is usually called a production house and the film an AI TVC (a television commercial) or a DVC (a digital video commercial). In the US and the UK buyers say AI studio, AI video agency or AI commercial production company. The questions do not change.
The 12 questions at a glance
| # | Ask | A good answer sounds like | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Which aired films can we check, and who else credits them? | Named films with a brand, agency, trade or award page you can open | Logos without titles, years or links |
| 2 | Who directs and produces our film, by name? | Two names, with commercials they have made | An unnamed AI team, or a tool list |
| 3 | Where do we sign off before video generation starts? | A still-frame lock you approve before anything moves | Generate first, choose later |
| 4 | How many rounds of notes are included, and what resets the work? | A number of rounds and a written list of what costs extra | Unlimited revisions |
| 5 | Which AI tools will you use, and who carries the risk if the output infringes? | Named tools on business plans, plus who indemnifies what | A claim that the tools are safe, with no plan named |
| 6 | Who owns the film, the characters and the project files? | An assignment on payment, with a list of what you receive | Full ownership promised, with no assignment |
| 7 | How do you clear real faces and voices, and what will you refuse? | Written consent for scope, term, fee and media, and a list of things they will not make | Anyone, any face, on request |
| 8 | How will the film be labelled, and what record of the making do we get? | Labelled and clean masters per market, and a generation log | Labels left to the platforms |
| 9 | What happens to our brief, footage and product images? | Business-tier tools that do not train on client material, an NDA, a deletion date | No answer, or a self-serve platform’s terms |
| 10 | What exactly will you deliver? | Resolution, frame rate, ratios, versions and broadcast clearance in writing | Whatever you need, with no spec |
| 11 | Should any of this be shot for real, and can you shoot it? | A shot-by-shot view of what to generate and what to film | Everything can be AI |
| 12 | How do you price it, and can we start with a paid test? | A price per campaign with inclusions, extras and a one-scene test | A per-second rate with no scope |
The 12 questions to ask an AI video production company before you sign, with what a good answer and a red flag sound like.
What 24 AI studios publish on these questions
Before you ask, it helps to know what most studios already tell you, which is very little. On 21 October 2026 we read the websites of 24 AI studios that make commercials for brands, in the US, the UK, Europe, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Argentina and India: the 15 we shortlisted for our ranking of AI video production companies and 9 more for spread. We fetched 411 of their pages and scored each studio on each question: Y if it publishes a clear answer, P if it publishes something partial, N if it publishes nothing. For question 1 we also opened 29 third-party pages to check credits. Every score carries the quote it rests on.
| Question | Clear answer | Partial | Nothing published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Proof, credited by a third party | 9 | 12 | 3 |
| 2. Director and producer named | 6 | 10 | 8 |
| 3. Sign-off before generation | 5 | 12 | 7 |
| 4. Notes included, changes that cost extra | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| 5. Tools, licences, indemnity | 2 | 12 | 10 |
| 6. Ownership of the film and assets | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| 7. Consent for real faces and voices | 3 | 5 | 16 |
| 8. Labelling and provenance | 2 | 4 | 18 |
| 9. Client data and model training | 4 | 5 | 15 |
| 10. Delivery spec | 2 | 8 | 14 |
| 11. Live action or hybrid | 11 | 5 | 8 |
| 12. Price, inclusions, paid test | 2 | 4 | 18 |
What 24 AI video studios publish on their own websites, by question. Audit by First December Films, 21 October 2026. Y = clear answer, P = partial, N = nothing.
Three things stand out. The questions a studio can answer with its showreel (credits, hybrid capability) are well covered. The questions your legal team will ask (consent, labels, ownership, data, changes, price) are blank on two-thirds of sites or more. And the median studio, leaving us out, publishes a clear or partial answer to 3.5 of the 12. We score 11, because our AI ad films page was written around these questions; we list where our own answers fall short further down.
A blank page does not mean a bad studio. Some of the best-known names publish almost nothing: Silverside AI, which made Svedka’s Super Bowl LX spot, names no person on its site, and Genre.ai, behind Kalshi’s NBA Finals spot, shows a grid of films and a contact form. It means the answers have to come from the meeting and the contract, so you need to know what to ask.
Proof and people
1. Which aired films can we check, and who else credits them?
Ask for three films that aired for paying brands, and for each one a page you can open that is not the studio’s own: the brand’s release, the agency’s case study, a trade story or an award result. In our audit 13 of 24 studios had at least one third-party credit we could open, but credits rarely land cleanly on the studio. NPR credits Kalshi’s spot to its director, PJ Accetturo, not his company. LBB and NBC News credit The Sweetshop rather than its AI unit, The Gardening Club. Trade coverage of our own Air India film names Air India and its agency, McCann.
Some of that is normal. Production companies often work white-label: Eden Makers, a Prague studio, says it will "not appear in credits unless you want us to". So when a credit is missing, ask for a brand or agency reference instead, and call it.
Two more checks. Ask which parts of each reel film were generated, which were licensed footage and who shot them. In March 2024 an "AI-powered" Under Armour spot turned out to reuse athlete footage from an earlier commercial by another director, who said "it’s more how you choose to label and promote your work" (TechCrunch, 14 March 2024). And check that awards still stand. In June 2025 Cannes Lions withdrew a Grand Prix from DM9 after finding that "AI-generated and manipulated content was used within the case film to simulate real world events and campaign outcomes" (Cannes Lions, 27 June 2025). D&AD now requires "a structured disclosure of any AI involvement at the point of entry across all categories" (D&AD).
Ask for a credit you can check, not a logo wall.
2. Who directs and produces our film, by name?
This is the question the AI engines skip. Six of the 10 answers we captured never ask who will direct or produce the film, by name. It is also the point practitioners agree on most. "Agencies want people making AI commercials who actually know how to make commercials," Tim Katz, co-founder of the London production company Knucklehead, told LBB Online on 1 December 2025, when it launched its AI studio, Airhead. Toby Walsham of the UK AI roster Made By Humans said his company signed AI artists and then "dropped them since you need to be a storyteller and a creative, but also very tech savvy" (LBB Online, 28 August 2025).
In our audit only 6 of 24 studios name who directs and produces their films; 8 name nobody. The risk is real. On r/vfx in February 2026 a freelancer described a production agency whose AI workflow was to "Put the brief in Chatgpt, ask it to make a prompt for Veo, and plug that into Veo".
Ask for the director’s and producer’s names, three commercials each has made (AI or not), and whether that director will sit in your sign-off meetings. In the US the directors’ commercial contract with the AICP, which runs to 30 November 2026, already says "any GAI use must be disclosed to the Director and is subject to their participation" (DGA, 8 December 2023). Our guide to choosing an ad film director covers how to read a treatment and a reel; the same rules apply when the camera is a model.
Hire a director, not a prompt.
Process and changes
3. Where do we sign off before video generation starts?
In an AI film the creative decisions move forward in time. "Today, pre-production is the creative. Every prompt is a directorial decision," the New York AI director Simon Dolsten told LBB Online on 30 April 2026. Characters, costumes, locations and the look are decided as still images; video generation then animates what was approved. If you approve too late, you pay for it in regeneration.
Ask the studio to walk you through its stages and to point to the one where you approve every frame as a still before anything moves. We call it image lock; others call it style frames or a locked animatic. In our audit 5 of 24 studios publish a client approval point before video generation: Tool of North America, Eden Makers, The Dor Brothers, Sadara Studio and us. Twelve describe stages or an approach without one.
Ask, too, who checks the frames for things a model gets wrong: hands, faces, background people, text, product details and cultural fit. Several AI ads pulled in 2025 and 2026 failed at review, not at generation. Equinox apologised in July 2026 for an AI campaign image after a petition, and a Hong Kong government anti-drug video was withdrawn in June 2026, then a re-edit was pulled after viewers noticed the voiceover said the opposite of the subtitles (Marketing-Interactive). Sign-off also builds your rights. The US Copyright Office says human authors are entitled to copyright in "the creative selection, coordination, or arrangement of material in the outputs" (US Copyright Office, 29 January 2025), and documented approvals are the record of those human choices. Our guide to how AI commercials are made walks through each stage.
Sign the stills before you pay for motion.
4. How many rounds of notes are included, and what resets the work?
Every buyer’s first AI test feels fast. The cost shows up later. "The first AI test is usually easy. The cost shows up when the client asks for version 07," wrote a small VFX studio owner on r/vfx in July 2026. Katz said of Knucklehead’s hybrid film for MG: "changing a shot late is really hard. It’s not like asking a VFX house to nudge something" (LBB Online, 1 December 2025). And AI invites more changes, not fewer. Svedka’s Amy Remley said of its Super Bowl spot: "once you realize that you can have a new idea and change it as you go, you want to change it a lot" (Comfy case study).
So ask two things together: how many rounds are included, and which kinds of change cost extra after sign-off. Eighteen of the 24 studios we audited publish nothing on this. The clearest published answer is Daydrm Studio’s in New York: "Production includes 2 revision rounds. Additional revision rounds are billed at 10% of the production budget per round." Eden Makers says "Scope, variant count and approval rounds are all fixed in writing before we start."
Our own rule sorts every note by the stage that owns it. A note about motion, timing or camera is fixed in generation. A note about action, angle or expression may need a new image. A note that changes a character, costume or location goes back to the image stage, and after image lock it resets the scene and is quoted as extra. Whatever the studio’s system, get it in writing before the first frame.
Agree a change budget before you agree a delivery date.
Rights and risk
5. Which AI tools will you use, and who carries the risk if the output infringes?
A studio will usually tell you its tools are safe for commercial use. Ask which tools, on which plan, and read what the vendor actually promises. Indemnity, where it exists at all, sits on business tiers and is narrower than the sales line.
| Tool (plan) | What the vendor covers | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Google Veo and Imagen (Vertex AI, enterprise) | IP claims over "an unmodified Generated Output" from generally available models | Edited or composited output may fall outside; consumer apps are not on the list |
| OpenAI (API and business tiers) | Claims that output infringes a third party’s IP | Excludes output "modified, transformed, or used in combination with" other products; Sora’s API shut down on 24 September 2026 |
| Adobe Firefly (enterprise, qualifying plans) | IP indemnity for generated content; partner models limited to generally available Google and OpenAI models | Partner cover "does not cover trademark, publicity rights, or privacy rights claims" |
| Runway (Enterprise) | Claims that the service infringes IP | Excludes claims from inputs; no output-specific indemnity wording found |
| Kling (paid members) | Commercial use "not restricted" | No indemnity to users found |
| Luma (paid plans) | Commercial use during a paid subscription; you own output | Its licence over your inputs includes training its models |
| Midjourney (Pro or Mega) | Ownership of assets for companies over $1 million revenue only on these plans | You indemnify Midjourney, not the reverse |
What AI video and image tools promise commercial users, from each vendor’s terms as of 21 October 2026. Sources: Google Cloud service terms, OpenAI service terms, Adobe HelpX, Runway enterprise terms, Kling paid terms, Luma terms, Midjourney terms.
Every finished commercial is modified and combined: graded, composited, cut with music and type. That is why the tool’s cover is a starting point, not an answer. The US producers’ body is candid about where the risk lands. The AICP’s model bid language, published in August 2025, has the production company make "no representation, warranty, or indemnity regarding the authorship, originality, non-infringement, or ownership of the AI generated materials" and the advertiser indemnify the producer instead (AICP). A year later the AICP’s Denise Gilmartin put the fairer version plainly: "you indemnify me for your stuff, and I’ll indemnify you for mine" (AICP, 19 August 2026). In India, the lawyer Sonam Chandwani warns that vendor indemnities "merely redistribute financial risk" and do not stop a copyright owner from proceeding against the agency that used the work (exchange4media, 8 July 2026).
In our audit 8 studios name the models they use, but only 2 pair them with a licence or indemnity position. Native Foreign is the only one that says it indemnifies output itself: "deliverables are indemnified by NF and our technology partners". Ask one more question while you are here: if a tool disappears mid-campaign, how will the studio extend or re-create the shots? OpenAI closed the Sora app on 26 April 2026 and the API on 24 September 2026 (OpenAI Help Center).
Ask who indemnifies the parts the tool does not.
6. Who owns the film, the characters and the project files?
Several pages that rank for this question promise "full ownership". Ownership of the file and copyright in it are different things, and the second depends on where you are. In the US, the Copyright Office concluded in January 2025 that "prompts alone do not provide sufficient human control" to make someone the author of AI output, and the courts require a human author (Thaler v. Perlmutter, D.C. Circuit, 18 March 2025; the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal on 2 March 2026). The UK still protects computer-generated works under section 9(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, though the government said in March 2026 that the protection will go unless evidence justifies keeping it. In India, the lawyer Ankit Sahni told exchange4media in September 2026 that "the dispute may move from ‘is there copyright?' to ‘who is the author and owner?'"
What you can control is the contract. Ask for three things in writing:
- An assignment, not a licence. Eden Makers says it will "transfer full rights to the output on delivery"; Sadara Studio in Riyadh "assigns all rights in the final delivered work to the client". AI model Inc. in Tokyo publishes the opposite for its AI characters: the copyright stays with the company and the brand gets a usage licence. A clear answer is not always a good one.
- A list of what you receive. The master, cut-downs, the approved stills, character sheets and project files, or not. The AICP’s checklist tells producers "Do not share your prompts with the agency or advertiser", so if you want prompts or fine-tuned models, negotiate it up front.
- The record of human authorship. Script, boards, approvals, the edit and any footage shot for the film are where copyright is strongest. Ask the studio to keep them.
In our audit 16 of 24 studios say nothing about ownership.
Get an assignment and a list, not a promise.
7. How do you clear real faces and voices, and what will you refuse to make?
This is where the money and the headlines are. Under the 2025 SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contracts, "performer consent is mandatory before any digital replica is created", and companies must give "a reasonably specific description for how a replica will be used" (SAG-AFTRA), and a replica performance pays at least 1.5 session fees. In India the Delhi High Court has restrained the use of actors’ likeness through "Artificial Intelligence, Generative Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deepfakes" (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, 9 September 2025), and ASCI’s final guidelines list "a person’s likeness without consent" as prohibited even with an AI label. In the UK, the ASA warns that an AI celebrity endorsement that "looks real enough to mislead consumers" is likely to break the advertising code (ASA, 11 June 2026).
Look-alikes are the trap. "If an AI generated face, voice, style or persona is substantially evocative of a celebrity," says Probir Roy Chowdhury, a partner at the Indian law firm JSA, courts can treat it as misuse (Storyboard18, 3 December 2025). Employees count too: in India, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act requires consent that is "free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous".
In our audit 16 of 24 studios publish nothing on consent. Three publish a rule: Studio Blo in Mumbai ("We don’t replace people without consent"), Sadara Studio and us. A published rule is not proof it was applied, so ask to see the consent paperwork for a past film, with names blacked out. And ask what the studio refuses to make. Ours is published: fake testimonials or experts, a real face or voice without written consent, celebrity look-alikes, political content, generated proof for health, medical or financial-return claims, fake footage of real news events. Our guide to AI actors in ads covers consent and pay by market.
No signed consent, no face.
8. How will the film be labelled, and what record of the making do we get?
Labelling is now a market-by-market question, and the advertiser holds the duty. The IAB’s August 2026 framework says "Accountability rests with advertisers (brand and/or agency)" (IAB). The UK has "no blanket legal requirement" to disclose AI in ads, but the ASA says "the advertiser remains responsible for any output used in their ads". The EU AI Act requires deployers of deep fakes to disclose them from 2 August 2026, with a lighter duty for "evidently artistic, creative, satirical, fictional" work (Article 50). India’s ASCI label reads "Audio/Video created using AI" or "Audio/Video enhanced using AI", and takes effect three months after its 29 September 2026 publication.
Ask for two masters, one labelled and one clean, so you and your agency decide in writing where each runs. Ask whether the master carries C2PA Content Credentials, and know the consequence: YouTube may label content with C2PA metadata automatically, and that label "can not be adjusted" (YouTube Help). And ask for a generation log: which tools were used at which stage and which human decisions were made. It serves copyright, award entries and platform checks.
Agree, too, how the studio will talk about the film in public. When McDonald’s Netherlands pulled its AI Christmas ad in December 2025, the production company’s public defence, that its team "hardly slept" for seven weeks, became part of the story (BBC News, 10 December 2025).
Only 2 of 24 studios we audited commit to labelling what they deliver: Sadara ("metadata and disclosure documentation as standard with every delivery") and us ("A labelled and a clean master on every job"). Eighteen say nothing. Our guide to whether AI ads are legal in India covers the Indian rules in detail.
Two masters and a log, every time.
9. What happens to our brief, footage and product images?
None of the 34 pages that rank for this question deals with client data beyond a line or two. It matters because the same tool can behave differently by plan. Google Cloud’s terms say it "will not use Customer Data to train or fine-tune any AI/ML models" without permission; the free tier of the Gemini API uses submitted content to improve Google’s products. OpenAI says of its business tiers "We do not train our models on your data by default"; its consumer terms train unless you opt out. Runway’s standard terms say inputs and outputs "may be used by the Company to train"; its Enterprise terms say it "may not use Customer Content as training data". Midjourney content is "publicly viewable and remixable" by default.
The AICP’s advice to its own members is the right standard for buyers: "Scripts, storyboards, prior campaigns and other client materials should not be uploaded to an AI platform without permission" (AICP, 19 August 2026). Ask which plan each tool runs on for your job, whether any of your material leaves those tools, where it is stored and when it is deleted. If the film includes identifiable people, the EU’s GDPR and India’s DPDP Act make the studio a processor of personal data, and the contract should say so.
Fifteen of 24 studios publish nothing on this. Watch for platform terms dressed as studio terms: Galleri5’s website terms, which cover its self-serve platform, grant it a "worldwide license" to use uploaded content "to operate, improve, and market the Platform". That may be fine for the platform; ask which terms govern a commissioned film.
Your brief should never train someone else’s model.
Delivery, hybrid and price
10. What exactly will you deliver?
AI models still generate short, modest clips. On 21 October 2026, Google’s Veo 3.1 on Vertex AI generated 4, 6 or 8 second clips at up to 4K, at 24 frames per second, in 16:9 or 9:16 only; Runway’s Gen-4.5 output was 720p; Kling 3.0 ran 3 to 15 seconds at up to 1080p; Luma’s Ray modify mode ran up to 20 seconds at 1080p (vendor documentation). A finished film is upscaled, conformed, graded and versioned from those clips, and that is where quality is won or lost.
So ask for the delivery spec in writing: resolution of the master and of the generations behind it, frame rate, aspect ratios and whether each is a crop or a separate generation, language versions, cut-downs, loudness and broadcast standards. "Are we shooting for 16x9 but protecting for 9x16?" is one of the questions Andrew Loevenguth, head of integrated production at the agency Cartwright, lists for the start of a job (LBB Online, 30 April 2026). The strongest proof is a film that cleared a broadcaster’s technical review; Eden Makers cites exactly that, and publishes "a 4K master to the station spec, loudness-normalised". Only 2 of 24 studios publish a delivery spec. Ours is 1080p, with 9:16 as a separate generation.
A spec on paper beats a demo on a laptop.
11. Should any of this be shot for real, and can you shoot it?
The best studios will tell you when not to use AI. "Not all scripts should be AI," PJ Accetturo of Genre.ai said on the Wrapbook podcast on 8 September 2026, describing a job where "the tech wasn’t there to get consistent location, good performance of the actors". Katz at Knucklehead: "sometimes the responsible answer is, ‘you shouldn’t and don’t need to go there.'" Tool of North America said of its experimental car film, as reported by shots, that generative video "is not strong" with "human performance and consistency of a moving product".
The market is moving the same way. Kaufland in Germany went from a fully AI campaign in 2025 to a hybrid one with real performers in 2026, and The Creative Tribe’s Mother’s Day film for Reliance Digital in India kept real performances and used AI for the world around them. Audiences are part of the reason: Gallup found in August 2026 that 62% of Americans call AI-created people or voices in ads unacceptable "even when businesses clearly disclose that AI was used" (Gallup, 19 August 2026).
Hybrid is the most-answered question in our audit (11 clear answers), but three studios are AI-only by design, and Eden Makers says plainly it has "no camera department" and will bring in a partner. That is a fair answer if it is said at the start. Ask for a shot-by-shot view: what will be generated, what will be filmed, and what will come from your existing brand assets. Our AI ad film cost guide shows how that choice changes the budget.
Ask what should be shot. A good studio will have a view.
12. How do you price it, and can we start with a paid test?
Only 2 of the 24 studios publish a price. Eden Makers quotes "From CZK 200,000 (approximately EUR 8,000) per deliverable", about $9,260 or ₹8.75 lakh. Daydrm publishes "$1,000-$50,000" (about ₹94,500 to ₹47.2 lakh). The Dor Brothers’ brief form starts at a $15,000 to $50,000 band and AI model Inc.'s page at 1 million yen (about $6,330). Conversions use the European Central Bank reference rate of 21 October 2026; one lakh is 100,000 rupees.
The claims about savings are wider than the prices. Accetturo has called his model "a 95% cost reduction versus traditional ads" (Creative Boom, 11 November 2025); Jason Zada of Secret Level, which made Coca-Cola’s AI holiday films, says "this is not about spending less money. It’s about using budgets more efficiently" (The Hollywood Reporter, 6 November 2025). Kalshi said the cost of prompting the AI for its NBA Finals spot was under $2,000, and declined to disclose the director’s fee (NPR, 23 June 2025). The generation is the cheap part. You are paying for direction, the re-runs behind every kept shot, clearance and finishing.
Ask for the price per film and per campaign, what is included (direction, look development, revision rounds, edit, grade, sound, both masters), what is extra (late changes, extra ratios and languages, music, taxes, agency commission), and whether set-up is spread across the campaign. Then start small. Coca-Cola briefed three studios in parallel in 2024; its generative AI head said "we thought one of them or couple of them will get it right" (Digiday, 20 November 2024). Toys"R"Us said of its first AI film: "It was a test." Pick the scene you are least sure of and pay for a test of it alone.
Pay for one hard scene before you commit a campaign.
How do the rules differ by market?
No page in the US, UK or Indian search results for this question mentions the EU AI Act, ASCI or India’s IT Rules. Your studio should know the rules for every market the film runs in. Here is where they stood on 21 October 2026.
| Market | Copyright in AI output | Disclosure in ads | Faces and voices |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | No copyright in purely AI material; human selection and arrangement protected (Copyright Office, January 2025) | No federal AI ad label; New York requires ads to disclose synthetic performers, $1,000 then $5,000 fines (in force about 9 June 2026); FTC bans fake testimonials | SAG-AFTRA consent and 1.5x replica fee; Tennessee’s ELVIS Act since 1 July 2024; the federal NO FAKES Act is still a bill |
| United Kingdom | Computer-generated works protected under CDPA s.9(3), with removal signalled in March 2026 | "No blanket legal requirement" (ASA, May 2025); misleading AI endorsements breach the code | No statutory personality right; Equity members voted 99.6% to refuse on-set scanning in an indicative ballot |
| European Union | Parliament resolution of 10 March 2026 (non-binding): fully AI content should "remain ineligible" | AI Act Article 50 deep-fake disclosure since 2 August 2026, lighter for fictional and artistic work; fines up to €15 million or 3% of turnover | GDPR applies to identifiable faces and voices |
| India | Unsettled; the Copyright Office has said AI cannot be an author, but not which human owns the output (exchange4media, 4 September 2026) | IT Rules amendment in force 20 February 2026 (duties on platforms); ASCI labels from about 29 December 2026 | Delhi High Court personality-rights orders; ASCI bans likeness without consent even with a label; DPDP Act consent |
| China | A 2023 Beijing Internet Court ruling gave copyright to the person who prompted an image (first instance) | Prominent label at the start of AI video since 1 September 2025 (CAC) | Not covered in this check |
| South Korea | Not covered in this check | AI Basic Act since 22 January 2026 puts label duties on AI providers; undisclosed AI "experts" in ads treated as deceptive | Not covered in this check |
Copyright, disclosure and likeness rules for AI ads in six markets, as of 21 October 2026. Gulf markets are not covered here; ask your studio and your counsel.
How to score the answers
Put the same 12 questions to every studio on your shortlist, in writing, and score each answer 0, 1 or 2.
- 2 means a specific, written answer: names, numbers, a document you can see.
- 1 means a credible answer that is not yet in writing, or covers part of the question.
- 0 means no answer, a vague one, or one of the red flags in the table above.
Then apply three rules. Walk away from any studio that scores 0 on consent (7), ownership (6) or data (9): those are the answers that decide whether you can air the film and defend it. Insist on a paid test if a studio scores 0 or 1 on sign-off (3) or changes (4), because that is where AI budgets run over. Compare price last. A studio that scores 20 out of 24 at a higher fee is cheaper than one that scores 12, because the gaps are costs you will pay later.
Where our own answers fall short
We score ourselves 11 out of 12 on our own audit, and we wrote our AI page with these questions in mind, so here is where we would mark ourselves down.
- Price. We publish what is included and what is extra, and that we price campaigns rather than clips, but not a figure. We quote per brief.
- Tools. Our page says "Commercial-licence tools only" and "Indemnity follows our tool licences", but does not name the tools, because the stack changes with the job. Ask us for the list on your film and the plan each runs on.
- Contract wording. Our commitments on consent, labels, data and ownership are public. The clauses themselves are, in our page’s words, "published once our lawyer approves it".
- Resolution. Our generation standard today is 1080p, and 9:16 is a separate generation, priced as extra. If your media plan needs a 4K master, say so at the brief.
- Credits. Trade coverage of our Air India film credits the brand and McCann. That is normal for a production company, so ask us, as you would anyone, for a brand or agency reference.
When this checklist does not apply
Skip it if you need dozens of avatar explainers or UGC-style (user-generated content) social ads a week. A self-serve tool will be cheaper; check its plan’s commercial and data terms instead.
Skip most of it if you are commissioning a pitch film or animatic that will never air. Questions 2, 3 and 12 still apply; the rights questions matter less until a film goes public.
Do not use AI at all if the film is a testimonial, a product demonstration or a health or money claim that has to be real. The FTC’s rule bans testimonials from reviewers who do not exist, the UK ASA treats AI endorsements that look real enough to mislead as breaches of its code, and ASCI says an AI label does not make an otherwise misleading ad acceptable.
How did buying AI production get here, and what changes in 2027?
The category is barely two years old. In June 2024 Toys"R"Us put its name to a film made with OpenAI’s Sora and called it a test. In November 2024 Coca-Cola briefed three studios at once. In 2025 the rules started arriving: the US Copyright Office’s report on AI authorship in January, the SAG-AFTRA commercials contract in April, Cannes Lions’ withdrawal of DM9’s Grand Prix in June, the AICP’s AI bid language in August and China’s labelling rules in September. In 2026 India’s IT Rules took effect in February, OpenAI closed Sora between April and September, New York’s synthetic-performer law took effect in June, the EU’s disclosure duty in August, and ASCI published its final rules in September.
Three dates are close. The US directors’ commercial contract with the AICP expires on 30 November 2026. The EU’s grace period for marking AI output from older systems ends on 2 December 2026. ASCI’s labels take effect about 29 December 2026.
Our forecast, and it is only ours: by the end of 2027, the generation log and the two masters will be standard deliverables, and AI clauses will sit in every production contract the way music licences do now. US video ad buyers told the IAB they expect 43% of their ad assets to use generative AI by 2027 (IAB, 14 July 2026). As the work becomes ordinary, the studios that can answer these 12 questions in writing will win the briefs that matter.
Choosing a studio for your next film?
Start with one scene. If a brief has a shot that feels too specific, too risky or too hard to keep believable, bring it to us as a paid feasibility test before you commit a campaign, and put all 12 questions to us first. See the Air India film for how we work, paste your script into our free script analyser for a producer’s read, or send us the brief and a named producer will reply within two working days. You can read more about Ganesh Pareek, who oversees budgeting, bidding and AI policy at the house, and see how we rank the studios we compete with in our list of the best AI video production companies.
First December Films is an advertising film production company in Mumbai. Our work has won more than 150 international creative awards, including Cannes Lions, D&AD and One Show Gold Pencils.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose an AI video production company?
Judge it on what it will put in writing, not on its reel. Ask for aired films that a brand, agency or trade title credits, the named director and producer, where you approve stills before video generation, the included notes, the tools and indemnities, ownership, consent, labelling, data use, the delivery spec, what should be shot live, and a paid test.
What is the most important question to ask an AI studio before signing?
Ask where you sign off before video generation starts. In an AI film, characters, costumes and locations are decided as still images, and a late change means regenerating the shot rather than nudging it. Only 5 of the 24 studios we audited in October 2026 publish a client approval point before motion.
Who owns an AI-generated commercial?
The contract decides who owns the files; the law decides whether there is copyright in them. In the US, purely AI-generated material has no copyright, though human selection, arrangement and edits do. The UK still protects computer-generated works. Ask for a written assignment of all rights on payment and a list of the files you receive.
Do AI video tools indemnify brands against copyright claims?
Some do, on business plans, and narrowly. Google covers unmodified output from its generally available models on Vertex AI, OpenAI’s API cover excludes output that was modified or combined with other products, and Adobe’s partner-model cover excludes publicity and privacy claims. Ask the studio who covers the rest.
Do AI ads have to be labelled?
It depends on the market. The EU has required deep fakes to be disclosed since 2 August 2026, New York requires ads to disclose synthetic performers, China requires a visible label on AI video, and India’s ASCI labelling rules take effect around the end of December 2026. The UK has no blanket rule. Ask for a labelled and a clean master.
How much does an AI video production company charge?
Few publish prices. Of 24 studios we audited in October 2026, two did: Eden Makers from about 8,000 euros per deliverable, and Daydrm from 1,000 to 50,000 US dollars. Prompting can cost under 2,000 dollars, but you pay for direction, re-runs, clearance and finishing. Start with a paid test of one scene.
Should my commercial be fully AI or hybrid?
Let the idea decide. Fully AI suits built worlds and series at volume. Hybrid suits real people, products and places: shoot the performances and the product, and use AI for backgrounds, set extensions and shots a camera cannot get. A good studio will tell you which shots belong on a set before it quotes.
