Angel Studios Bans Sex Scenes, F-Words and Misuse of God's Name

Angel Studios, the company behind the 2023 hit "Sound of Freedom," has banned on-screen sex, nudity, F-words and the misuse of God's name in a sweeping new content policy announced Thursday.

The policy, branded "The Angel Promise," also gives the studio's roughly 3 million paying members a direct vote on what gets made. Films and series must score at least 70 out of 100 from members to enter Angel's programming slate.

Co-founder and chief content officer Jeff Harmon announced the plan in a Fox News interview and framed it as a corrective to the mainstream industry. "I think Hollywood generally kind of lives in a bubble," Harmon said. "These are excellent craftsmen. They're the best storytellers in the world. Hollywood has built the best storytelling infrastructure in the world. But at the same time, they've kind of drifted more and more away from the values-based audience that they used to serve."

What does the new policy actually require?

The Angel Promise rests on three commitments: audience approval of content, strict standards for sex and language, and expanded parental controls.

The pledge posted on the Angel Studios website is explicit:

• "No sex acts on screen — ever"
• No nudity
• No F-words
• No profanity in titles submitted for young kids (12 and under)
• No original films or series that misuse God's name

"We promise there's never going to be nudity, and there'll never be sex on screen," Harmon said in the announcement video, describing Angel as a "faith-friendly studio."

Who decides what Angel releases?

The voting body is the Angel Guild, the studio's membership of approximately 3 million paying subscribers. Under the new rules, the guild functions as a gatekeeper: no title reaches the platform without clearing the 70-point approval threshold. The studio describes this as audience power over the greenlight process, exercised before release rather than after.

Harmer [sic] — Harmon — cast the mechanism as historic. "This is the first time in history that a major Hollywood studio, or top 10 studio in the United States, has come and said, we're going to let the audience have a veto right," he told Fox.

What does this change for viewers and filmmakers?

For viewers, the change is a guarantee: any Angel title will carry no explicit sexual content, no nudity and no F-words, with stricter profanity limits on children's programming. For filmmakers, it sets a hard content ceiling and a populist greenlight system — a project can clear creative development and still fail a member vote.

Angel's current releases include "Runner," "Young Washington" and "David." Its upcoming slate lists "Drummer Boy," "Angel and the Badman" and "Zero A.D.: The Birth of Christ," the last of which signals where the studio's faith-centered ambitions are heading next.