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When Twentieth Century Fox Television announced in 2015 that its highly successful series The X-Files would return to television with a six-episode event series, the studio seized the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to environmentally responsible production practices. The new series filmed in 40 individual locations across British Columbia, including Vancouver’s North Shore Studios, with each requiring elaborate set construction, lengthy transportation demands, and long shooting hours calling for sustained electricity and fuel use. To mitigate these challenges, Fox brought on Zena Harris of Green Spark Group to serve as the sustainable production consultant. Thanks to her efforts and those of the entire crew, the production managed to divert more than 81% of its total waste from landfill, recycle 100% of the aluminum and steel used in set construction, and avoid 33 tonnes of CO2 emissions, generating nearly $41,000 in cost savings. Read More

Producer Mindy Fila (right) and script supervisor Jennifer Capra get Big Bird’s signoff on Sesame Street’s new digital scripts.

A TV Mainstay Embraces Digital Scripts

Written by: Claudine Marrotte and Christina Delfico

Don’t worry, kids; he’s not dying his feathers green.  But Sesame Street, which has been entertaining children and adults alike for forty-five years has begun implementing “green” strategies in their writing and producing departments.

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As the end of the year comes to a close, Green Production Guide’s parent organization, the Producer’s Guild of America made a portion of their PGA Green budget available for a vendor grant. Demarking the success of the organization’s consistent growth and dedication to its mission to reduce poverty, Rock and Wrap it Up! (RWU) was awarded the 2015 Green Vendor Grant. During the past few years RWU has grown from a vendor to a valuable production resource by assisting films in the process of integrating food recovery programs into their catering services. Food donations benefit film and TV productions by fulfilling studio corporate social responsibility commitments, as well as providing measurable emissions reductions. Those reductions are equivalent to the amount of food mitigated from reaching landfills where it would inevitably release methane during decomposition. These statistics are easily attributed to productions’ environmental initiatives. Read More

Who is the Environmental Media Association?

From combating climate change, to wildlife preservation and wilderness conservation, the Environmental Media Association (EMA) uses the power of Hollywood to inspire change and create solutions for our planet. Founded in 1989 by Cindy and Alan Horn and Lyn and Norman Lear, EMA is a Non-Profit 501(c)3 Organization dedicated to leveraging media and pop culture’s influence to protect the environment. Read More

© Louisiana Entertainment

The sound of air reverberating through brass echoes in the damp, still air under a morning sun; chairs pulled out and the smell of buttery croissants dance with the laughter-filled chatter of New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood. This is Louisiana. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge inundated the state, a static tide of Cajun energy is on the rise. Left with largely inadequate federal recovery funding and thousands of residents awaiting proper restitution, Louisiana is both a grand opportunity and a place in need of a hand up.

This rich cultural melting pot of French, African and American cultures is redefining itself with experimental civil reengineering and the opportunity of a blank slate. With open arms the Louisiana Office of Entertainment Industry Development has welcomed the creative minds of the day, pushing tax credits and other stimuli to attract film and television productions to its gulf shores.

The film and television industry has answered the call by returning to Louisiana to film world class productions in state-of-the-art facilities while creating a positive environmental, social and economic impact on a state in the throes of recovery.

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Photo Source: Creative Commons Flickr

Computers, cell phones and tablets are readily available and already used for the bulk of daily communication. So, why are many film and television productions still using paper copies to communicate on set? Does paper, as a physical entity, still hold its traditional allure? Or, is the production industry ready to make the jump into fully digital production?

To answer these questions we sat down with Entertainment Partners’, George Hrico, Scenechronize® Product Implementation Specialist, and Darren Ehlers, SVP of Products, to discuss the status of digital production and learn a bit more about how production technology can be used to support on-set environmental, financial, security and efficiency initiatives.

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Despite predictions that the digital revolution would make paper obsolete, many film and television production sets are still dependent on paper for on-set communication, scripts, call sheets, one liners and on-boarding documents. While omnipresent and seemingly infinite in supply, the impact of paper consumption and disposal is large and growing.

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Greenland at twilight

When burning waste is a better option than recycling, you’re not going green—you’re going Greenland.

Written by: Rachael Joy

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Emellie O’Brien, The Amazing Spiderman 2

New York-based Earth Angel Emellie O’Brien on her experiences as an Eco Supervisor

 Interview: Birgit Heidsiek of Green Film Shooting

‘Making movies without making a mess’ is the motto of Eco Supervisor Emellie O’Brien, Co-Founder of New York-based Earth Angel Sustainable Production Services that made The Amazing Spider-Man 2 the most eco-friendly tentpole movie in the history of Sony Pictures. Besides greening theatrical feature film productions such as Noah by Darren Aronofsky and Gods Behaving Badly by Jon Turtletaub, Emellie O’Brien also makes a sustainable impact on prime time TV shows shot in New York City. Read More

Harrison Ford in a still from Years of Living Dangerously

IMPACT FILMMAKING

At the Produced By Conference five years ago, Marshall Herskovitz issued a call to action. Bemoaning the lack of films about, in his view, the most perilous environmental issue of our time — climate change — he challenged producers and writers in the audience to develop scripts on that subject. “Get them on my desk,” he urged, banging the table, calling on his colleagues to help turn the tide.  Read More