A creative guide to putting the planet into programme climate content.
Today is Earth Day, an annual event which brings together millions of people around the world in support of the environment. Earth Day highlights the urgent action we need to take to save our planet.
The screen industries are an essential part of this action, and we wanted to highlight the simple and effective changes you can make to your production to reduce its impact.
You can’t reduce what you don’t measure. Using the albert toolkit, you can calculate your draft footprint in pre-production. This will give you a breakdown of your impacts and allow you to be strategic in reducing it in the key areas of energy, travel, materials & waste and biodiversity.
Is your production powered by clean energy? The simple energy changes you can make start in your production (or home) office. Switch to a renewable energy supplier.
Where are you filming? If it’s in a studio, check whether it’s running on renewable energy, and if not, point them towards the Studio Sustainability Standard to help them reduce their impact in energy and many other areas.
If you’re shooting on location, see if you can reduce the use of diesel generators by looking at electric powered alternatives. The benefits aren’t just environmental, they can be lighter, more mobile and quieter than their diesel counterparts, and they could even help you get a difficult shot!
Travel and transport can be the biggest area where you can reduce your impact. Do you need to travel anywhere for your shoot? If so, consider how many people you need to send, and the transport you use to get there.
Using crews local to your shoot location also has the benefit of bringing money into local community, and those crew members will have knowledge of the area, helping your production find the best locations!
When you do need to travel, use trains, public transport and electric vehicles to cut your impact, and take flights only when necessary. Flight guidance is available to address any queries you might have about using plane travel.
Production company, See Through Stories filmed a feature length documentary in The Philippines and Bhutan with the aim of keeping flights to a minimum. Find out how they did it in our case studies examining their pre-production and filming processes.
Time to get circular! If you’re constructing sets, props or costumes from scratch, reduce the amount of new material you use. When you can’t, make sure your materials are sustainable and responsibly sourced. If you can buy your costumes and props second hand, even better!
Make a plan for your sets, props and costumes once your production wraps – consider donating them to another production or donating them to the local community. Reuse networks like the Circular Arts Network can help you find set scenery, props and costumes (often for free), and you can list your own once you’ve wrapped. CAMA AssetStore can help your production efficiently and sustainably manage its props, sets and costumes using its tracking and inventory management systems.
If you’re filming in nature, make sure you have a plan to leave the area the way you found it.
This includes avoiding physical damage to the environment, but also reducing disturbance of flora and fauna through noise and lighting. Read the in-depth biodiversity guide for productions to find out how your production can be nature positive.
Want to go above and beyond? You can help protect and preserve the biodiversity of the areas you filmed in by supporting projects aimed at tackling biodiversity loss.
We’ve summarised a handy guide that summarises the actions you can take. Download the Earth Day production guide here.
Want more in depth guidance for what you can do? Check out our production handbook here.
Visit the official Earth Day page here: https://www.earthday.org/
