Producers Guild

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Producers Guild Calls for Industry Transition to Clean Energy

 

Sustainability Tips for
Line Producers,
Production Managers,
Production and Post Production Coordinators

 

PRE-PRODUCTION

Planning

Often, a “green” solution can make someone’s job easier, generate goodwill among communities while on location, and result in cost savings.

Create a sustainability plan that fits the size and scope of your production and share it widely across the production team.

Refer to the Resources section to learn about areas that can inform a sustainability plan including clean energy, waste management, paperless production, food donations, recycling and composting, and elimination of single-use plastics, especially water bottles. Detailed action to take in each of these categories is below.

Collaborate as a team to hire and purchase locally. Every cast or crew member that is flown in from out of town carries a huge carbon footprint. Every item from a big box store that was manufactured across the globe has a larger footprint than something sourced locally.

Staff Support

If you’re working with a studio, chances are they have a sustainability office. Connect with them to learn about the assistance they offer. Some studios may have requirements that the sustainability office can guide you through. If a studio representative holds a sustainability meeting, UPMs, LPs, and ADs should be included in these discussions.

If you aren’t working with a studio or your studio does not have a sustainability office, consider consulting with a sustainable production services provider like Earth Angel or Green Spark Group.

Build a Sustainability Department into your budget, including a sustainability supervisor and on-set eco-steward to cover the communication and management of sustainable practices. The sustainability supervisor begins at the start of prep to coordinate and ensure the integrity of sustainability initiatives, support best practices across departments, manage clean energy infrastructure, and communicate goals and progress on your production, the latter of which can be a big morale booster.

If a sustainability supervisor is not in the budget, engage departments to appoint one person to be a liaison with production on accomplishing sustainability goals and reporting back to production.

Engage the Accounting Department to track in accordance with the Carbon Calculator in the Green Production Guide.

Schedule

When you break down a script, look at it through a sustainability lens. When the script calls for distant locations, consider consolidating the number of cities you need. Reduce the number of company moves within each city. Cluster to reduce carbon footprint and save on fuel costs and more.

As early as possible during pre-production, collaborate with the AD, the Production Designer and DP to look into construction and set dressing efficiencies, and the potential for set wall re-use.

PRODUCTION AND POST-PRODUCTION

Budget

Incorporate Sustainability measures into the budget. Include line Items for clean energy power sources like batteries, grid-ties and electric vehicles. Ensure tracking of production savings, especially on fuel, which can positively impact the budget.

Consider choosing a location city with clean energy resources that your production can utilize for carbon and budget savings. Hire a local crew base to minimize air travel and living emissions.

In the Transportation Department, budget for hybrid and electric vehicles and solar-powered trailers when available. Reimburse crew for EV charging expenses as you would traditional gasoline. Normalize and incentivize electric vehicle use.

In Craft Service, budget washable plates, glassware, and cutlery wherever possible. As a second choice only, provide compostable dishware and cutlery.

Communication

When hiring the production team and the department heads, be clear about the production’s sustainability goals. Ensure them that reducing environmental impact can be done without compromising the production. Information in the Resources can help back this up.

Work with HODs to develop a departmental sustainability plan. Ask stage managers and department heads what the biggest challenge is to make their work more eco-friendly. Identify equitable adjustments. Even small changes can have a big impact, but change should not fall on the shoulders of just one or two HODs.

Encourage HODs to identify gaps and solutions in the overall sustainability plan. As experts in their department, they could bring new, even better “green” ideas to the table.

Throughout the production, encourage the sustainability supervisor (if your production has one) and the production office to circulate updates to cast and crew on sustainability successes such as fuel savings, reduction of carbon emissions and recycling volume. Knowing the numbers can make a big impression and encourage even more participation.

Connect with like-minded allies among guilds and unions, most of which have sustainability committees and initiatives, and many of which are collaborating with each other to address challenges and share solutions.

An established Inter-Guild & Union Sustainability Alliance shares information amongst its members regularly. For information on participating guilds and unions and their sustainability best practices and tips: producersguild.org/inter-guild-and-union-sustainability-alliance

If you find green solutions that make the production better, give back to the local community, and make someone’s job easier or more fun, these solutions are more likely to be adopted by future productions. Spread the word about your production’s sustainability wins.

On-Screen Sustainable Choices

Support the directorial team and crew in seeking ways to demonstrate sustainable behavior on-screen. Opportunities include props, set decoration, picture vehicles, and background action.

How can characters be seen routinely practicing sustainability fundamentals? (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.) Think reusable water beverage containers, reusable shopping bags, and no on-camera single-use plastics. Show bikes and scooters alongside EVs.

Provide Background with reusable shopping bags instead of plastic, reusable water bottles, reusable straws, and coffee containers instead of single-use plastic water and disposable cups. Avoid all on-camera single-use plastics.

Encourage everyone to read existing sustainability on-screen tip sheets. (See “Climate Storytelling Resources” in the Resources section.)

Carbon Calculation

If you measure it, you can manage it. Set up your accounting department to track data with a carbon calculator like the GPG Carbon Calculator. This is a great resource for understanding which behaviors impact CO2 emissions. The Sustainability Supervisor can oversee this, but it’s not complicated for the accounting department to achieve.

Encourage your studio (if working with one) to archive this report. Carbon reporting is starting to be regulated by governments and studios are preparing for this.

Vendors

Select suppliers that provide sustainable goods and services. If you’re working with a studio, their sustainability department should provide a list of these vendors, but you can also check the Green Vendor Guide.

Powering the Set / Clean Energy

Choose to transition away from diesel generators and towards cleaner energy, including electric. Collaborate with your DP, UPM, and locations team on clean energy sources tailored to your unique production.

Well-planned power distribution and clean energy options can often eliminate a diesel generator. Use battery stacks, hybrid generators and grid ties wherever possible to minimize the amount of fuel used to power the sets, base camp, video village, craft service, DIT, sound, and smaller sets.

Access the power grid to eliminate a generator completely. Grid-ties can be installed at locations with necessary approvals and turnkey installation by a licensed and temporary power vendor.

Consider hybrid solutions and pair smaller diesel generators with battery packs that power base camp, video village, craft service, DIT, sound, and smaller sets.

If diesel generators can’t be substituted, right-size them. Diesel generators often run at less than 20% capacity, where they burn the least efficiently. That racks up costs for fuel and the environment.

Work with your local municipality to implement power drops for frequently used locations. This has been piloted in the UK and Vancouver and is in progress for production cities in the US, including Los Angeles and NYC. Check out Vancouver’s Clean Energy Power Kiosk specs.

The Emissions/Cost Optimizer (tutorial here) is a user-friendly Excel sheet to help calculate the emissions and cost of diesel generators versus cleaner power. Seeing the numbers is often the best argument for change. Clean energy can be equal to or even lower in price than traditional methods.

At night, power working trucks and catering with battery sources.

Plan to use LED lighting, and encourage turning off lighting setups & translights when not in use.

Look into The Clean Power Initiative to learn what vendors and resources are being used by unions and studios.

Transportation

Fossil fuels are the greatest contributor by far to greenhouse gas emissions. By reducing the transportation footprint you will automatically reduce carbon emissions.

Whenever possible, use renewable diesel, now available in Los Angeles, New York and the UK. If it isn’t available, let local vendors and the film commission know there’s a demand for renewable diesel and suppliers who can bring it into the area. Studios have data on how much diesel they use in every production city, which you can use to bolster your advocacy.

Solar-powered trailers are available in most cities that have a steady level of production.

Shared trailers reduce generator pollution in base camp and make company moves cleaner.

Ask that people let transport and/or AD department know when they will be in their trailer so power only runs when the trailer is in use.

Work with your department heads to reduce the amount of equipment that needs to be transported, reducing the number of equipment trucks needed each day.

Ask drivers to refrain from idling to minimize exhaust emissions and save fuel. Plan on having warming and cooling stations available for drivers in extreme weather.

Use smaller vehicles for smaller tasks and plan efficient routes to reduce emissions.

Encourage staff and crew to use public transportation or carpool. Lead by example.

Stage/Facilities

When evaluating choices for stage rental, make sure they have adequate house power and/or grid-tie capability for lighting, basecamps, and heat/AC so that diesel generators can be avoided.

Seek stages that provide clean and renewable energy infrastructure, including EV charging stations. This includes offices, stages, mills, workshops, backlots, parking areas for equipment trucks, caterers, basecamps, air conditioners, and other support that requires electricity.

Consider power drops if the facility doesn’t have enough power to run lighting, basecamp and craft service/catering. Grid power access can be installed at stages with necessary approval and turnkey installation by a licensed and temporary power vendor.

Transition all office, house and set lighting to fuel-efficient lighting (e.g., LED).

Use electric support equipment like lifts, golf carts, etc.

Make sure the facility has a waste management plan that includes recycling and composting.

Equip offices, stages and workshops with clean filtered water systems and refill stations to eliminate the need for single-use plastic water bottles.

Provide refillable water stations on all locations and clean water hook-ups for catering, craft services and trailers to avoid the need to run water trucks.

Production Office Energy Consumption

Contact your local utility company and sign up for a renewable energy program.

Turn off lights and equipment at the end of the day.

Set up offices so it’s easy to turn off power strips and unplug chargers when not in use.

Turn on power-saving settings on all electronics.

Use fans and open windows to minimize AC use. When AC is on, be sure to keep doors and windows closed.

Office Supplies

Selecting green office supplies will make a difference on your production. Order recycled content office supplies whenever possible or obtain used office supplies. Plastic pens and highlighters take 400-500 years to decompose. Eco-pens are real and widely available. Purchase mindfully.

Reach out to the local production community to see if any productions have leftover office supplies that they would donate to you or sell at a reduced price.

White paper should contain 100% recycled content. Color paper should contain at least 30% recycled content.

Buy re-manufactured or soy-based ink toner cartridges.

Reuse lanyards and visitor badges.

Purchase materials made from recycled content.

Set up an office recycling program, including harder-to-recycle items like batteries and ink cartridges.

Cleaning Products

Use certified non-toxic cleaning products and paper products (including paper towels, toilet paper and tissues) that are bleach-free and made of 100% recycled content paper.

Design

Support your design teams and department heads in their efforts to use sustainable materials.

Discuss overall re-use in production, art direction, construction, costume design, set dressing and props. Empower your art department to design and build for reuse and ultimately for donation.

At the end of the production, request that sets, props, materials, and costumes be donated to local non-profit organizations such as schools, theater groups, and shelters.

Check with your Production and Costume designers for the work their union Green Committees are doing around waste, circularity, and research on materials that have been vetted for sustainability.

Materials

Materials Connexion in NYC has a database of over 10,000 tactile materials used in sets and construction.

Plywood brings with it strongly adverse biodiversity impacts. Purchase verified sustainable plywood (i.e., FSC Lauan) or alternatives (e.g., Revolution Ply) when available. Use steel pipe scaffolding wherever possible.

Seek out leftover materials from other productions in your area. There is often a prior production that has leftover materials and steel pipe that they will typically sell at a low price or give away.

Re-use

Recycle and reuse material goods. For example, once a set has been shot, re-use the wall, moldings, glass, doors, etc. for other set builds.

At the end of the production, request that sets, props, materials, and costumes be donated to local non-profit organizations such as schools, theater groups, shelters, etc.

Work with organizations like EcoSet in LA or Material For the Arts in NY to donate leftover building materials, set dressing and costumes that other productions may be able to re-purpose.

Diverting materials from the landfill can also save your production money. For example: a representative from Material for the Arts reported that on a recent NY-based TV series, an estimated $3.9 million worth of assets found new homes and avoided a landfill. This translated into a tax benefit for the studio.

Waste Management

Place visual reminders around the office and workspaces to remind staff and crew to reduce, recycle and reuse. Make it easy to comply in the office, on set and on location.

Encourage the Office, Locations, Craft Service and Catering departments to create a responsible waste management plan that includes office and on-set recycling and composting. More than half of all landfill methane (an even more potent greenhouse gas than CO2) is produced by food waste.

Find a local garbage hauler who supports your waste management plan. Ask the garbage hauler to supply a diversion report.

In addition to composting, recycling and trash, set up department-specific bins; for example, fabric recycling and donation bins in the costume department or battery recycling.

Craft Service/Catering

One of the most impactful ways an individual can reduce their carbon footprint is by adopting a plant-based diet. Choices made during production can gently nudge cast and crew in this direction. Plan to reduce or eliminate red meat from catering, provide plant-based options, and serve sustainably sourced fish and chicken. Check out DefaultVeg, an initiative gaining traction in many industries.

Set up the production office /workshops/kitchens with second-hand appliances, dishes, glasses and flatware.

Eliminate all use of #6 polystyrene plastic products (Styrofoam) in favor of reusable dishes and cutlery.

Use reusable bags for shopping and ask suppliers to take back packaging for larger items such as computers and furniture.

Purchase office and food supplies in bulk to reduce packaging.

If you use coffee pods, return them through a take-back program.

For take-out meals, refuse all plastic cutlery. Establish office preferences for restaurants that offer food in sustainable packaging. Let your preferences be known to food vendors.

Purchase from local businesses to support the community, avoid shipping and cut emissions from delivery.

Talk to catering about sizing portions appropriately to avoid food waste. Set up a local recipient for your excess catered food, plan the smoothest pick-up process, and track how much you are donating and where. Organizations like Every Day Action safely, swiftly and legally rescue left-over catered meals and deliver them to those in need. Food donations are protected under Good Samaritan Acts in North America. Check local regulations in other regions.

Go Paperless & Plastic Free

Use paperless software for digital distribution, start paperwork and accounting documents. For script organization consider Scriptation, PDFExpert, or other available software.

Reduce the amount of paper on your show and implement a “print on demand” policy for printing documents such as location scout schedules, art department floor plans, menus, shooting schedules, sides, etc. Encourage recycled content paper whenever possible.

Ask Prop and AD teams to avoid using single-use plastic on-screen.

Encourage people to bring their own water bottles. Plan to provide water bottle-filling stations in all areas on and offset. Reusable, plant-based (and compostable!) water bottles are readily available. Examples include S’wheat Bottle (wheat husk-based) and Join The Pipe (sugar cane husk-based).

If single-use water is unavoidable, use aluminum-canned or boxed water. Consider smaller single-use containers to reduce water waste when someone leaves a bottle half-drunk.

Trailer, Travel, Living & Carbon Offsets

Reduce air travel in every manner feasible by using alternative means such as trains, buses and video conferencing.

Reduce pre-production travel CO2 by utilizing video conferencing over flying and driving. Consolidate meetings, scouts and casting sessions.

Look for hotel accommodations with sustainable practices including clean energy, water conservation, and eco-conscious waste collection. For long-term hotel stays, ask that the rooms be serviced less frequently.

Request small or mid-size (not SUV) electric or hybrid vehicles when renting cars or booking personal drivers.

Avoid flying privately. Private jet travel is the most polluting single action any production can engage in. Aircraft release CO2 as well as nitrogen oxide, which contributes twice as much to global warming as fuel CO2. Flying premium is more polluting than economy by using a greater amount of space for fewer passengers. Avoid a second or third take-off by putting personnel on direct flights as much as possible. Aircraft burn more fuel on take-off than they do in flight or when landing.

Both EQUITY and the UK’s ALBERT offer a Green Rider which allows actors and filmmakers to consider the carbon impact of all requests made by and for the production including air travel to help reduce the production’s footprint wherever possible. See the Resources section for organizations offering a carbon calculator.

Consider purchasing carbon offsets, especially for airplane tickets. Most airlines provide them. Many airlines offer carbon offsets for plane tickets at approximately $10-20 per ton of CO2 equivalents. These credits invest in ways to increase in carbon storage (e.g., planting new trees and restoring natural habitats) or subsidize biogas, solar and wind power projects for vulnerable communities impacted by climate change.

Build Community

Learn about environmental concerns in the areas where you’re shooting. Assess ways to dial back your production’s pollution and waste for these communities.

Participate in a community give-back program such as tree planting, food drives, or time volunteering.