These TV Shows Are Leaving Shows on the Cutting Room Floor - Grist

Vision

“We have to consider our carbon footprint, but also our cultural footprint. Both of those are important, but this industry is uniquely positioned to have a significant cultural footprint.”

— Sam Read, Executive Director of the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance

The projector

Dear reader,

One thing is for sure: I love good (or average, or downright bad) TV shows. Last summer, we discussed the rise of climate references and plots in mainstream movies and shows, a phenomenon I had begun to observe as a casual TV viewer.

But recently, I’ve also been thinking about how the shows I watch so enthusiastically have their own carbon footprint, just like any other product we consume. Producing media requires energy, transportation, filming and sound equipment, food, costumes, props, and a host of other resources.

As creators and film studios increasingly consider how to integrate climate narratives into their projects, the industry is also facing the challenge of decarbonizing behind the scenes.

“The single largest source of emissions for our industry, at least in terms of production, is fuel,” said Sam Read, executive director of the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance. That includes not only the vehicles that transport equipment, catering and people to set, but also something you might not immediately think of: diesel generators. TV and film productions often shoot on location, including in remote areas, and rely on a set of trailers. Diesel-powered generators have long been the industry standard for powering these sets. And diesel is a particularly dirty fuel, causing air pollution with known health effects.

The Sustainable Entertainment Alliance (formerly the Sustainable Production Alliance), a coalition of leading studios and streamers working to advance sustainability in the industry, offers tools like a carbon calculator for productions and a checklist for implementing sustainable practices — like donating uneaten food, using responsibly sourced plywood to build sets, or buying secondhand items for set decorations.

One key solution is to replace these old diesel generators with a variety of cleaner alternatives, including hydrogen and solar power, which some recent productions have started to use.

In many cases, the shift to greener practices is about more than just protecting the climate. These modern technologies are also healthier and more efficient. “Alternatives to diesel generators have many benefits, particularly in terms of emissions, but they are also quieter and less polluting,” Read said. Because of this, they can be located closer to the “video village” (where the director sits on the set and watches the action on various monitors), eliminating the need for long cable runs.

The alliance, which already includes major players like Disney, Amazon Studios, Netflix and Paramount Pictures, is working to expand its membership. Read sees a growing appetite for decarbonization in the entertainment industry, driven in part by advocacy from unions like The Producers Guild of America, which helped create the Sustainable Production Checklist. (Check out The Hollywood Reporter’s 2022 Sustainability Report for more stories on how studios are incorporating climate goals into their productions.)

The Alliance and other groups are also pushing for more climate stories to hit screens. But in another part of the industry, the lines between what happens behind the scenes and in front of the camera are a little more blurred, creating unique opportunities to both decarbonize and show viewers how to take action on sustainability. That’s reality TV: my truest, guiltiest pleasure.

“This is a really good year for sustainability in television,” said Cyle Zezo, executive producer and founder of Reality of Change, an initiative focused on sustainability and climate storytelling opportunities in unscripted entertainment, including documentaries, reality TV and game shows.

On average, Zezo said, the carbon footprint of an unscripted show is likely smaller than that of a scripted production. Producers of those shows may face some of the same issues, such as the need for clean energy to power equipment in remote filming locations. But in general, the clean production practices of a reality show or documentary simply reflect the way people live their lives.

When we talked about my story last year, for example, Zezo highlighted compost bins on the set of a cooking show called Recipe for disasterand how the crew intentionally showed them off during filming. Also last year, Netflix announced a partnership with General Motors to use more electric vehicles in shows like Love is blind And Strange Eye.

“I’m going to make a prediction, and I hope I’m right, that representations of climate and sustainability are only going to continue to grow in this region over the next few years,” Zezo said.

I asked Zezo, Read, and others to share some recent shows and movies that have integrated sustainability into their productions in new or interesting ways. These shows and movies may not all seem climate-related, but they can all help decarbonize your summer watch list.

Clean energy on the plateau

The Bridgerton Chronicle. That’s right, dear readers. This steamy romance series set in Regency-era London took a more modern approach to sustainability in the production of its third season. During a set tour, two actors from the show describe how the caravans and work trucks were all powered by a hydrogen power unit supplied by British company GeoPura. The production also omitted the craft services beef due to its outsized carbon footprint.

The Decameron. The upcoming series (premiering July 25), loosely based on the short story collection of the same name, tells the story of a debauched retreat in the Italian countryside as wealthy nobles and their servants try to avoid the bubonic plague. The series also used clean energy in its production; its base camp ran on batteries charged by solar panels, according to Netflix.

Bosch: Legacy. The third series to replace diesel generators on set, it is the next chapter in a seven-season crime series that follows the career of detective Harry Bosch. The series was one of the first to use mobile battery units designed by a company called Moxion.

Sitting in bars with cakeThe 2023 film, starring Yara Shahidi, Odessa A’zion and Bette Midler, is about friendship, coping with life in your 20s and, as the title suggests, cake. It also used Moxion’s clean-tech mobile batteries on set.

Golden age. For the second season of the historical drama, producers took a more holistic approach to moving the show away from diesel generators. “They put power lines, like power poles and a whole electrical system into the area where we were shooting,” Heidi Kindberg, vice president of sustainability at Warner Bros. Discovery, told The Hollywood Reporter. That allowed the show to go generator-free while filming its second season in New York City.

True Detective: Nightmare Before ChristmasThe fourth season of the critically acclaimed crime drama is set in the Arctic. It was filmed in Iceland, where production was able to tap into the country’s nearly 100 percent renewable electricity grid. Where power was needed remotely, the show ran a battery-powered generator called the Benerator. The show’s creators also reduced waste by placing recycling and composting bins and water refill stations around the set, according to a report from the Producers Guild of America. And this season features a climate-related storyline.

Subtle solutions on screen

Locally grownIn this series, now in its fourth season, Atlanta-based farmer and food activist Jamila Norman helps homeowners transform their gardens into urban farms, while discussing the many benefits that farms and gardens can bring to communities. Zezo loves how it invites viewers to participate, showing them how anyone can do the things shown on screen.

Building outside the linesThe original construction show follows father-daughter duo Jared (“Cappie”) and Alex Capp as they take on custom design and build projects, primarily in their South Dakota community. Zezo noted that its sustainability themes are subtle, showcasing the use of power tools and unconventional or recycled materials, like shipping containers.

Oh my god, fashion. The competition, co-hosted by Julia Fox and Law Roche, is all about recycled fashion: It’s a mix of Project Runway and Chopped. The show is incredibly relevant with its themes of sustainability and reuse, Zezo said, without sounding stuffy or preachy. “It’s just so sharp and creative and, like, it’s really fun.”

Change of family. OK, it’s a holiday movie — so maybe you should save it for a few months (or for a night when you just need something cozy). Horrible Friday— a family comedy based on the series starring Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms, which Netflix says was made using electric vehicles. Four electric vans transported the crew, another brought catering and production supplies, and an electric van pulled the director’s trailer. An electric car also makes an on-screen appearance — it’s brief, but the family’s Polestar 2 appears in at least one scene.

— Claire Elise Thompson

One last shot

In March, the advocacy group Gas Leaks Project launched an awareness campaign about the health dangers of gas stoves, in the form of a trailer for a reality TV show. The invented show has been dubbed Hot and toxica parody version of a house-style show full of sexy, melodramatic young singles, where the house is that of an unsuspecting new landlady, and the singles are personified forms of the cancer-causing chemicals coming out of her stove.