ACT I – Lets talk about the color Green. Green lighting a project in Hollywood… used to mean a producer got the okay to spend 200 million dollars on the next Michael Bay blockbuster film.
Green screens on a sound stage . . . used to refer to the backdrops used while filming, to allow backgrounds, CGI and special effects to be added later.
The Green landscapes of palm trees and lavish lawns… used to imply that Hollywood was an oasis in the middle of a desert, but nowadays, there is another Green in Tinsel town, and it has ridden into town on an eco-friendly horse.
Because everyone is dutifully hopping on the “Go Green Wagon”, it’s no shocker that some of the major movers and shakers in the motion picture industry have decided the time has come to clean up their act, or better yet, clean up their environmental image. It seems the film industry is no longer waiting on the red carpet but has decided to jump into an eco-friendly Green Limo.
A studio executive commented. “Hollywood has always been a town known for excess; awe-inspiring special effects; bright lights and big stars, plus it is an inherently a high-polluting business. We move large numbers of people and equipment long distances, often to remote locations, and power up lots of lights and other equipment using diesel generators, that are not especially clean. Throw in a few special-effects explosions, and you clearly have left a significant carbon footprint along with other types of pollution.”
ACT II – Not only was Kermit the frog, proud to be green, but Hollywood is now doing its part to become eco-friendly to reduce a movie productions carbon footprint. The implementation of green measures on a Film/TV production must start with the producer, and a commitment that requires planning at the earliest stages of production.
Universal Pictures and Focus Features have developed a detailed “Sustainable Production Guide” for their casts, crews and production heads, to access production-specific information, resources and the best practices. (Google – Sustainable Production Guide) They have also implemented Eco Supervisors to help adopt sustainable eco-friendly practices. (For additional information go to: GreenProductionGuide.com)
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hollywood actor, former CA governor, and environmentalist is convinced the entertainment media has a powerful role to play in saving natural resources. He was recently quoted as saying, ”Through films, television, and all media outlets, we must continue to deliver the message that solutions are out there and must be developed.”
The stars in the sky over Hollywood used to twinkle white and bright but now some of Hollywood’s brightest stars are glowing green. Actor Edward Norton’s father was an environmentalist, long before it was in vogue, and now Mr. Norton is using his celebrity to support various environmental causes. Stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Amy Smart, (from the Scrubs TV series) are active in helping to push climate change initiatives. When the average person sees that “important” and “famous” people care about something, they often start to wonder if they should care too. Even in the parking lots of Hollywood’s studios, the energy saving Prius reigns supreme as the current status symbol.
ACT III – When your watching a movie, you don’t necessarily think about how much paper is wasted during its production, but feature films can use hundreds of thousands of pieces of paper for scripts and revisions, call sheets and office activities.
The production of Jurassic World, exemplifies Universal’s on-going commitment to environmentally conscious practices on feature films. The crew reduced their overall paper usage by implementing expansive digital distribution practices. Various plants and trees used throughout the sets were donated to the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, helping to beautify a local non-profit.
Hollywood is known for its waste and extravagance, and food is no exception. A lot of waste takes place during the catering for sound studios, outdoor productions and on location shooting sites. Key members of the film community are currently working with the Los Angeles Food Bank to get leftover movie-set food delivered to the homeless, rather than hauling it to the landfills. “.
The star-studded film “Valentine’s Day” is arguably the greenest production yet. One example is: The “base camp,” where trailers for wardrobe, makeup and the cast, normally sit idling on noisy generators all day, were converted to run on hybrid energy. An executive noted. “Normally you’d hear the droning hum of generators, but now, there were days it was completely silent because the set was running completely on solar power.
So the bottom line is – Hollywood has gotten just a little greener (not money wise) and even if a movie bombs at the box office, it doesn’t mean it bombed in its effort to be eco-friendly.
Now it’s your turn. Who would you cast in the lead roles of: “Going Green – The Movie”
You fear mongering GREENS are too YELLOW to admit you got caught RED handed exaggerating and abusing vague science and fed decades of needless CO2 panic to billions of innocent children!
Are your climate gods also only 99% certain the planet isn’t real?
Only 35 more years of denial, debate and climate action failure is certain and unstoppable.
CO2=Y2K²
I’m not a tree hugger and I do not believe that global warming is man made. I wrote the article to make money. I guess you could call me a capitalist, oh well, it pays the rent. Actualy, writing articles pays more than just the rent, these freelance writing gigs pay good money. A meesley 20 cents a word doesn’t sound like much but 20 cents times an 800 word article (that I wrote in 50 min.) equals a cool $160 bucks. And I only work at most, 4 hours or less a day, 4 days a week.