The Environmental Impact of Hollywood

[@Gittemary]

go to the movies vs stay at home movie night? 🎬🍿

[@BeccaDoesStuffYT]

My honey and I are homebodies. Couch date nights are a thing for us. 🛋️ 🍿

[@kailovi]

Mostly films at home, but there are films hard to come by on dvd/your library later (documentaries and small foreign independent films) that are great to check out at your nearest film festival. Love&Anarchy here in Finland always has a wonderful selection and uses the smaller independent and old movie theaters, as well as the big chain one. I love to support my towns small independent movie theater, and they do shovings of old films on reels! Now that's a vibe your home can't provide. Home is more comfy and convenient, the old movie theater is a treat and for certain films it's a "must" to see them on the big screen or just with the theater vibes.

[@booksandbroadway]

Hi Gittemary! Great video as always, but I do want to infuse a bit of hope. I grew up in LA and going on film and tv set tours was a part of my life, and in the more traditional studio model a lot of sets/costumes/wardrobes etc are shared. For example, the That's So Raven set is the Full House set refurbished, Drake and Josh was Seventh Heaven (I believe), the town in Back to the Future is the same town in To Kill a Mockingbird (which has unfortunately since burned down), and almost every exterior location in The Good Place is a museum or library in the LA area. There are tons of examples of that in the old studio system where production companies would own huge lots (which I'm sure were environmentally destructive when they were originally built, to be fair) and would have designated areas for Westerns, big cities, small towns, suburbs, etc, that would just need minor changes for each show or movie that filmed there. Also, a lot of them do have warehouses where they keep and reuse old costumes and different productions will rent costumes from each other (a friend of mine once wore the same costume twice). I don't say this to undermine the fact that there are still horribly wasteful elements of the industry, but it's definitely not every single TV show and movie starting from scratch, I really think that's actually the minority in that only big budget blockbusters are really able to spend millions on brand new sets and costumes every single time.

[@malupe]

Same here in México (I work in production) plywood sets are always reused, art department, costumes, and equipment are 99% of the time rentals so, reused all the time too, and if you need to buy or create stuff it will probably end in a warehouse for rent. Whenever a foreign production comes (to México) most of the crew is local, and only the head of the department is from abroad. Fuel for trucks, and energy to light the sets are an issue, also plastic from filters (that tear up all the time). Plastic from the catering is getting better using reusable plates, cutlery, etc (no more styrofoam) and composting residues. I believe most productions are going green now.

[@nadine2204]

Thank you for the great video. Unsustainable behavior in movies have bothered me for a while. One thing that comes to mind besides TBBT is Gilmore girls which has aged very poorly in regards of sustainable habits. Eating out. Wasting food. Making fun of vegetarianism and veganism. It used to be one of my favorite shows but now that really bothers me.

[@MissNoechen]

A big big point is also how activists are often portrayed on screen: off-putting, dogmatic idiots who scream at others. I am very sure that this also deters people from becoming more active. Just like how vegans are often being portrayed on screen

[@kailovi]

Thank you for introdusing Fishtown Films! Exciting, gotta see if I can get their film to screen at a local filmfestival. Films have been a passion of mine since childhood as my mum's a cinephile. I've been painfully aware of the industrys wastefulness and damaging impact on locations, etc. but I guess it's been a chosen blind spot for me in the sense that I appreciate art (films, music, comics, sculptures, all of it!) so much that I see it as a necessity. Water, food, shelter, security are yes the base of surviving, but art is needed to actually live and thrive (imo), so I class them as a necessity. Demanding the film industry to change has never been the most pressing thing to me, troubling sure, but compared to companies making stuff we don't need (fast fashion, plastic seasonal decorations, nicknacks) and things that harm us (fast food, tanning beds, tobacco, guns), it's not a priority to me. While I still will focus my energy on getting rid of/changing for the better the unnecessary and harmful industries, this has motivated me to be more outspoken on the steps the film industry should make. Changes have already been made at least when it comes to distribution side of things, you can get tickets on your phone and you can choose to support theaters that are less wasteful and give constructive critisms to the big chains that are not. Great video and good points also on the impact of representation (or lack of)!

[@fishtownfilms]

Thank Gittemary! We had so much fun working with you on this impact video! Make art, not trash!

[@Kx____]

Love this kind of content. I am interested in the environmental impact of physical copies of music albums/singles/EPs? especially with mass buying/collecting photocards/etc. it seems very wasteful. I am interested in hearing your research/findings.

[@priscillaoquendo7666]

So glad you covered this. I sent this idea woohoo🎉🎉🎉....I'm sure I wasn't the only one but this was awesome ❤.

[@allyolivermedia7658]

Thanks for this video, this touches on a lot of very important topics within the film industry that need to be addressed. I work in the camera department, predominantly on smaller productions and commercials where the impact is generally less and I’ve been very happy to see recently that the production companies I work with are starting to be more conscious about their sustainability standards. A quick point to touch on is that 80% of crew are freelance and don’t get a say on how the production company conducts themselves environmentally on film sets and it’s very easy to loose your job when butting heads with them, which could be highly detrimental. The film industry is a very feast and famine industry, some months you could work every day and some months you could work as little as one day so most people won’t jeopardise a job by openly disagreeing with the way a production company conducts themselves whilst working for them. Also, talking about a van full of kit that may or may not be used is also a difficult thing to just stop. Some indie rental houses and even the larger ones are struggling to break even at the moment so large hires on kit can be the only thing keeping them in business and preventing their staff from loosing their jobs. And just as a final point, budgets are usually very high but all of that money is spent when filming (minus a mark up for the production company so they can run a profitable business). The reason why I bring this up is that trying to increase this cost when talking budget with a client usually doesn’t go well as the cost is already high and clients like to penny pinch, so when budget is allocated to sustainability it’s usually been taken from other parts of the budget and inevitably the people who suffer are the freelancers and small businesses. To kind of summarise my comment, everything you have said is correct and I truly believe you are right and the film industry needs to change but, as is the way in most industries, the sustainable way is usually more costly in both the financial and personal sense, and the people who won’t be protected are the freelancers and small businesses in the industry that provide a service to a production company, many of whom are really struggling at the moment so the change needs to be done in a careful way that protects the average person who doesn’t actually get a say in how the production that they are working for is running things. Also I can only speak for the UK (as that’s all I know about) but most props and costumes are rentals and ones that are created custom tend to be held onto by the props house that created it for future use (unless of course it’s obvious that it’s come from a specific film). I hope my point of view makes sense 😁

[@BeccaDoesStuffYT]

Thank you so much for making this video! Great content that I’ve been very curious about for a long time. Almost every time I watch a movie or tv a thought pops in my head about the sustainability- or lack of sustainability rather - when it comes to filming. From the props, costumes, travel, food and drink, special effects like explosions, monsters, etc. I would think they could very easily reuse a lot of these things or at least auction them or donate them. I also think they could support many charities by purchasing clothing, furniture and other props 2nd hand.

[@pheart2381]

A lot of it is hired,especially for period productions.

[@CiaraHilton]

What's your opinion on actors like Leonardo Dicaprio always telling people to be more green and sustainable while he himself flies private jets all the time, has a big yacht and is an actor (seeing this video the impact of just 1 movie is huge). I feel like he only does it for his image.

[@leonielaperriere6571]

Thank you for this video. I'm one of the person who asked for it. We really need people to be more aware of these inssues and ask for policies to be implemented. It's not right to just be able to do whatever you want just because you can and you want to save money, because in the end, it all comes to that. I work in this industry and like you said, it's not all bad. In Quebec when it comes to equipment and props, usually most of it is rented from different businesses that are specialized in these things. But for all the rest, it's so bad. I am a production assistant, so I have to deal with the trash, it's part of my job. From small to big production, we produce A LOT of it. And, most of the technicians don't know how to deal correctly with their waste. So, they put almost everything in the trash even what is recyclable. It fustrates me so much. Also, we almost never have compost, and there's A LOT of food waste on set. It's terrible. In the best scenarios, what I think could be very helpful, would be to implement a new department that deals with everything sustainability related. They could help all of the different department to be more enviromentally friendly.

[@StephieOmbre]

this video is so needed espically since the whole writers guild is on strike rn in the us and how Hollywood is taking advantage of these creative people

[@LittleRedTeaCake]

I will say, a lot of props, costumes and sets are reused constantly. So many “neighborhoods” are the same ones, just different dressings on them. Especially if the movie becomes a big deal, having a piece of it in other projects is really fun for the viewers. Also a lot of shows will sell off props by the end of the show, which is neat for the fans. I would love for them to have more characters both in movies and tv shows being more sustainable without it being a plot point/character trait/ etc.

[@marialusia100]

Great video, thanks! I thought an impact video on cigarettes could be interesting👀

[@raheltd]

This was awesome! Just like all of your Impact videos, thanks for making it! Yesterday I watched Extrapolations and I would truly love to hear your point of view on the content of the show (it's an anthology series depicting the effects of climate change in the near future). Thank you again!

[@fishtownfilms]

We had a great time talking with Scott Burns (the creator of Extrapolations) in a webinar with Plastic Pollution Coalition about this very topic. The video is posted on PPC's youtube channel and it was so fun to compare notes with Scott on how hard it is be sustainable in front of and behind the camera.

[@katiejohnson2686]

I've no clue the environmental impact it took to make the film but, there's a new indie film called 'How to blow up a pipeline' which had a really interesting perspective on the climate crisis. And was also just a good film

[@ashamileswebster750]

Thank you so much for making this! I agree about the idea of perpetuating norms - if they can re-enforce seat belt wearing, is it that hard to re-enforce non-wasteful actions such as using reusable water bottles or showing recycling bins being used? Maybe it used to be a real-life norm to use all this single use stuff, but now it's becoming mainstream - showing these things doesn't ruin the story, particularly when it comes to films or TV based in the present day where these things are being talked about and action is being taken. I've always loved The Big Bang Theory, but my goodness, the amount of take-out... it's soooo wasteful (not to mention expensive and not exactly healthy...) yet it's seen as the norm. Also, another aspect that I think comes with a huge impact is all the merch resulting from films and TV shows, it's endless and oftentimes quite gimmicky and encourages over-consumption because it's often things we don't need. Of course, some mementos are nice, but it feels more like these things (I'm thinking stationary, dolls, bags, clothes) are more about making more money than showing appreciation for that film/TV show.

[@pheart2381]

There is also the flying of cast and crew to different filming locations! Yes,you just mentioned that.

[@anasweety17]

This is very interesting . I never thought about it before. great video.😊

[@friendly_herb]

What’s actually a really funny coincidence that I JUST finished watching a nostalgia channel cover old Disney Channel’s Friends for Change campaign about protecting the environment! It was honestly just an interesting/lame attempt but funny to look back at. Gittemary, I’m not sure if they had aired it in Denmark, but a deep dive into the campaign would actually be really cool!

[@aannkkaa00]

Very interesting topic, some very good examples brought to attention, thank you for that. I was only feeling sceptical about the point of implementing sustainability topics to the narrative. To be honest, I don't want to watch movies about people discussing how do they recycle, because it's not the point of storytelling (for that I watch great channels as yours😅), but I totally agree that depiction of contemporary daily life should be done more thoughtful as it really shapes behaviour of the viewers. Example of Big Bang is just perfect, I also wondered about the fact how do they eat their takeaways, but they were also using plastic cutlery in cafeteria at the university...so maybe it's just that convenience (or the laziness😅) of the makers you were talking about. So, if someone is shooting an action movie abut spies or a gangster movie in which daily life of charachters is not so much focused on keeping their household😂, we all probably agree it's not a place to hear this type of discourse (unless a comedy with environmentaly conscious criminal might be worth to see😅). But in majority of current productions that want to show charachters in their daily routine we should expect and demand to hear this topic more often. If series or sitcoms can show cooking and cleaning (Friends are very obvious example) they can finally start to show waste sorting! And maybe that really is the best way to change the world, as it goes to a very wide audience. For sure, it will not hurt to try 🙂

[@diegonicolasvacagarcia9962]

Ty so much for your content, can u do a video about the impact of meat? Pls

[@Gittemary]

It is already on the impact playlist 💪😎

[@SALVATl0N]

Never thought about this before, but I might draw the line at story telling. I wonder how much gasoline has been saved by people staying home, and watching The Sound of Music alone? What is the value to a society of great storytelling? Unfortunately it is hard to tell a great story, so many bad stories must be told to get to the good ones. Having said that, I’m definitely bias. I love movies. They are my hobby. An old movie you should watch? Since you asked… Out Of Africa. I’m in love with it. It is a movie you’ll have to watch more than once to really appreciate. And put your phone away…

[@rikkemeek1506]

Everybody in Denmark know the movie Out of Africa since the movie is about the famous Danish writer Karen Blixen😉 And yes it's a great movie🙂

[@leonielaperriere6571]

It may be hard, but defenitly not impossible. I work in this industry and there's so much that we could esily do, but we don't because the people working on these shows don't have the motivation to implement them. It's sad. I love movies too, but this industry really need to make better choices in the future.

[@andreadybvik]

I was so caught up in my own impact that I didn't even think of the impact of the movie industry! Thank you for opening my mind! 🤍 These videos are amazing! I'm learning so much from you!