PRODUCTION | SUSTA I NAB I L I TY
Louise Marie Smith, the green runner on Jurassic World: Dominion , had great success with its key characters: the dinosaurs. The silicone and fibreglass moulds used to make the animatronic superstars were recycled by a company called Green Clover, who melted the materials down so they could be used again. Sustainability solutions were found in some surprising places, including the stunt department. All wire and safety equipment must be brand new and cannot be donated or reused, due to safety concerns. However, Extreme Rigging – the company that provided the stunt wire – now has a process where it can take used wire, reduce it to individual fibres and reuse to make new products. Also, Jurassic World was one of the first to get back to production after the initial national UK lockdown, and was under scrutiny as a model for other productions ready to resume shooting. Beyond working from home, and the huge CO2 savings from reducing flights and overall travel, another benefit was reduced paper use. Smith says the attitude before the pandemic was ‘please don’t print call sheets/scripts’, but it became ‘absolutely don’t print anything unnecessary’, once work resumed. The production team also took the conscious decision to remove beef from their catering menu. The onus isn’t just on the editorial and production crews, because the infrastructure also needs to change
ABOVE In Season 2 of His Dark Materials, ‘Saving the Arctic’ posters were visible in the background
assess their impact. It’s harder to offer them a carbon action plan, because of how different things are from country to country – particularly in terms of waste disposal and energy resources. We need a bit more research into the infrastructure of places elsewhere before we can offer this to them – and it is something we believe is really important, because obviously not all UK productions are based in the UK, with many on location. Not that it’s necessarily bad in other places, because the UK can do a lot better compared to countries like Iceland, where all their energy comes from renewable sources. Is carbon neutrality an achievable goal for the film and TV industry? BOURNS: I think it certainly is. But the onus isn’t just on the production and editorial crews, because the infrastructure also needs to change. We’ve seen emissions associated with energy use on film sets decrease year on year, due to the increase of renewable resources in the UK – but there’s more that needs to be done. The screen industry can help move it forward by looking at low-emission alternatives and making sure they’re used where possible, without any compromise to the
quality of what they’re producing. Often, the issue is timing. And when anyone – not just those working in the screen industry – bumps into a problem like this, the fastest option is always more desirable than a sustainable one. So, get yourself a green runner well in advance!
DRIVING FORWARD
With a continued focus on sustainability, Universal Production Services now offers new, state-of-the-art ‘green’ 200kVA Generator Carrier Vehicles. They all run exclusively on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel, which has up to 90% fewer life-cycle emissions than fossil diesel – they’re also LEZ, ULEZ and NRMM compliant. These vehicles are fuelled with HVO for both driving and location power, in order to significantly reduce emissions. UPS also offers Voltstack battery electric portable power supply stations, which have zero emissions, are easy to operate and transport, and are silent.
Is Albert only concerned with productions inside the UK?
BOURNS: No. We’re very much global – and productions all around the world can use our carbon emissions calculator to
IMAGE Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs had a clear environmental message
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