• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 13, 2021

Production of TV and movie content keeps improving on its sustainability -- helping to combat climate change, keeping down its carbon trail.

But not all TV production-centric parties may be seeing the light, at least when it comes to the entertainment industry, according to the Environmental Media Association, which gives its “Green Seal” or “Gold Seal” imprimatur to TV/movie productions.

“We are the global standard for green production for television and film,” said Debbie Levin, CEO of EMA, earlier this year. “We’ve tried to get into advertising and commercials for years, and we couldn’t get any traction with it.”

TV, film and commercials productions rely heavily on trucks/vehicles to transport props, sets and actors to location shoots. One bit of research says the average day of filming on a general high-budget movie set is roughly the same as one person’s yearly carbon footprint.

EMA made some headway here. This year, it gave five awards to Anheuser-Busch TV commercials.

This, of course, is a two-part issue. It comes to the messaging in commercials, as well as those green-related issues that go into producing them.

For the former, many ad agency holding companies, like WPP Group, have a strong sentiment, as described to Reuters in a story concerning oil and gas marketers messaging on TV, just about a year ago.

“WPP recognizes the importance of its role in addressing climate change by applying rigorous standards to the content we produce and helping clients to accelerate the world’s transition to a lower-carbon economy.”

There have been changes, but too slow, according to critics, when it comes to moving away from fossil-fuel powered cars to electric vehicles.

For its part, the automotive industry keeps moving in that direction. Beside the rush to make hybrid gas/electric-powered cars, and/or complete EV vehicles, there is the construction of the cars themselves.

Recently, the Ford Bronco replaced 100% of its petroleum-based plastic, used to build the car’s structure, with recycled ocean-plastic material for its SUV truck update.

Even with progressive-minded executives, Hollywood can do better, according to one report -- in terms of waste and its carbon footprint. Some believe productions should hire "eco-production assistants.”

Until then, we still need some action on the set. Who doesn’t love a good car chase every now and then, in perhaps some vintage fancy and gas-guzzling cars? A transition to virtual/CGI technology might help here.

Guessing a car chase in a couple of Toyota Prius’ won’t cut it. But some new racy Teslas might work.