Hollywood Pictures a Greener World

By CSRwire Contributing Writer Francesca Rheannon



The Green Revolution is coming to Hollywood as studios collaborate on setting sustainability standards, reduce their carbon footprint, and put up LEED certified buildings.

Hollywood has long been an early adopter of the "green" cause, from Prius-driving celebrities to Leonard di Caprio's efforts to educate the public about global warming. But changing Hollywood's actual impact on the environment takes a lot more than individuals, no matter how famous.

It might surprise you to learn that making entertainment can be a very carbon-intensive process, from the travel miles used to bring in the talent to the huge amounts of electricity used during production and the loads of waste generated when sets are taken down. So the studios have decided to step up to the plate on sustainability.

Sony Pictures is adopting a company-wide "green" culture. Director of Sustainability John Rego told me Sony had been focusing on compliance since 2001, recycling 60% of its solid waste. But two years ago, the company decided to go beyond compliance to adopting sustainability as a company-wide culture, incorporating both environmental philosophy and business practices. Sony Pictures has set the goal of having a zero environmental footprint by 2050.

Newscorp, Fox Studios' parent company, is aiming for a closer target: by this year, 2010, the company expects to be carbon neutral, a goal it set into motion in 2007. Liba Rubenstein, director of News Corp's Global Energy Initiative, says the program has been able to stay on track with its ambitious plan by adopting a dynamic mix of three strategies: improving efficiency, buying renewable-sourced energy, and using carbon offsets. As the initiative matures, it expects to use more of the first two and less of the third. And like Sony Pictures, Newscorp is taking a systems approach: "We're building clean-energy mindedness into everything we do -- it's not silo'd into a separate department," Rubenstein told me.

Warner Bros. Studios has instituted a robust LEED building program, among its other sustainability efforts. WB Studio Facilities president Jon Gilbert told me the company was one of the first studios to get LEED certification in 2005 when its International Television Building received a LEED Silver rating. The company then followed LEED specifications when it built a new sound stage. "It was a very innovative process," he said. "The stage incorporates Forest Stewardship Council-certified lumber, concrete foundations made with recycled fly ash, and pervious asphalt. We also installed a 100-kilowatt solar array on the roof."

It was Warner Bros.' second major solar project. The solar arrays on the two buildings generate more than 600 kilowatts of clean energy and the company hopes to put arrays on all of its roofs at its Burbank, California site.

Recycling and reuse were also part of the building process at Warner Bros. When an older building from the 1920s was torn down to make way for the new sound stage, some of the timbers were sold for recycled housing projects. Some were used for the new building -- including a huge table made for "The Ellen DeGeneres Show". During deconstruction of the former grip building, more than 92 percent of the building's materials were diverted from landfills, according to Gilbert.

Fox is adopting an industry-wide approach to greening Hollywood. It's put out a "Fox Green Guide" of best practices for the entertainment industry to green the production of films, TV shows, sports productions and events.

Fox has also pioneered a method of measuring the carbon footprint of studios, according to Liba Rubenstein. She noted that the entertainment business is extremely complex, encompassing many different kinds of operations. "We've developed a standard carbon calculator to compare apples to apples," Rubenstein said. The company has shared its carbon calculator with a new industry-wide working group on sustainability, as well as with the Producers Guild.

Sony Pictures has been winning kudos for its green building efforts. The company has won two awards for leadership in environmental design for a new building housing two TV studios it is constructing right in the center of the lot. Built sustainably from the ground up, Sony is applying for LEED Gold certification for the structure.

The building uses environmentally sound building materials, such as low VOC-emitting paints and locally sourced products, along with a heat-reflecting roof that keeps AC costs down. A 232 kW solar array on the lot powers the new building. And 30% of the remaining energy that's purchased comes from renewable sources. Overall, the building is 20% more energy efficient than a comparable conventional building.

But beyond carbon calculators, green buildings, and recycling and reuse, Hollywood has another vital tool to contribute to a more sustainable world: the power to influence culture. Sony's John Rego says the company is using its storytelling talents to boost the public's acceptance of sustainability. "Our business is to make interesting stories that people want to watch, but within those stories we can include some very simple behaviors that should be standard in society right now," he said, "like having recycling bins in an office that are actually being used."

And Newscorp meets annually with its creative talent to talk about sustainability and how it can be woven into messaging, when appropriate. The company even did some training on the threat of climate change (some of the folks over at Fox News must have not been listening!). For my generation, Leave It To Beaver typified American culture. If Hollywood can make "green" the New Normal, maybe sustainability will become as American as apple pie.