What Sustainability Means in the Film Industry

When thinking about sustainability the first thought that often comes to mind is climate action, net-neutrality, or carbon emissions.  Sustainability, in fact, has many other aspects beyond the climate. The United Nations developed a list of 17 goals in 2016 with a goal for the world to reach in 2030.  These goals address holistic sustainability ­­­– aiming to help increase the quality of life worldwide. These guidelines are called ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ or SDGs for short, each having a different focus on a sustainable world including gender equality, clean water, no poverty, quality education and climate action. Since the SDGs of the UN is an exhaustive list, this article will provide an analysis of a few of these goals in the context of the film industry and its path to sustainability. While all the guidelines are important for every industry to follow, this research will focus on gender equality, responsible consumption and production, and climate action, as they all have a large influence on the film industry. 

SDGs Important to Film

Gender Equality is SDG 5, which addresses equal participation for men and women, reduce violence against women, and breaking gender roles that are still in place in many societies. There has been a gender pay gap in Hollywood for quite some time.  There have been some improvements, but the rate at which it is increasing, it will take nearly a century for there to be equal pay in the film industry. This issue coincides with the lack of female leads in Hollywood.  In 2019, only ⅖ of protagonists in movies were women, and only 37% of major characters were women. There has been slow progress for women to take higher positions within companies, but Covid-19, further impacted this progress. McKinsey& Co. states that 1 in 4 women stepped down from their jobs for family, where only 1 in 5 men considered doing the same during the pandemic.  This indicates that women will step down from their jobs to take care of their family instead of the men, showing that Covid-19 has hurt gender equality in every industry worldwide.

Another SDG that directly impacts the film industry is responsible production and consumption. Film productions require many materials and often will create substantial amounts of waste. Many recent films have taken their consumption into consideration, making decisions to lower their waste. The production team of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom made small changes that led to a large reduction in waste.  These decisions included using reusable water bottles, ensuring 75% of lighting was LED, using hybrid vehicles, and implementing recycling incentives. The change that produced the largest difference in material use was the way food consumption and waste was handled, on both sets (UK and Hawaii).   Excess food was donated to shelters and schools, saving over 145 kilos of food at the end of the production process. This is one example of the positive outcomes that occur when film production make key decisions in responsible production and consumption.

SDG 13, climate action, is another goal that is important within the film industry. Protecting the environment directly impacts the habitability of the world for humans and animals. Every industry will have to address climate change in their business models, including the film industry. One company that is the most active in helping other organizations in implemented sustainability practices in the United States is the Green Production Guide. Many large studios are partnered with this organization, including Amazon Studios and Netflix. Most studios have sustainability statements available on their websites.  With more transparency in how they are actively fighting climate change, it will help the industry better approach this topic. There are other conferences and organizations like the Green Production Guide based in other countries such as the Sustainable Production Forum, based out of Vancouver. Through the efforts of these organizations, especially GPG, more approaches in greening the industry and a tangible plan to fight climate change will be more readily implemented by the film industry, while still producing new content for the world.