SUSTAINABLE FUTURE COMMITTEE PRO-TIPS
DIRECTOR: Climate Storytelling
Be a Leader in sustainability at every stage of the production.
The DGA Sustainable Future Committee works to empower DGA TEAMS with resources to promote on-screen representation of climate in our film and television stories, normalize the conversation, and model climate friendly behaviors and values that can shift culture and systems toward a sustainable future.
Stories can give power, but they can also take it away. A study by USC Research and data show that not talking or mentioning climate on screen is more normal than talking about it or even mentioning it. This is tantamount to a "climate silence" in our film and tv programming, even as we live in a climate-altered reality and the negative impacts of climate change are accelerating at a faster pace than scientists predicted less than a decade ago.
The historian and essayist Rebecca Solnit writes in her essay, If You Win the Popular Imagination, You Change the Game: Why We Need New Stories on Climate, "In order to do what the climate crisis demands of us, we have to find stories of a livable future, stories of popular power, stories that motivate people to do what it takes to make the world we need."
There is an emerging movement across the entertainment industry to normalize talking about climate by encouraging Writers and Directors to consider a spectrum of ways and compelling approaches to incorporate climate into our stories. This can be from adding climate mentions, climate friendly behaviors, character jobs or subplots, or going all the way to content that leads with thematic storylines. All of these ideas can be incorporated into any genre, storyline, feature or tv series.