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Green Practices Handbook and Manual and Environmental Assessment Released

26 January 2009


Green Screen Toronto has publicly released its Environmental Assessment of Film-Based Industries and its Green Practices Handbook which provides environmental options for screen-based industries.  Authored by Melissa Felder & Associates as part of their groundbreaking research and consultations conducted on behalf of Green Screen Toronto, this is the first environmental assessment of its kind in Canada.  The publications can be downloaded for free atwww.greenscreentoronto.com.

These on-line publications are part of a two-year initiative pioneered by Green Screen Toronto, whose mission is to provide environmental stewardship to the film and television industry while establishing Toronto as a global leader and centre of excellence for green production. 

The partnership is made up of the City of Toronto Film & Television Office, Toronto Film Studios/ FILMPORT, Deluxe, FilmOntario, Panavision, DGC Ontario, COMWEB/William F. White International, the CFTPA, IATSE 873, NABET 700, ACTRA Toronto, PS Production Services Ltd., Cinespace, Star Grazing Inc., EP Canada/ Canada Film Capital, and Planet in Focus which is currently managing the two-year initiative.

Support for the initiative is being provided by the Ontario Media Development Corporation through the Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnership Fund. In the fall of 2008, the partnership also published the Green Screen Toronto Resource Guide a comprehensive directory of contacts for green suppliers in the Toronto area.

The Environmental Assessment examines the industry’s environmental footprint and the Handbook provides environmental options to productions interested in greening their operations.

Presented by department, the Handbook lists simple environmental options for both behavioural choices and currently available products that are good for the environment and the bottom line. The Handbook offers producers cost-saving measures as well, while the Assessment also provides a useful information tracking system for producers to allow independent productions to characterize their impacts.

Felder reports that over the course of a production, a large television series or feature film can be expected to consume significant amounts of paper (up to 810,000 sheets for a medium-sized TV series), construction material (over 900 tonnes for a large feature and up to 3,000 for a blockbuster) and packaging (nearing 100,000 water bottles for a large feature film), among other outlays. Applying a few green options to a theoretical feature film production can amount to a net saving of up to $80,000 as well as savings in resources (72 trees and nearing 100,000 water bottles, greenhouse gas emissions = over 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide) and other areas. The assessment was developed through interviews with all sectors of production, site visits, consultations, and expert reviews in order to develop estimates for productions of various scales  - with a focus on film features and television series (and commercials to a lesser extent).

Felder’s team is currently developing recommendations for a voluntary certification program to Green Screen Toronto. 

The documents can be found here.

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