Green Production - How do I get started? | One Stop Business

you you you hi everyone welcome to one-stop business workshop my name is Diana Chu I'm a compliance officer at the Canadian audio-visual certification office and I am your moderator today before we before we begin I'd like to acknowledge those indigenous nations whose lands we live and work on since LAN acknowledgments are specific to each region and we are gathering here today from all across the country we encourage you to visit the native land digital website to identify the First Nations territories on which you are located the session is being presented to you from the unseeded territories of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation and the Musqueam Squamish and sliwa toothed Nations a presenter today is Prem Gill who will talk to us about green productions and how you can get started throughout this 30-minute session I will be asking from questions that were provided during registration you can also email me your questions at any time during the session and we'll try to get you some answers my email address is in your email for this session and if you miss anything do not worry some resources including a video of this presentation will be available afterwards now I'm so excited to have Prem join us today she is the chief executive officer of creative BC and has received many accolades over 20-plus years in the digital media and entertainment industries including being named one of Canada's 100 most powerful woman in Vancouver magazines power 50 in her current role as CEO Prem is responsible for delivering a wide range of programs and services that will expand DC's creative economy to reach its create economic and creative potential both at home and globally Prem has also trapped in Canadian kravitz creativity as a representative and spokesperson to the media the industry and governments at all level and is also currently on the board of Direction directors of a bell fun enough for-profit organization whose mission is to support Canadian media content makers in creating for and connecting with audiences here and everywhere Wow so thank you so much for being here Prem so we'll begin with this question I know real green is an initiative that has been around in BC for a while can you tell us a little bit more about this in should've yeah well thank you Diana for having the year and to the team at CDC who organized this I know it's been a lot of work and there's been many sessions and everybody who is joining us today I am on the lc2 territories of the muscular Mission Slee which is people and my family's been settled here since the 1960s and we're very fortunate that we've all grown up here in our next generation our family as well and I know in my office which we're starting a slow restart people who are interested in working from the office so I'm sure many of you are looking at similar things and looking at the restart of the industry and organizations like ours are really here to support even all of that work but yes I'm here to talk about real green so real green was actually established here in BC in 2006 and it was focused on the environmental sustainability of the film and production sectors specifically around physical production and in the last five years we've had a very specific strategic planning reviving that initiative and being very active in establishing protocols etiquette and training for crews here in British Columbia and I'm really excited to say that in the last year the CBC nationally Ontario creates and Manitoba film and television have also joined and become part of the initiative one of the key things and if we look at it at various levels from what are best practices to engagement of education and we will also speak a little bit today on so how do you do this during Kovach and during a pandemic when so many things are changing we are we also work very closely with municipalities and different levels of government in the establishing of some of the ways that we're doing environmental sustainability in production and I know Diana you've got some questions around that but one of the key things in the last two three years we that really helped accelerate this even more was that we joined in partnership and collaboration with Africa out of the UK and they had established a very specific training program and training tool a carbon calculator called Albert and we as creative PC licensed that tool and programs for Tanana and we have other partners across the country coming on board and that's really been part of the one of the key tools in helping to accelerate broader adoption of green production practices very cool so can you talk more about the priorities of the initiative of real green yeah it's you know things that are that we all think about I think in our lives in general the reduction of fuel on sets and really reducing your carbon footprint in the various ways that you're doing that the reduction in meat consumption and what you're doing with your food in general on a production set the reusing of materials and the types of materials that you use and just a broader you know recycle okay sorry that's very interesting anyone have thought about meat consumption part but yeah that is a very big component of climate change so that's so what exactly does real green mean and what should a production be doing so I should ask this one before you mention some of the priorities but overall what does that mean yeah well it means that you actually are reducing the carbon footprint of your production so it is everything from are you using electric vehicles no idling policies what kind of food and from where are you sourcing it here in British Columbia we have a what we call the sustainable lockup where productions can donate materials after a show has shut down so it can be everything from you know the board's the great sets to actual set materials and then they're available to anybody doing any kind of production for free so you can go and see what's available in the inventory of the sustainable lockup and you know especially for some smaller independent productions which I know many of the people trading into this you can actually go and get set materials in and there's a really great video on our website on the real green website that we can share all those connections and links to the video they kind of demonstrate some of that stuff and how you can do that and it really it's also good education so part of the AFT albert's partnership is the real green training program and we've been making available during this time online and it's free to register and this is what the CBC is doing both internally and with producers that they work with so it's that we all are getting the same education on what we're doing and how to do it and how we're adapting to changing environments and time around that as well because the more people that are trained on your crew it's like anything when you're trying to change culture around a specific thing it's the same thing around environmental sustainability or physical production is that you're actually trying to have as many people understand the science behind it at the same time it's similar to Kovac right like why we need to socially distance why we need to wear masks in certain situations it's actually all based on science and that's really we know the evidence in terms of what's happening in terms of climate change in the environment and actions that we as individuals and as an industry can take ok so there's all this information and that you've gathered as part of the initiative and all these tips and useful resources how does real green go about with outreach or engaging people or engaging with producers to make sure that these these are taking this is taking place or that they think about this yeah so there's the training component the real green training is really critical and here in you know BC and in Vancouver a lot of people those people know work in the service production industry and a large a lot of the large studios like Warner Brothers and Disney actually have sustainability people that work in their studios and they're responsible for ensuring that productions are meeting certain sustainable practices so they make it a part of their production budgets and their planning now again I know the scale of a Warner Brothers turning the head of production is very different but actions you can take are very similar so it's everything from how much paper are we printing and now in this time when we are looking at you know we we want to share less paper anyways because you know covet it and and the pandemics so you know how much can you digitize what are you doing with your set materials what kind of vehicles are you renting for your production are things clearly marked in terms of where you can deposit certain types of materials and again even during this time period right now when you're looking at you know craft services this is not going to look the same we know that right where are your source taking the food from is that you know can it be local and organic and in season and if you're using the reusable containers or materials that have to be you know thrown out are they made out of fibers that are compostable you know all of these kinds of things so how you could approach production but it all comes down to you know reducing that carbon footprint and I think will be interesting during this time is that you know the carbon calculator which is which will be launched shortly I cannot to calculate things like did you take flights how many hotel nights how many how much light source did you use so now at a time where some production work will be done remotely you know maybe some of them that will be just we know but you know obviously our carbon footprints around flying have been reduced drastically for most people and may continue to be for you know for the foreseeable future so it's actually all of those things we also are fortunate here and I think you'll start to see it in other places as well because as the business demands of suppliers change is that we actually have suppliers who are supplying LED lights which you know lasts longer and use less energy in the usage of them we have somebody who's come up with a portable electric generator that can be rented here so you know using electricity is better than using gas and we're possible can you actually plug in to a power source so again we've been fortunate we're in Vancouver we have it as a city there's been a city initiative to be the greenest city you know globally at some point and we actually have power drops now in key locations in the downtown center for all kinds of things special events but certainly the film industry is utilizing those as well you know to you know various things around you know the the idling is something that is quite common in the industry right that you leave a truck running and and whatever else so it's really really thinking about all those things no matter what your budget size you can actually make some kind of positive take actions that will have a positive impact okay so you mentioned a lot of those resources and like the renewable energy and things like that it's very BC specific you did mention also having sharing some working with Ontario and Manitoba so real green right now it's a BC initiative how does somebody who doesn't who's producing outside of BC how would they tap into these real green yeah she doesn't resources so the way we look at real green its origins are here in BC but it is available to anybody who works in production across the country so there's a lot of resources and the things that I'm speaking to available on the real green website as well as as the courses come online now the intention was that these courses happen in person and in Ontario and Manitoba they would stop in person I think the CBC maybe has already done some courses internally and have trained a local trainer to deliver the course but you know it's it was always intended because we've we've licensed the bafta tools for Canada not for just PC and you know and having more partners come on board the better so you know Ontario creates in Manitoba and the CBC they will hopefully be sharing the tools and ensuring that sustainability becomes part of every production environmental sustainability amongst all the other things that you need to be doing right now so it's not limited to the tools and the information there now every jurisdiction and province and territory will have their own you know resources that are available to them right and you know I guess part of BC's brand is that you know Greenpeace started here so we know that is there it there is maybe more businesses that are delivering things that can be used by the industry year but I think we'll see it happen everywhere right because it once the demand is there you know something like the portable generators or the company that supplies most of the rental vehicles or the industry increase their fleet of electric cars I don't know like exponentially from having just you know a handful to a few dozen and you may see that happen in other places because the industry will be like we're only going to rent electric cars for those who rank vehicles for their productions and the same when the catering materials and whatever else and I think you just look at it as what's possible for the scale of your show or your web series you're sure at your feature whatever it is and you can do many things that don't require a large of the structure of our studio behind you just by the choices you make but you and your crew decide to make together on a daily basis okay yes cuz when you mentioned that like Warner Brothers and those big studios have actual sustainability reps how many of us can actually afford to have somebody step in that position for probably nobody right like it's not realistic for you know independent productions but but that's why the tools and the ideas available to you through real green are you know think about them and how you can use them and talk to your crew you know as you said as you're starting a production you know just like you're going to now be having conversations and how do you maintain social distancing on your set it can be part of the same conversation of mine and how do we maintain environmental sustainability as part of our commitment you know so you know it can happen in stages I know there's been productions in Manitoba that have we're doing this for real Green was sort of an official thing that happened there and we know a lot of people have been committed to this and sometimes because of just the size it's like your budget is so limited that you are always looking for ways to be more efficient and sustainable anyways so when you look through some of these lists around reduction and reuse you may already be doing it mm-hmm and you touch on a lot of points earlier in the context of kovat about how yes right now there's there's a you know all this require we have new considerations for Coleman but how you can still think about sustainability in this new environment just take a step back what up what would you say to those producers who feel they have to make a choice between restarting production during this time and trying to still make being green a priority yeah well I think you can think about what maybe doesn't add to your budget right so you know how what are you doing to reduce the carbon emissions so from you know how far are people driving you know how much your work flow can you digitize and there's been some great tools that some producers and directors have come up with where you can actually have a digital you know script thing where you can change your script and then everybody gets it on their iPhone with the new pages you know how can you strengthen your recycling and waste management knowing that you may have more materials and more water bottles or something like that is it possible to access those things like touchless water dispensers or other things so there's III do think there's small ways maybe you can't go full-on like you intended to because you know all these new costs are becoming apparent that considerations people have to take in but it doesn't mean you know the types of materials you know can you give everybody what you don't need in your PPE when it's okay to have a non-medical mask you know are people bringing their own mouths they can go home and watch every night you know I once you have to start to sit down and think about it and given in our own daily life there's a lot of little things and little changes because I think we've all been sort of struggling was like we did all these things you know like we're back in our office and few of us here and we're using more paper towels right because we're washing our hands and not using Sharon towels like we may have in the past so you know we've set up a special compost bin just for those paper towels that are for the hand-washing so they can go directly into the conference right so you know all of those kinds of things in terms of adjustments you can make I'm talking to maybe other productions on okay we've used you know the set piece and we're going to make sure it's sanitized properly before we return it or lend it to you all of those kinds of practices right and I know that a lot of the disinfectants and things we're using do have more chemicals than maybe you know we'd like and I don't know what the answer to that is yet but there's all kinds of materials I think that we can and product that we have access to now that still provide that disinfectant you know that we need to ensure that we're all safe because ultimately you want to feel safe and comfortable at work whether you're on a production set or in an office or in a retail store and all of those things are extremely important and I think they're the number-one priority right now so it's not it shouldn't come at the sacrifice of safety so we're building off what you just said there and you know that's saying about time is money can we build in like with like a quarantine period with people are like lending each other set materials and things like that if instead of like using all the disinfectant could we build in a quarantine period for the set material where they're set aside for whatever the time required before being used is that something that's feasible or is that something that is I mean maybe we have to see what the public health authorities say around things right so you know again I think you know certainly here in BC we get updates almost on a daily basis from the Public Health Authority and direction on things many of the provinces have delivered safety guidelines specific to the sector including you know BC because every production and in every workplace and BC and I think it's probably the same across the country has to have a koban safety plan so if some of that is and anything certainly shared tools have to be disinfected right so I think it would probably be the same kind of thing and then maybe there's a period where it's like yes and you know it gets cleaned and then it's left in a neutral zone for ten days or whatever it is to ensure that everybody feels comfortable around chair I don't know like whatever it is but I think those will come with with with practice and conversations and and you know in wherever you are like in your local producer group or through an organization like beta BC find your you know there's committees there's or form a committee so we have a what do we change the name of it I have to look at it here the we have a real green committee that that meets you know every month or had been meeting every month to actually talk about how do we continue to ensure more and more people are trained in these green production practices is that committee because they also address questions from the industry as well I give a producer hat had some concerns about how to implement certain things is that something that they can contact the committee about and if do they have to be yeah yeah we we have someone who team here Julie Bernard who works closely with our organization that's really been a partner and I was from trading on with this coach green smart crew I'm some little green spark and creative BC just our websites have a lot of resources and also website distinctly you know these are publicly available they're not you know geo blocked or anything like that you don't have to be a member to access this information you know the cmp as a partner here in BC you know real green practices so he remember OC NPA but yeah I mean it's it's you know it's always like how do you connect into the community and we know there can be barriers those communities and access is critical important but you know I think that at this point because we are we have an opportunity you're looking at how we're doing so many things why not build in environmental sustainability practices if you're reinventing a way you're doing things anyways mmm-hmm it's the same thing around you know dismantling racism or systemic you know racism why not take this time when we're rebuilding so many of our systems and processes and have those conversations and actually understand where we can make meaningful change I think it's the same thing around environmental sustainability that's a great point if we're if you're rebuilding something to adjust a new normal why not rebuild these principles in your new normal mmm-hmm some of these things haven't worked we know that as part of this hey do you so some other questions we have here is um what are some incentives that for a production to go green and what are the added costs versus the government benefits with the addition of team members such as we monitor so I guess that's like the sustainability yeah okay as far as I know there's no incentives anywhere right now there aren't in PC I don't think there are in Ontario or it is your I guess the incentive is that in in the brought in the longer ranging in production you will have cost savings because of the type of leaving you're using because maybe there's less food waste maybe you really take the time to understand how much food is being consumed by your crew and not over ordering or whatever that is we've also many of the productions here pre-cool they don't have a food program going to shelters and places food safety being priority so really thinking about how do we continue that within this period knowing that you know how can food still get donated to places so there's no waste so yeah there's there's no incentive programs other than you know the incentive is you know your commitment as a production to you know environmental sustainability and to climate change okay so then um just to clarify on that same note like real green isn't really something you apply to it's just an initiative of Education and awareness exact okay exactly although our goal with the carbon calculator at some point is to actually have a where you get a seal of like your production you know achieved X through the carbon calculator and therefore you have a seal of approval it's sort of like a Good Housekeeping or Better Business Bureau seal that you could add to your production credit so that's sort of what the hope is that we get to that point where you get a real green you know seal on it so you know you know you can say like I have my last three productions you know more sustainable one and here's the the best practices and things that we did to achieve them well I know I do look that credit I don't know because a part of my job or whatever whatever I see like no animals were harmed like yeah and do you have any example like I guess are going back to small independent producers or smaller budgets do you have any examples of small indie films that use more sustainable practices that that people can look at yeah well what would have certainly heard here locally is with you know independent features or even webseries is the value of the sustainable lock up in accessing like flats that would cost you you know potentially thousands of dollars but maybe we're a donated buying larger production so you know really being you know having your production manager whoever and understanding maybe what other productions are out there and when are they finishing and what materials could you possibly you know access when they're done with them so I think that's been a big big piece for independent productions and I think just the savviness you know independent producers are so entrepreneurial so I think the use of the digital tools has been really I think it's called its Zach Lepofsky it was an alky code we created I can't remember the name of it but we can send it when we send out materials but it's basically the script and how to share the pages and things like that so you know I think there's things like that that are accessible for productions um you know obviously transport is another one how long were you doing in locations and what you leave them like after you're done all of those things knowing that so much many of these things are just a big question mark right now as people are going back into production hopefully in the coming weeks and months we know it's going to look different but all of those things are you know small ways like don't be shy just if it's only like one thing you can do and it's going to be around less paper great alright like don't be too hard on yourselves just just start doing it and have the conversations with with your crew and your team because every small steps adds up to getting closer to the bigger goal yeah I think we have we have one more question before time is up well what's next for real the real green initiative because we yeah we hope that all provinces and territories will continue to join in and once the carbon calculator is available that people will start using it and and that it is becomes the norm in connection I hope everybody watching today will I go check out that carbon calculator and play around with that and realize the difference that they're making and their choices so I think that that's it for time and thank you so much again Pam for taking your time out today to speak with us and answer questions to our viewers we hope you found today's session helpful and interesting and if you missed anything again don't worry there will be some more information available after the session and so tomorrow's session tomorrow session is the very last one for the one-stop business workshop series and we'll cover how to integrate describe video for your content accessibility is really important to help everyone enjoy the content that you want to share so definitely do not miss that in the meantime you can connect with each other on Facebook a Facebook group called one-stop business networking shop group has been created for you to exchange information share ideas and network between sessions and that's it for me thanks again crowd thank you Diana was really great thank you so much bye everybody you you

2021-03-06 02:50

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