It’s easy for all of us to imagine that there’s other people, other industries and even other countries with a greater need than ours to reduce their carbon footprint and tackle sustainability. On set, you might think there are other departments that pollute more or have a greater responsibility to take action. DGC National’s outstanding website, dgcgreen.ca dispels that myth by laying out a host of practical measures that can be taken by each of the eight departments represented by the Directors Guild across the country. 

Today I want to show you some ways the Assistant Director department can make a difference.

The ADs are the chief communicators and can set the tone of each show by announcing the intention to be a sustainable production at all departmental prep, concept and production meetings. Early scouting of possible locations can be visited in one vehicle instead of 5, and carpooling should always be encouraged for any crew. Ask for the office, studio and trailers to each have well-signed recycling and compost stations and encourage crew to use reusable coffee mugs and water bottles from tech surveys to shoot days. Paperless distribution should be the default, with 2-sided printing only available by request. Use programs like Scriptation to digitally transfer your script notes to new page revisions easily. Eliminate those unused piles of printed distro that just end up in the recycling bin at end of day!

Scheduling smartly to minimize location moves has a huge impact on fuel consumption as well as saving time and money. Ask for basecamp to be as close as possible to minimize shuttling, or request green rooms near set as an alternative. Communicate cast arrival times with transport captains to minimize the heating or cooling of empty trailers, and coordinate shared pickups of cast when possible, to reduce fuel consumption. Establish a system to avoid cast cars idling.

On screen, try to influence sustainable messaging: ask props to prioritize cloth bags over plastic, reusable cups and bottles over single use disposables for cast and BG when appropriate. Why not see if picture vehicles can be electric or if a bike can replace a car? Our industry has the superpower ability to win hearts and minds by modeling sustainable behaviour – use it when you can! ADs can communicate the change we need to see – this is your call to action. 

Annabelle Wilczur
Assistant Business Agent and Sustainability Lead