How Hollywood Can Tell Good, Accurate Climate Stories in Shows and Movies

We've seen the apocalyptic headlines (and movies). We have heard the scientists' warnings. We know these are characters who are ignored until it's too late. The consequences of this ignorance are supposed to teach us something, right?

Right now, media creators are wondering what their personal and professional role is in the context of the ever-developing climate crisis. Our industry creates content that billions of people consume. How do we use this attention? What do we say about our future? Do people want stories that help them escape reality or cope with it? How can we continue to depict the many nuances and contradictions of our lived realities while still keeping it, well…entertaining?

As creatives working in Hollywood, we found ourselves grappling with these questions and felt there needed to be an accessible space to bridge silos and share information between the climate and media communities. This is why we created the Climate Summit in Hollywood, an annual nonprofit conference whose network of film, television, music, fashion, gaming, sports and social media professionals come together with activists and experts to strategize around of collective action for the climate. (It takes place this year from June 25 to 28.)

Over the past five years, we have been at the forefront of the discussion around the question: “How should we incorporate climate into our stories?” » We learned that storytelling holds immense power to change the culture around the climate crisis and how we respond to it, and that every person who touches a story has the power to implement climate and environmental values. sustainability in his work, which you write. the story, its marketing or the physical construction of its settings.

With this understanding, we wanted to summarize our key climate storytelling takeaways from some of the groups designing climate storytelling strategies, with whom we are grateful to be in community: Good energy, Rewriting the future of NRDC, Rare, Hip-Hop Caucus, Center for Cultural Power, The Redford Center, Health and Society in Hollywood, Climate Spring, Futerra, Intersectional environmentalist, EcoTok Collective, Company Doc, NDN Collective, Harmony laboratories, Reality of change, Grist, CinemaReach and more.

Make any story a climate story: This doesn’t just mean a story explicitly about climate (although it can be!). It's about what the story illuminates, connects, or moves within us that helps us become better humans, equipped to deal with the massive cultural shift needed to address the climate crisis.

Example: The case explores the emotional turmoil of an ongoing love story, but in the final season it moves to the near future where the main character explores and processes her family trauma by working to help save her home from the effects of the crisis climatic. Moreover : True Detective: Night Country, Ted Lasso, it's always sunny in Philadelphia And Madam Secretary.

It must be fun! : Any attempt to include climate in storytelling won't be as meaningful or valuable unless it's an incredible story that moves us, attracts a major audience, and leaves a lasting impression. We don't seek to sacrifice what makes a great story for heavy messaging or information overload. It is important to add climate information, questions, or values ​​(whether through character, plot, background, via production design, or visual effects) into any story already entertainment that you have or are developing.

Example: This season of Tips is one of the best yet and includes lots of conversations about climate, using the topic to further highlight Ava and Deborah's generational differences, ultimately forcing them into hilarious intergenerational conversations about Deborah's spending habits and more. In addition: A Murder at the End of the World, Glass Onion: A Mystery at Knives Out, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Grey's Anatomy And Tornadoes.

Make it ambitious: Stories can shift our mindset away from defeatist and apocalyptic narratives and instead offer solutions, action, and inspiration. What are the values ​​of the characters in our stories, who are the people we want to see as leaders and what are the lifestyles or societies to which we aspire that would be better for us and for the planet? What historical or worldview choices could help us visualize a climate-positive future?

Example: It may not seem ambitious to escape your life by traveling 2,650 miles, but Savage captured Cheryl Strayed's perseverance and love for nature, trusting the process and showing women everywhere that hikes like the Pacific Crest Trail could be possible for them too. In the years since, the number of PCT permit applications has increased by 320 percent. Eventually, studies show that the more time we spend outdoors, the more people are inclined to favor climate solutions. In addition: Erin Brockovich, The Biggest Little Farm, WALL-E, The Expanse, Interstellar, Black Panther, Moana, Rutherford Falls And My octopus teacher.

Embrace humanity and nuance: To deal with big cultural shifts and compromises, we need to depolarize this issue and see the humanity in everyone. Can your story inspire us to be more interconnected? Can people with different perspectives align on common needs? Can it emphasize community rather than individualism?

Example: Girls on the bus is a great recent example of a diverse group of diametrically opposed journalists coming together on issues because they genuinely care about each other. It respects everyone's point of view while depolarizing topics like climate and reproductive rights, as the main characters understand that they must join forces to create broader systemic change. In addition: Sex Education, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place, The Politician, The 100, King Coal, Reservation Dogs And Booty.

Climate is intersectional: In fact, it is the most intersectional issue of our time. Almost every social justice issue that a person can relate to or are passionate about intersects with climate, because climate makes all problems worse. Can your story deepen our awareness of the intersectional issues driving climate change, such as racial injustice, the consolidation of power, wealth disparity, and extractive economies?

Example: Abbott Elementary School Abbott brilliantly addresses the theme of climate in many episodes, because it is undeniably part of his characters' lives. Abbott is set in a diverse and underfunded school district in Philadelphia and highlights, through comedy, the impact of resource disparities in the public education system on teachers and students facing climate change . In a first season episode, we see how extreme heat affects schools like Abbott when the characters must scramble to keep the school day on track after the (already limited) air conditioning stops working. Moreover : Spirit Rangers, Parasite, The Territory, Beasts of the Southern Wild And The curse.

Query systems: Despite what advertising companies and fossil fuel companies paid to make us believe, climate change is caused by systemic problems and not by individual actions. (Recycling is a fossil fuel company disinformation conspiracy(talk about a plot twist!) Can your story challenge entrenched ways of being or things we say to ourselves that no longer serve us? Hollywood loves good versus evil (and as noted above, the complex between the two): is there potential for villains in the corrupt systems that fuel the climate crisis and tout infinite growth? Just a thought…

Example: Snowdrops (the film, but also the TV show) is a classic in sleeping climate storytelling. A climate solution gone wrong, a train endlessly circling the globe in a frozen tundra, hopelessly divided by class – clearly a metaphor for the continuing inequity of the climate crisis. It both questions the feudal system of this post-apocalyptic world and finds solutions, especially at the end where the only reason the main character survives is because he listens to two indigenous characters that everyone has dismissed. A poignant warning, perhaps? In addition: Years and Years, Succession, The Game Changers, Thanks for Smoking, Dune, Don't Look Up, Okja, Fallout, Arcane And Barbie.

In order to implement these lessons, we need to create an industry-wide environment for telling climate stories. This will open the door to dozens of additional ways of describing the present and future that will challenge apathy and encourage action. Intersectional climate stories will only become representative of our content if they are integrated into the culture of this industry, similarly to and in conjunction with the DE&I movements that Hollywood strives to promote.

For us, “climate storytelling” is an act of radical imagination that focuses on the values ​​we need to change, the choices we need to face, and the questions we need to ask ourselves. Every person who touches a story has the power to influence its climate impact. Most importantly, when we are a climate-informed community, we will tell climate-informed stories.

This story first appeared in the June 2024 sustainability issue of The Hollywood Reporter review. Click here to see the rest of the issue.