Green is fashionable for the third time in as many decades, and the trendy film industry is re-embracing the cause, hoping for ‘third time lucky,’ with green initiatives sprouting in Quebec and taking root in Ontario.

Hollywood stars such as Edward Norton and green shoots including The Incredible Hulk and The Time Traveler’s Wife – both filmed in Toronto – have proven that the new green agenda knows no borders, which is a good thing for an industry that apparently knows no boundaries.

‘This is one of the most wasteful industries that exists,’ says Candida Paltiel, pioneering director of the Planet in Focus environmental film festival in Toronto. ‘We can do better.’

Indeed, the industry has an abominable track record, but the unyielding Planet in Focus director is delighted that something will finally be put in motion in Ontario.

Two recently formed groups, Toronto’s Green Screen Alliance as well as Quebec’s GreenCode, are creating broad-based programs designed to reform the industry.

The Ontario Media Development Corporation’s recent grant of more than $200,000 for green initiatives will back Toronto’s Green Screen to kick-start a proposed shift in working practices in Ontario’s film and TV business.

For pioneers like Planet in Focus, it’s money long overdue, although the cash will likely end up paying consultants, as requests for proposals have already been made and consultants will be hired in February.

Nonetheless, Paltiel is spearheading a consortium of film veterans intent on changing the mindset of the industry.

The Green Screen steering committee includes Ken Ferguson of Toronto Film Studios and Filmport, Melissa Morgan of IATSE, acting Toronto film commissioner Peter Finestone, the CFTPA’s Carol Anne DaCosta, Panavision president Bill Zacharuk, environmental consultant Woody Brown and OMDC consultant Martin Harbury. Other members are the DGC, ACTRA, Film Ontario, PS Production Services and Deluxe Laboratories.

Industry stalwarts such as Panasonic and TFS/Filmport are also contributing coin to create a best practices guide – hopefully virtual – for following green principles during a shoot, and a certification program, which would acknowledge productions that adhere to sustainable standards. A green resources guide would also be established to list existing green services to the industry.

Green Screen – even with its prestigious membership – came together in a mere six months after a meeting was held on July 25 at the instigation of Morgan and Jacqui Hemingway, scenic artists who had formed IATSE’s environment committee.

Morgan is pleased that ‘the old attitude – that we had an unlimited supply of resources,’ is being challenged.

A decade ago, Morgan recalls, ‘crews would build elaborate sets and just throw them out.’ But some things have changed a little, and ‘lately, crews have been sending flats – 4 x 8 sheets of plywood with a structure attached to the back – to other shows that are shooting. That wouldn’t have happened in the past.’

The IATSE committee has been focusing on the misuse of water bottles – according to their website, 55 million ‘are thrown into landfills in North America EVERY DAY’ – as well as recycling. On that matter, they work with Turtle Island, a Toronto-based firm that manages to reuse ‘wood, metal, plastic, paper, glass, Styrofoam and organics.’

Green Screen plans to tackle these issues head on, as well as idling car engines, single-sided photocopies and other bad practices that TFS/Filmport’s Ferguson labels ‘the slippery slope of convenience.’

Ferguson points out that if the goals of Green Screen are met, Toronto will be established ‘as a production center of first choice specific to sustainable production.’

TFS, the upcoming Filmport and Ferguson himself all received kudos from The Incredible Hulk producer Gale Anne Hurd, who says having everyone on board is instrumental in a green shoot (see story, p. 18).

For his part, Ferguson says The Incredible Hulk is ‘a prime example of how we worked together to create a truly green-produced film.’

‘As a film studio, we empower producers by offering suggestions for best green practices, and it’s in their hands to carry out the initiatives,’ Ferguson continues. ‘It is ultimately up to each project’s production team and producers to make their own decisions on how they will choose to green their production.

‘The producers of the Hulk have really set the bar high for other productions,’ he notes. ‘It is our hope that future productions will choose to follow in [the film’s] footsteps.’

Panavision COO Zacharuk also sees a future in promoting Ontario as a green production center. He adds that ‘the first major step is awareness, next is cooperation, including working with major studios that have launched their own green initiatives.’

Toronto’s acting film commissioner Finestone confirms that ‘the city will also encourage the development of new environmentally friendly products for the industry.’

Toronto also has a maverick independent set recycler in Set/Reset, a film production recycling operation that was founded in 1993 and was itself recycled as a family-owned ‘virtual’ operation in 2005 (www.setreset.com), much like a Craigslist or eBay for the film industry.

Some typical items that avoided landfill sites and are available on the Set/Reset website include ‘a treasure chest, 200 cheerleaders’ outfits, a limousine, industrial sewing machines or $30,000 worth of break-away glass,’ notes Set/Reset manager Grant Heggie.

Quebec also has a grassroots project, GreenCode, that predates Toronto’s new consortium.

Created by Rapide-Blanc documentary producers Sylvie Van Brabant and Marie-France Côté, with the support of director Peter Wintonick (Manufacturing Consent), GreenCode is oriented towards independent filmmakers.

GreenCode is a set of modest, voluntary, environmentally friendly guidelines to encourage ecological sustainability in the workplace. Activities include shutting off computers at night, drinking fair-trade coffee and, more contentiously, providing access to film footage on a ‘creative commons’ basis.

Organizers have brought its ecological message to international documentary festivals in Washington, DC (Silverdocs), England (Sheffield) and Amsterdam (IDFA).

GreenCode has applied for funding to SODEC, the province’s OMDC counterpart, and has already received financial support from Greenpeace, the National Film Board and Global Vision.

GreenCode’s next big step will be helping to audit the NFB’s ecological footprint over the next year, using Sweden’s ‘natural step’ program.

‘It’s a moral and ethical crusade,’ says Wintonick, on greening the film industry. ‘Nobody can deny its need. It would be good if people put their money where their mouths are, but we’ll struggle on, as we do as filmmakers, and eventually we expect to change minds – and hearts.’

Meanwhile, there are no government programs in Atlantic Canada, and film commissioners there did not return calls on the subject.

Halifax’s Bill Niven of Idlewild Films, whose feature Just Buried premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, aptly summarizes the state of things when he says, ‘people in film are attuned to the green revolution, but as an industry, true changes are in the nascent stage.’

For future film shoots, Niven plans to create volunteer green committees that can monitor best practices.

– With files from Suzan Ayscough