The Complete Green Low-Budget & Photographic Production Manual
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Introduction
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This step-by-step guide for Sustainable Low-Budget Video and Photographic Production has been created in collaboration with the Arridia Group.
The costs associated with sustainable production are those of being thoughtful, and managing these processes responsibly requires trained staff, and time for them to set everyone up for a successful sustainable shoot.
With that in mind, we recommend that brands add 1-3% on top of total production budget to protect sustainability measures on set and ensure production companies have what they need to get the job done.
Green The Bid was created to support the global commercial production industry in transitioning to sustainable and regenerative practices. Our goal is to encourage and aid a transition to best sustainable practice in every area of production, so that they become industry standard for generations to come.
Thank you for participating in this journey and being willing to make the changes that will make a difference.
Green The Bid
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This document is designed for the production of low-budget or small crew video and photographic shoots.
Over the following pages, it will guide producers and production coordinators through all the steps and processes they will need to create a fully sustainable and regenerative small scale production.
This includes but is not limited to:
• What to consider at the creative pitching stage.
• What to budget for to ensure that a sustainable production is achieved.
• What to prep to ensure all departments are informed and participating.
• How to manage location or studio based productions.
• How to report on the measures used, waste avoided, and carbon consumed.
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Sustainable production on a small budget is much more accessible than you might think, so don't wait for a bigger shoot to take that first step!
Some top line things to remember when putting together your first sustainable production are:
• Where can you cut out single use plastics?
• How can you stay in communication with your team, so that they are enrolled and continue to buy into creating a sustainable set?
• How can you minimize travel to set?
• And don’t forget, wherever possible, keep in mind reduce, reuse, recycle.
These, and the further steps outlined in this manual, are fundamental to reducing a production’s waste and carbon footprint.
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• Minimal Carbon: Reducing carbon as much as possible across your entire production. Flight reduction is the key here.
• Single-use Plastic: Items that are made primarily from fossil fuel–based chemicals and are meant to be disposed of right after use, eg take out cutlery, plastic drinks bottles, straws etc.
• Sustainable: To eliminate further environmental damage, keep things at current conditions.
• Regenerative: Beyond sustainability, improving the environment and community.
• Zero Waste: At least 90% diversion of materials from landfill. This includes compost, recycling, and donations of art department and food.
Pre-Bid Creative Call
Creative Considerations for the Pre-Bid Creative Call:
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• When you are thinking about recommending a location to shoot, consider the location of your brand and agency as well as the production team; flying multiple clients or agency members to a location can massively increase your overall CO2 emissions, so choosing a location close to your brand could minimize the amount of travel required on the production.
• Consider pitching the project as a local shoot, or somewhere that could be reached by public transit or train.
• If the project demands an overseas or across country shoot, consider recommending a remote shoot with only the key personnel traveling, and instead sourcing local crew.
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• Consider ways you could avoid the use of virgin materials in your production.
• Instead of a set build could you rent a prebuilt set, floor model direct from a store, or use prebuilt studio location?
• If you must create new sets or props for your project, where could you donate those items at the end of the shoot so they have a long second life?
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Bidding
How to Bid a Sustainable Production
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Green The Bid asks that all agencies and brands requesting to “Green The Bid”, budget for roughly an additional 1% on top of total production budget to ensure sustainability is managed.
Our Bid Spec Suggestion doc (linked here) has a breakdown of probable agency/brand requests for sustainability. Be sure to confirm this with the agency/brand producer when you bid.
In addition, you may be asked by the agency/brand to provide carbon information for the completion of an industry calculator (Adgreen {global}, Pear {USA}, or Creast {Spain} among others). This is an additional work load and we recommend that you bid this as an additional sum on top of the 1% sustainability budget.
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We recommend beginning by mentioning this at the start of the bidding process and asking the agency or brand if they would be aligned with you including the sustainability costs in addition to the bid.
Let them know that these would be likely to be around 1-3% on top of total production budget.
You can also share with them the Green The Bid Brand Deck to explain more about the initiative.
If the agency/brand is aligned with you adding the 1% and the sustainability measures then continue as outlined in the rest of this document.
If the agency/brand is not aligned, please go to the section at the end of the manual where we show how to achieve a more sustainable set without substantial additional costs.
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The GTB Bid Spec Suggestion doc can be found here.
Example of sustainability explainer deck to share with clients
Among the commercial carbon calculators you may be asked to complete are:
The Green The Bid Brand Deck can be dowloaded here.
How Sustainability Should Show Up in Your Bid?
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Use your bid cover letter (example linked here) to let your agency/client know what sustainability measures will be included in the budget, which could include:
• Which elements of the production will be done remote and why; e.g., casting callbacks, preproduction meeting, and post-production (if applicable).
• Any significant items that will be donated and where they will go.
• Recognition of the carbon impact of each person flown to set (if applicable).
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When bidding your sustainable shoot make sure that you highlight the lines that will be impacted by the sustainability practices. See example image below for reference.
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Complete sustainability quote broken down in a budget
When The Job Awards
What to do When the Job Awards
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• Make sure as soon as the project awards that your production team are clear about the sustainability measures they will be managing during the planning and prep stages.
• Have them begin to work through the Sustainable Production Timeline doc (linked here), so that they can embed all their sustainability practices into their other prep work.
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• Have your coordinator communicate by phone (or in person) with all your Heads of Department about your expectations for a sustainable production. If they are new to working this way, talk them through their dedicated checklist from the Complete Checklist for Low-Budget Video and Photographic Shoots (linked here).
• Remember to tell your Heads of Department to prioritize minimizing travel and reducing waste wherever they can.
• Check they have a recycling or donation plan for any items that are purchase or constructed.
• If you are working with the same Heads of Department as previous productions, check in with them to make sure they have the drill.
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Production Prep
Production Prep Procedures
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If you are working with a caterer, begin by reviewing their Checklist with them (linked here). If not, run through the checklist and these bullet points with your production team:
• Discuss how to minimize food waste in the production both before and during the shoot. Can they take what can’t be donated? Do they do composting? If not then you need your own plan for composting.
• Limit meat options to chicken or fish, rather than beef, lamb or pork, and offer at least two vegan or vegetarian meal options. Or go all in and have a meat free shoot!
• If there is a food stylist on the shoot, see if their assistant can prep the breakfasts for the crew at the start of day.
• Make sure there will be either reusable or paper wrapped, compostable bamboo cutlery and dinnerware, and reusable chafers.
• For craft service, remember to bring only aluminum or glass bottled drinks, and really work to avoid individually wrapped packaging when buying the items that you offer on set.
• Discuss how you will manage bins and signage for placement near catering and dining areas for clear separate disposal of trash, recycling and composting.
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The sustainability of the studio you are shooting in matters, so when you first speak with your studio or stage about confirming the stage for your production, be sure to ask them the following questions:
• Is the Studio participating in the Studio Standard program? (linked here), and if so can they share their reporting?
• Does the studio have its own water station set ups?
• Does the studios have refrigeration units for food storage?
• Can the studio support all energy needs to avoid production having to bring a generator?
• If the studio is providing your lighting equipment, what % of that light can be LED?
• Is the studio is running on a Green Energy Plan or Solar? - (Although this is currently rare to find, the regular requesting of it will be a good spur for them to switch).
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• Wherever possible encourage talent self submission, and do remote casting for photographs and tapes.
• Utilize digital, streaming storage platforms to record and share any and all casting and performances.
• Limit the printing of size cards, headshots and resumes. This includes paper headshots from the talent.
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• Be sure to check in advance of your shoot exactly what items can and cannot be recycled and composted at your local facility.
• Plan how you are going to re-home, re-use, donate, and dispose of everything your shoot will generate
• Locate where you will be able to deliver your compostables
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Welcome, Tech Scout, & Prelight
Everything Before you Shoot
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• Send Welcome Emails to your client, agency, crew and talent letting them know the steps you will be taking to manage the sustainable set and encouraging them to participate in supporting the effort. (Example email linked here).
• If you’d like people to carpool to set, it is a good idea to give them plenty of advance notice on this.
• Encourage everyone to bring their reusable bottles to set and only print essential documents.
• If your agency or client are flying in for the shoot, arrange for their transport or hire car to be electric or hybrid vehicles.
• Instead of a physical Welcome Pack, consider instead offering to support a climate friendly project in their name.
• If a physical welcome pack is still expected, consider giving people reusable items like cutlery and keep cups that they can retain beyond the shoot.
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• For any tech scout, try to carpool wherever possible, and schedule during lower traffic times.
• In your preproduction meeting, dedicate a section of the Production Book to cover the top line sustainability efforts on the shoot.
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Shoot
Shoot
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• Add a sustainability section to your call sheet email to let people know that this will be a green set.
• Remind them to not idle any vehicles, that all documents will be in digital form, and to take responsibility for managing their waste by placing it into the appropriate and corresponding waste stations on set.
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In the morning meeting, remind people that you will be following green set protocols including recycling, composting and the donation of leftover food products.
• Inform everyone of the locations of water stations on set
• Talk people through the signage for composting and recycling so that they are clear which items will go where.
• Remind everyone that plastic water bottles will not be purchased for set. If single use water bottles are non-negotiable (by talent, brand or agency demand) let them know you will provide aluminum single use water bottles instead of plastic.
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Remember as you go through the day to keep a record of what is done, including:
• Photographs
• Donation receipts
• Weights of any waste, compost or recycling bags.
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Strike and Wrap
What to do During Daily Strike and Final Wrap
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Reporting is a requirement on paid-for sustainable productions, so it is important that at wrap you manage collating the information that will be required:
• Weigh each category of material waste in their bags (waste, recycling, compost) and co-ordinate their drop off at a facility.
• Manage the rehoming of all art department and wardrobe donations, and collect receipts for all donations for inclusion in the sustainability report (Reporting Guidelines linked here). Return receipts to agency if requested.
• Photograph and document sustainability measures and wins on set, including a note of what worked and didn’t work.
• If you have been paid for, and asked to complete, a carbon calculation for the production, collect all receipts from carbon associated purchases, so that they can be easily inputted into the calculator.
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• Complete and share your Sustainability Report (examples linked in Resources for reporting below) within 3 weeks of the shoot, with the stakeholders of your production; client, agency, and crew.
• Arrange a meeting with the agency/client to go over the contents of the report to identify key wins, areas for improvement and recommendations for more effective sustainability processes in future productions.
• Finally, talk with your production team about what worked and what can be improved upon for your next shoot.
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Example of sustainability reporting template
Other examples of sustainable production reporting:
Carbon Calculation and Offsetting
What to do if you are Asked to Complete a Carbon Calculator
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Calculating the carbon on a production is an important part of understanding the environmental impact of a project.
There are several production calculators available for this process (links in the resources below), and you may be asked by your agency or brand to work with a specific one. Granular carbon calculation of a shoot can be requested from a consultant or production house, but should be funded separately and in addition to, the sustainability 1% on top of budget.
Make sure you have acquainted yourself with the calculator from the moment production starts and have a plan for how you will collate the required information.
The carbon calculation, if requested, will be delivered to client or agency along with the general sustainability report.
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Most of the information that you need to complete a carbon calculation will be in your budget actual and on your movement order.
• Most importantly, you should record all the flights taken to manage the production (including flights by agency and brand). These are always the largest carbon impact of any shoot.
• If you are working in a studio, you will need the size of your stage and the number of days for prelight and shoot.
• If you are shooting on location, you will need the distances between locations and who traveled where.
• You will need to know the number of crew and how many days they prepped, shot and wrapped.
• Accommodation, meals, trucking, generators, honey wagons, art department, wardrobe and set build information may also be required so make sure you have support from your HODs to collect any information not managed in the budget.
We have a complete carbon tracking workbook linked in the resources below.
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Green The Bid Carbon Tracking Workbook
The primary production calculators:
What to Consider when Offsetting
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Carbon offsetting is “an action or activity (such as the planting of trees or carbon sequestration) that compensates for the emission of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere” - Miriam Webster Dictionary
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The carbon market is relatively new, and some organizations adhere to stricter standards than others.
In addition, the price of the carbon in an offset can vary hugely from organization to organization.
Currently, there is no scientifically agreed way of quantifying how much it would cost to remove your production’s tonnage of carbon from the atmosphere, so it is important to be clear that your carbon offsetting is not a substitute for carbon reduction.
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The Social Cost of Carbon, is a predictive economic calculation of the environmental harm done by each ton of carbon sent into the atmosphere.
You can find out more about the history and current position on how the Social Cost of Carbon is calculated in the resource links below.
Recently the EPA released a draft paper suggesting the Social Cost of Carbon could be as high as $190 per ton.
We recommend considering this figure as a benchmark for your suggested production offset cost.
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In Case of emergency…break glass.
How to do a Sustainable Production on a “Challenging” Budget
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When a client does not allocate sustainability funds to your project, it is still possible to put together a green plan, if you’d like to.
Below is a one stop how-to for when you are keen but unfunded.
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• Dupilcate the production timeline here and work your way through it, bearing in mind the Top 5 Things You Can Do.
• Put together your sustainability plan and talk with your production team about how you will achieve it.
• Decide how much of the reporting and calculating you would like to cover and decide who (client, agency, crew) you would like to share that reporting data with.
• Go through the complete checklists with your HODs and decide how much you can manage on the shoot without incurring additional costs.
• Keep a log of everything you achieve on the shoot and photograph your successes.
Green The Bid believes that appropriate costs incurred on a sustainable shoot should be paid for by the client requesting the shoot, and we also understand that for many production teams, they want to shoot sustainably regardless of whether they are funded to do so or not.
We salute you, you glorious, fearless beasts, and whatever you need, you can drop us a line for support!
General In Office Practices and Guidelines
General In-Office Prep and Wrap Sustainable Practices :
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• Encourage staff to bring their own refillable water bottles, and have water-refill stations in the office to replenish the bottles.
• Separate the trash, recycling and compost into the correct bins.
• When ordering lunch or other meals to the office, utilize reusable plates, cups, serving and personal utensils.
• Let the take out restaurant know not to include plastic items or sachets in the order. Never use Styrofoam!
• Where possible, ask for minimal packaging when ordering supplies.
• Limit the amount of paper printing. If printing is required please print double sided. Only purchase recycled paper made with a 100% post consumer recycled content.
• Promote electronic communication and limit paper usage when specifically requested, including pre-pro booklets and call sheets.
• Distribute only digital timecards, mileage logs, kit rentals and associated paperwork to cast and crew. Do not utilize paper timecard unless absolutely necessary!
• Dispose of batteries and compact fluorescent light bulbs as hazardous waste with a certified hazardous waste vendor, and donate or recycle electronic equipment. We have a list of North American waste vendors in the resources below.
• If at all possible and available, please take public transportation or use ride sharing to travel to and from the office. Production company can reimburse any costs associated with bus or train fares.
• Encourage the crew to view tech scout documents on their phones or tablets and, unless circumstances prohibit, avoid printing full tech scout packs. Printed shooting boards for a director's notation may be unavoidable and this is understood.
• Turn off all lights and sleep all computers when not in use.
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Acknowledgement for their incredible support in building this document goes to:
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Hannah Soto
Arridia Group
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Bonnie Goldfarb
Harvest
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Eva Dvořàková Pérez
Boogie Films
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