Hollywood Shares Sustainability Communications Tips During Climate Week

For many communications pros, especially those working in business-to-business industries, a content victory is getting a nod from the boss to spend a few hundred bucks for a video or stock images to illustrate a story and, hopefully, drive just a little more engagement.

In the growing field of sustainability communications, where getting it right can yield improved reputation and market share, those working for film studios and television networks are eager to mentor those outside the entertainment sector to think bigger.

“Anytime you can have Meryl Streep answer a question for you, I recommend it,” quipped Sam Read, executive director of the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, during a Climate Week event on storytelling hosted by Futerra.

After screening “Want to Tell a Great Story?,” a sizzle reel narrated by Streep featuring TV and film clips referencing the climate crisis, Read and business leaders from Paramount Global and NBCUniversal spoke about how they tap into actors and less obvious tactics to weave climate into content that’s consumed across the globe in theaters, TV and mobile devices.

At Paramount Global — whose properties include CBS, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount+, Pluto TV and Simon & Schuster, among others — considerations around climate messaging range from explicit plot lines to less obvious imagery.

“Passive content can be flying over a neighborhood and there are solar panels. They’re not discussed, they’re not part of the plot line, they are just part of the reality,” said Jessica Thurston, vice president of ESG strategy at Paramount Global. Environmental posters lining the halls at North Shore High School in the movie "Mean Girls" is another example of a subtle nod.

Topics championed by Paramount include warming oceans, diversity, climate justice, and access to energy and water. Opportunities for storytelling differ depending on what the medium and the brand is, said Thurston, who acknowledged her position does not give her the power to force a producer to turn an entertainment project into a documentary.

 “It is important to be realistic,” she said. “What I never want to do is kind of walk into these spaces and be like, 'I’m here from corporate and I’m here to help.'”

Nickelodeon leveraged SpongeBob’s 25th anniversary this year in a campaign dubbed “Reverse Littering,” which aims to remove 5,000 tons of ocean-bound plastic and debris from waterways by 2027. 

Similar efforts are under way at Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, the unit of NBCUniversal encompassing Universal Studios and Dreamworks, where the GreenerLight Program looks to embed sustainability into the filmmaking process from script to screen and throughout development, production and distribution.

“We’ve had such freedom to meet with our filmmakers and talent to look for opportunities within our stories to have them use their voices to talk about sustainability,” said Kimberly Burnick, director of sustainable content and partnerships for NBCUniversal.

In Universal’s 2024 environmental blockbuster film "Twisters," the cast and crew were counseled by the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to bring accurate science to the film, Burnick said.

“We wanted to also engage audiences within the marketing of the film, so we were excited to have an in-theater [public service announcement], which we did with the director. That’s a way to reach millions,” she said.

Actress Lupita Nyong’o created a similar PSA to accompany the new DreamWorks film "The Wild Robot." "In the segment, Nyong’o tells audiences what they can do to protect the environment like her character does within the story,” Burnick said.