Philipsen Heidi

How series can be in dialogue with sustainability

University of Southern Denmark

As stated at the 2022 European Film Forum, Berlin: “Green filming must start from the script” (Creative Europe Media, 2022: 4). This points out the potential of building sustainability into early phases of screenwriting, and thereby laying a foundation for sustainable decision-making throughout the production. By identifying and integrating sustainable practices from the outset, scripts can influence the selection of locations, props, and logistics in ways that can minimize the environmental impact of the production. Stories and behaviours portrayed in a film/TV production can potentially inspire viewers to adopt more sustainable habits of their own. As stated at San Sebastian Film Festival 2021: “[..] it is possible to educate the consumers themselves in subtle ways through the productions, e.g. by building a sustainable mindset into the script” (European Film Forum 2021: 3).

Screenwriters who know how they potentially influence mind-sets of viewers with their stories, can, perhaps, in the long-term help change behaviours through what they write. Green storytelling can thus be addressing environmentally sustainable behaviours through storylines, plots, themes, and characters. This is exactly the focus in a German MOIN initiative where screenwriters can consult a so-called “green storytelling checklist” (https://www.moin-filmfoerderung.de/download/GST-Checklist-published-14092023-EN.pdf). The checklist informs screenwriters about the potential environmental implications of their narrative choices and asks them questions to consider during the screenwriting. One of the questions is: “Are scenes or dialogues presented in the narrative that address environmentally relevant topics such as climate change, sustainability, biodiversity, or environmental protection?”

At the SRN Conference 2024, I will let the Danish series: Valdes Jul (2023, Valde’s Christmas) and I familiar som vores (2024, In families like ours) meet questions from the checklist and give you their answers. I will also introduce the field ‘ecocinema’ (Macdonald, 2004; Nielson, 2019) and ask if series, like the mentioned, could be named ‘ecoseries’? If such series can inspire a potential debate among viewers in a way which balances the climatic- with the creative visions? (Kääpä & Vaughan, 2022). And if series in this area should most of all give CO2 reduction, facts, fear, or hope? (Hawley & Mocatta, 2022; Rust et al., 2023).

Heidi Hilarius-Kalkau Philipsen (1971) is Associate Professor at Media Studies, University of Southern Denmark. Besides this she is head of the education called ‘Screen Play Development’. Her field of research has always been production studies with a focus on creative storytelling processes. Her scientific heart is beating for talented practitioners who carry out stories through film or series. She is also a storyteller herself. On her publication list is both scientific books on media, but also a novel, and a short film. Her latest media book is True Crime Investigation – Serial writing, Production, Genre & Viewership (written together with Nathali Pilegaard, 2023). Heidi is also in front of two research projects on sustainable media productions.