Ecoprod, in partnership with L’Écran d’Après, Imagine 2050, the Festival Atmosphères, the SRF, Citeo, L’Observatoire de la fiction and Nouvelle Séquence, is publishing a new collection of guides aimed at creative teams, filmmakers and scriptwriters who wish to align their artistic approach and environmental responsibility:
- The director’s guide to sustainability
- Sustainability guide for screenwriting professionals
- Script Breakdown Sustainability Checklist
Anticipation and engagement: key findings from Ecoprod’s impact study
These publications follow the impact study conducted by Ecoprod in 2024, which highlighted two essential levers to accelerate the ecological transition of the sector.
First, anticipating environmental challenges as early as possible, in order to effectively reduce the carbon footprint of productions. Second, engaging creative teams, particularly directors, whose role is decisive in engaging the entire crew in green production practices.
“Filmmakers’ awareness of ecological issues has been slow to emerge, yet it is crucial to understand the prescriptive power of our position. As directors, we set the impulse. The film is our responsibility—and so is the way it is made.”
— Antoine Barraud and Jonathan Schupak, filmmakers and co-founders of the podcast L’écologie et le cinéma.
The three guides directly address these findings by proposing practical methodologies tailored to the creative and operational realities of the sector.
Three complementary guides to implement sustainability from the development phase
• Sustainability guide for screenwriting professionals: Offers concrete ways to integrate environmental thinking from the writing stage, both to anticipate and reduce production impacts and to address ecological issues through on-screen representation.
• The director’s guide to sustainability: Provides practical advice to directors on their role in making a production more sustainable and effectively mobilizing their team without compromising artistic vision.
• Script Breakdown Sustainability Checklist: Designed for all professionals (producers, green production coordinators, technicians, etc.), this checklist helps identify the environmental impacts based on a script in order to anticipate and adjust production decisions and technical choices.
“In a context of climate emergency, these guides highlight the central role of screenwriters and filmmakers in transforming industry practices: through their decision-making power, their leadership on set, and the influence of the stories they bring to the screen. Far from restricting creative freedom, integrating environmental considerations into the creative process actually broadens its meaning by grounding it in an awareness of reality.”
— Alissa Aubenque and Mehdi Aït-Kacimi, who coordinated this work within Ecoprod.
A collective and collaborative initiative
These guides are the result of work carried out with many committed partners who have been reflecting on and experimenting with these issues for several years: L’Écran d’Après, Imagine 2050, the Festival Atmosphères, the SRF, Citeo, L’Observatoire de la fiction and Nouvelle Séquence.
Ecoprod relied on their expertise and compiled the tools they have developed, particularly those focused on integrating environmental issues into storytelling. This collaborative approach makes it possible to pool knowledge and provide professionals with rich, accessible resources rooted in existing practices.
Available for free download on the Ecoprod website, these guides add to the range of resources offered by Ecoprod to support the ecological transition of the audiovisual sector.
These guides received support from the French government as part of the France 2030 program.
