1.SPREAD THE WORD
2.QUESTION EVERYTHING
3. Collaborate for CHANGE

At our first fledgling meeting of directors of photography, gaffers and camera crew, the atmosphere buzzed with excitement.

A lot has happened since then. We are now 90 crew from all departments, giving time and thought to how we can change our industry.

How?

1. SPREAD THE WORD – THIS IS A CRISIS

Carbon literacy isn’t something we’re born with and if we don’t know where the worst problems lie, we can’t solve them.

For example. Did you know that water bottles are just a tiny issue in our industry? We didn’t. It took some research to find out. 

In fact, in our industry, the big issue is travel. Followed by energy use.

We would love to banish single use bottles from set, but we need to focus our minds on the biggest areas of impact.

2. QUESTION EVERYTHING - CHANGE FILM-SET CULTURE

Have you ever wondered why you’re asked to drive to a location that is miles from any of the other filming places?

Or why crew routinely work in regions they don’t live in, despite the existence of competent local crew?

How much do late scripts affect our planning and therefore our carbon efficiency?

Is the studio you’re working in run on fossil fuels? Could they switch to a renewable energy supplier?

Ever wondered why the backlots are full of dirty diesel generators when there is abundant electricity in the grid?

How much food gets chucked in the bin? And what happens to those studio sets after wrap?

If the planet is in crisis, why aren’t we learning about our impact as a part of our daily job?

How much environmental impact do the big studio pictures have?

(OK, we’ll answer this one. Nobody knows, because they aren’t required to tell us.)

3. COLLABORATE FOR CHANGE

There’s lots we can do to respond to these issues. And we must do it together: producers often want to do more but don’t want to rock the boat with the crew and crew are often afraid to stick their necks out and ask for change.

We need each other.

Top-down, company-led strategies already exist, and where they are in action, they can cut up to 20% of emissions.

Cut It seeks to push from below, uniting crew, including actors, directors and producers, to effect additional change, where no-one else can.

We are not an industry funded body and there is no hierarchy in Cut It. We are you and your ideas.  We work in subgroups in all departmental areas and regions.

To give you a flavour, here are some projects we’re currently involved in:

  • Talking to the studios about their energy suppliers, campaigning for a move to a 100% renewable power, generator-free backlot
  • Forming the ‘Green Agreement’ a contractual add-on for crew contracts
  • Building our social media base, to galvanise crew, disseminate information and ideas for change
  • Effecting policy change with regional screen agencies
  • Creating a plant-a-tree crew gift
  • Forming local crew databases to promote local hire
  • Working on department specific ideas for change
  • Devising environmental training for crew.
 

Want to help? Want to find out more? Sign up below or use our online booking system to sign up for our 45 min zoom intro, Mondays 8pm.

 

Please Note: Cut It is not a resource for tips on good practice.

But you can find some in these places on our resources page. 

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