Produced By March | April 2025

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA // MARCH | APRIL 2025

CHRIS MELEDANDRI

“The idea that the movies we make bring joy to audiences is central to what we do.”

VISIONARY WORLDS: PGA’S INNOVATION AWARDS NOMINEES

P. 40

UNIONS AND GUILDS: UNITED IN SUSTAINABILITY

P. 46

PRODUCER OF THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Pascal

Caucheteux • Jacques Audiard

IS NOT TAKING ONE

“POWER ATTRACTS THE CORRUPTIBLE

DEPARTMENTS

10 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTS AND CEO

Stephanie Allain, Donald De Line and Susan Sprung detail resources for producers affected by the LA wildfires, and ways members can help one another.

12 ON THE MARK

Q&A: How Sarah Green and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones earned the Producers Mark for The Bikeriders

20

NEW MEMBERS

Meet the PGA’s newest members and discover what makes them tick.

60 PGA SPOTLIGHT

In this issue we spotlight set etiquette training resources for PGA members and nonmembers alike.

70

PRODUCING IS A JOB

Guild members offer answers to the eternal question, “What do you do?”

MIKE FAIST AND JODIE COMER IN THE BIKERIDERS.

Produced by TESSA ROSS, p.g.a.

“A

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARD NOMINEE

BEST PICTURE

DARRYL F. ZANUCK AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING PRODUCER OF THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Bianca Ahmadi

Autumn Bailey-Ford

Fred Berger

Melanie Cunningham

Linda Evans

Mike Farah

Jennifer Fox

BOARD OFFICERS

PRESIDENTS

Stephanie Allain Donald De Line

VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCING

Charles Roven

VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCING TEAM

Steve Cainas

VICE PRESIDENT, EASTERN REGION

Tonya Lewis Lee

TREASURER

Yolanda T. Cochran

SECRETARIES

Mike Jackson Kristie Macosko Krieger

DIRECTORS

Beth Fraikorn

DeVon Franklin

Donna Gigliotti

Jinko Gotoh

Bob Greenblatt

Lynn Kestin Sessler

Samie Kim Falvey

ASSOCIATE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Michelle Byrd

CEO

Susan Sprung

EDITOR

Lisa Y. Garibay

PRODUCERSGUILD.ORG

Vol. XXI No. 2

Produced By is published by the Producers Guild of America.

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310-358-9020 Tel. 310-358-9520 Fax

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Harvey Wilson

PARTNER & BRAND PUBLISHER COPY EDITOR

Emily S. Baker

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Ajay Peckham

ADVERTISING

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Bob Howells

PHOTOGRAPHER

Phillip Graybill

MANAGING PARTNERS

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Todd Klawin

HERE TO HELP

We are heartbroken by the devastation and displacement faced by so many in our community. The Guild is here for you during this crisis. The Executive Committee recently approved the Guild’s partnership with the Entertainment Community Fund to establish a dedicated fund to support producers of film, television and emerging media affected by the Los Angeles fires. The Guild will contribute a portion of the net proceeds from the Producers Guild Awards to the fund. In addition to that, our members are also contributing. Together, $300,000 has already been committed.

HOW TO APPLY TO THE PGA MEMBERS FUND

If you are in need of financial assistance from the devastation caused by the fires, we encourage you to apply to the Producers Guild of America Members Fund: entertainmentcommunity.org/ disaster-emergency-financial-assistance (Note: You will need to register for the Entertainment Community Fund’s client portal if you don’t already have an account with them.)

Stephanie Allain President

HOW TO DONATE TO THE PGA MEMBERS FUND

As communities seek to uplift each other, we invite you to join us in making a contribution to this dedicated fund if you are able. Every contribution will make a difference and go directly into the hands of Guild members in financial need. (The Entertainment Community Fund has graciously waived their fund administration fee for the Guild.) If you are able to contribute, you may do so here: entertainmentcommunity. org/2025CAfiresPGA

DUES DEFERRAL

The Executive Committee also approved a deferral on payment of membership dues of up to six months for members experiencing financial hardship due to the recent Los Angeles fires. For information, please reach out to Jo-Ann West, director of operations (joann@producersguild.org).

Thank you.

Donald De Line President

Susan Sprung CEO

ON THE MARK

It’s no accident that Sarah Green and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones earned the Producers Mark certification for The Bikeriders.

written By Katie Grant

The Bikeriders is a ’60s period feature based on the photography book of the same title that author and photojournalist Danny Lyon compiled in 1963. With Lyon’s permission, writer-director Jeff Nichols crafted a fictional story based on the real biker gang, the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, and the people in their world from 1963 to 1967.

The story Nichols crafted from the real people in the book centers around the club’s newest member, Benny, played by Austin Butler, who works his way up the ropes while falling in love with Kathy, played by Jodie Comer. For Kathy, who is not a biker or a club member, it was love at first sight. But she struggles with the violent life Benny is entrenched in, and challenges Benny’s loyalty to the club.

The interviews and anecdotes captured in Lyon’s book were sprinkled throughout Nichols’ script, and Lyon himself is played by Mike Faist in the film.

Producers Sarah Green and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones ensured the cast and crew’s safety around the period motorcycles—which sometimes started and sometimes didn’t—used in the film while filming the bikers in motion almost exclusively with handheld techniques. On top of the usual anxiety any producer feels on set, Green and Kavanaugh-Jones had to hold their breath many times during filming while the stunt department covered both traditional stunt work and period biking work.

In the end, the producers could breathe

easy. Here, Green and Kavanaugh-Jones talk about how that was no accident.

IF THERE WAS A ‘MAKING OF’ THE BIKERIDERS MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE FIRST SHOT BE?

Green: For me, it would be Austin Butler riding his motorcycle down a dark road at night far away from us,

then slipping on some wet leaves, dumping the bike, and standing up off it like nothing ever happened, because our stunt guys trained him so well.

IS THAT A METAPHOR FOR HOW THE PRODUCTION WENT?

Kavanaugh-Jones: I think it’s a great

metaphor. It was never easy, but it felt like we were pretty blessed throughout. Sarah and I held our breath every day anybody got on a motorcycle without a helmet on because they just didn’t wear them (during the time period of the film).

We did huge safety work on it. We were both in constant anxiety, but felt pretty spectacular about how it turned out.

Green: We were confident because we had such extraordinary people doing it. We figured out early on that it couldn’t just be one stunt department. It was a twofold stunt department. You had the fighting and traditional stunts, and then you had your period motorcycle riders, who are a whole other breed of stuntmen.

WAS IT HARD TO FIND A PERIOD MOTORCYCLE EXPERT?

Green: He was actually the first one we brought on the team. Jeff Nichols’ brother, Ben Nichols, is a musician and rides a motorcycle. His close friend, Jeff Milburn, collects these bikes and does stunt work and coordination.

Ben had 20 of these bikes and knew where all the other ones were in the country. He also knew how to train people. So he worked with Austin Butler.

The two of them spent a lot of time with these period bikes because they’re nothing like modern

bikes. They don’t have the same safety measures. They don’t operate the same way. The clutches are in different places. They’re all finicky. Each one has a personality. We had a little chart that Brian put together.

Kavanaugh-Jones: The chart had various numbers ascribed to how easy or impossible each motorcycle was to start.

Green: And whether it was a stay start.

Kavanaugh-Jones: Right, because they needed to stay started. We had long conversations with Milburn, asking, “What happens if this motorcycle doesn’t start?” And he would say, “Well, sometimes it just doesn’t.” There were many moments where we held our breath, hoping that all 10 motorcycles would move at the same time in the same direction.

HOW DID YOU HANDLE THAT STRESS?

Green: One thing we did extensively in preproduction was figure out how best to shoot the motorcycles, both from an aesthetic point of view—what was going to give Jeff the feeling he wanted from these motorcycle rides—and what was going to be safe. What was going to actually be doable? Where could the camera live?

Above:Jodie Comer and Austin Butler in director Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders. Left: Austin Butler as Benny.

We learned pretty quickly that we wanted the camera to be handheld on a motorcycle. In some cases, we used threewheeler bikes. We rigged the front of a three-wheeler so that the cameraperson could sit there, hand-holding the camera and facing back toward the actor, so he’s shaking the same way the bike and the actors are, and it all feels kinetic, in sync.

Kavanaugh-Jones: Our secret weapon was that Jeff Nichols knows exactly what he wants. He preps to perfection. Without that level of precision, I don’t think we could have come close to doing this movie with the level of safety we needed. We planned out the days impeccably, and except for force majeure, we always hit our schedule, which is astounding. This is the same crew we’ve used for 20+ years. There’s no second-guessing this group.

YOU BOTH EARNED THE PRODUCERS MARK FOR BIKERIDERS. WAS THE PROCESS SIMILAR TO OTHER PROJECTS FOR WHICH YOU EARNED THE MARK?

Green: Our process is pretty consistent. Brian and I are in constant touch. We’re talking, we’re texting. Sometimes the way Jeff works is to talk things through, especially when he’s writing. He’ll call one of us and talk it through. But the minute we hang up the phone, we tell each other, “This is what’s new in the script.” We have different perspectives because of our backgrounds, but constant communication is how we do it.

HOW DO THOSE DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS HELP YOU WITH YOUR PRODUCING DUTIES ON BIKERIDERS AND BEYOND?

Kavanaugh-Jones: I was at CAA in the film finance group. Now I’m a pretty 360-degrees producer. I’ve gone through all those crucibles of fire and produced these (films) handson. Sarah came from a different perspective. I don’t think there’s anything either of us can’t do. That’s what makes our collaboration so fruitful and fun. We are deeply involved in every aspect of the movie—from development to production to distribution.

Green: I come from a really scrappy indie background, so I know how to get down to what the priorities are for the director so the production team is focused and spending money in the right places. We run all decisions by one another—Brian, Jeff and myself. When there’s a big decision, we never make it by ourselves. We want to make sure we’ve thought about where the other producers are coming from.

WHAT WAS THE PROCESS OF ADAPTING THE FILM FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK?

Kavanaugh-Jones: Jeff handed us the book 15 years ago and said, “I think this would make an amazing movie.” We agreed, but then it sat until we had finished Midnight Special and were about to go into Loving. Right after Loving wrapped, Jeff felt ready to do it.

We were talking to a guy at Netflix, Nick Nesbitt. He’s a great executive. We mentioned the book, and he flipped out for it and paid for the development of it. It created an opportunity for Jeff to be really excited about taking this thing that he dreamed about forever, and structure and build it as a movie.

In a weird way, even though it’s taken 15 years, it was also perfect timing. I don’t know if it made sense for us to make it 10 years ago. When we gave Netflix the script, it was pretty clear it was a different kind of movie than they were ready to dive into. So we quickly got it set up with New Regency, working with them on locking the budget and distribution. I did the business side of the deal. We were making it six months later.

Green: I got to know Danny Lyon pretty well because I ended up negotiating directly with him for the book rights. He didn’t want to talk to lawyers. He really wanted to keep it with us.

We had our moments where we were best friends and then we had our moments where he would say, “Wait a minute, somebody’s taking this the wrong way.” And I’d have to explain to him that we are completely transparent.

When I first saw this book years ago, I thought it would be tricky because there’s no story in the book. It’s a book of

amazing photographs and some snippets of interviews. Jeff was stepping off from these real people. He made up a completely fictional story based on what he imagined could have happened, given the bits and pieces he knew.

We talked a lot about what was appropriate given the real people behind the photographs. We wanted to honor the good, the family and the loyalty without soft-pedaling what was toxic in that world. As he wrote the story, and the more he talked it through, the more I understood it. So I was kind of a sounding board. But I was also learning to understand the story we were telling and why it mattered to me.

The way Jeff works is that one of us will get on the phone with him every week or so and he’ll talk us through the story. Each time he tells it there’s something new or something he’s stuck on that he needs to talk out. We give feedback and he goes back to work, and then we do it again.

In this case, we talked a lot about Benny and who he was, and why Kathy was with him given that he has none of the emotional intelligence that she has. He means it when he says he doesn’t want anything from anyone and he doesn’t have anything to give them. It brought me back to withholding boyfriends I’ve had in the past!

Austin Butler as Benny and Tom Hardy as Johnny in The Bikeriders.

PHOTOS

WAS IT HARD TO MAKE EVERYTHING THAT’S SEEN ON SCREEN, WHETHER COSTUMES OR PROPS, AUTHENTIC TO THE PERIOD?

Green: That’s where our crew family comes in. It’s not hard for us because we know they’re never going to let something go on screen that doesn’t feel right, that isn’t exactly of that period, and is as well used and as dirty as it would be. By bringing key crew members like them on, we don’t have to think twice about it. We just have to make sure they have the resources that they need.

That part took work, as we could easily have spent twice as much to make it look as good as it does. Our team doesn’t hold back on what they need, and we don’t hold back with what we can provide. Everyone knows that we are robbing Peter to pay Paul, so we collectively work to make sure the money is being spent where it’s most needed and contributing most effectively to the whole.

Our first AD, Don Sparks, helped keep us to reasonable days. So our hot cost savings went to the unexpected costs, such as shipments from London after (costume designer) Erin Benach shopped and did fittings there, which were held up for weeks in customs due to COVID. She had to scramble to buy new stock, and the ager/dyer and the rest of the costume

team worked nonstop to make things ready.

Our line producer David Kern and his team were on top of every penny spent so they could reallocate in real time. We knew up front that the stunts and motorcycles were going to be the biggest expense, so we had budgeted that way. We worked closely with New Regency to land on a budget that we could all accept—just enough to accomplish the script and not so much as to increase the risk to an untenable extent.

We fought hard to protect our shooting days, which were crucial to getting the work done well. We had 42, went down to 40, and crawled our way back to 42 with hot cost savings.

But it all starts with hiring the right people. When people came out of lockdown and started making movies, suddenly everyone got busy. You couldn’t hire somebody to save your life. We were right in the midst of that. Nobody was available. But the good news was that because we are committed to our family and are loyal to them, they’re loyal to us.

So we got the best gaffer. We got the top crew. All these people love Jeff and are loyal to him. They check in with us before they take other jobs. So we were able to have our core team, even in the midst of this incredibly difficult time when they could have been making three times as much somewhere else. I really credit them. It matters to all of us that we do this together.

B camera operator Kenneth Neil Moore and director Jeff Nichols on the set of The Bikeriders.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF AS THE PRODUCERS OF THIS FILM?

Green: I’m proud that everyone came out unscathed. All that prep and all that care paid off. It wasn’t an accident that there were no accidents other than the one I mentioned earlier. And I’m so proud that when his back tire hit those wet leaves, Austin knew exactly what to do. We had faith in our stunt coordinator, and he had faith in Austin’s training and skill. Otherwise he’d never have been freeriding.

It took work to find my way into this very male world. Jeff and I had many conversations about it. His idea that Kathy was going to be our way in led to discussions about her perspective, what about her character was relatable and what might not be—what was just pure, unvarnished Kathy.

Sexism and violence were the reality of that time and place, and Kathy had to find a way to take care of herself and get out. I was so pleased that when Jodie Comer read the script, she loved Kathy and really understood her.

This helped us to create a movie from a woman’s perspective of a very male world and still be true to who Kathy was. She was no big feminist. She was the straight talker. She’s super honest. So much of that dialogue that Jodie has is straight from the recordings that Danny Lyons

made of her. I love that Kathy was the voice of the film.

Kavanaugh-Jones: I’m really proud of what this movie says about masculinity, both the good and the bad. About brotherhood and the toxicity of those things as they go the wrong way.

We talked about what it is in this space of the ’60s biker world and our world right now around that masculine energy—what the best and the worst of that can be, and everything in between. I’m always moved by and ultimately focused on the theme and where that lives in the legacy of each of these films. ¢

Certification via the Producers Mark (represented by p.g.a.) indicates that a producer performed a major portion of the producing functions in a decision-making capacity on a specific project. Criteria, its definition, the process for earning the mark and other particulars can be viewed at producersguildawards.com.

Producer Sarah Green and actor Norman Reedus on the set of The Bikeriders.

Jodie Comer, director Jeff Nichols and Austin Butler.

NEW MEMBERS

Produced By trains the spotlight on some of the Guild’s newest members, and offers a glimpse at what makes them tick.

Marsha Cooke

Marsha Cooke serves as vice president and executive producer for ESPN Films and 30 for 30. She is responsible for overseeing development, production, distribution, branding and strategy of all projects under the ESPN Films umbrella, including the Cooke, who lives in New York City, joined ESPN from Vice, where she served as SVP of global news and special projects. Prior to Vice, Cooke spent 24 years at CBS. She was the first Black Asia bureau chief, responsible for coverage across the continent. She produced stories for various CBS News shows and served as VP of news services. During her time at CBS, Cooke received a News & Documentary Emmy Award and a Gracie Award.

What skills have best served you in producing content about high-profile subjects? What skills would you advise a producer to hone if they want to work in this type of content?

The most important tool of a storyteller is patience—being able to listen for what the story really is. always about something deeper than they seem. They have multiple layers, and often they don’t reveal themselves until you take the time to truly understand them.

“The New York Sack Exchange” (30 for 30 might seem like it’s about football, but it’s actually about brotherhood. Our projects live in that beautiful intersection between sports, culture and the most dramatic aspects of the human experience. Because I am a veteran journalist trained to ask questions, I’m proud of being able to listen and find that place in every sports doc where it becomes about something bigger than a game or an athlete.

I have the best job in the business: Through the prism of sports, I get to tell stories about people, places and moments that are often overlooked.

Ken Saba

Ken Saba is a producer with three decades of experience in film, broadcast television and themed entertainment. He brings success and achievements in the creative, managerial, and technical aspects of international exhibits, attractions, resorts, television series and movies.

His passion for film, television, animation, visual effects and sound has crossed over many industries—from NASA to the Los Angeles Police Department to Walt Disney Imagineering to Universal Creative, to name a few. With his love for themed entertainment, Saba brings immersive media and audio into factual and fictional stories that draw audiences into these encounters.

What makes you proud to be a producer, and what’s a challenge or a daunting project you’re proud of having produced?

From the creative development to the project’s completion, I am most proud as a producer collaborating and sharing the journey with a group of talented individuals and organizations—in front of and behind the camera—who all have the same goal of creating a project that resonates with audiences.

My proudest producing project to date was the Universal Studios Beijing Resort’s media and audio, which included the entire Universal Studios Beijing theme park, entertainment district, hotels and back of house—all during the pandemic. It was a massive undertaking, accomplished by a large group of collaborative people and vendors having the same ambition in delivering the highest caliber of entertainment and worth to the year-round guests.

Justin Hankinson

Hankinson has worked on many different types of projects—from docuseries and reality competition shows to feature films; and in many different capacities—from production, art and postproduction to acting and hosting.

What producing skills did you hone while working on competition series, and how do those skills carry over into other producing you do?

Working in entertainment for eight years and being with The Masked Singer for the past five, I’ve learned that the greatest skill you can hone in this business is foresight. One very rarely knows what’s coming next, both in life and in this industry. Change can happen so fast, and it does not escape me how fortunate I am to be in this position to have steady work on a long-running show. The way I relate foresight to the job of producing is the importance of making choices. There are no superfluous ones when creating entertainment. Whether it be an hourlong reality competition show or a 10-minute narrative film, being a good producer means having the ability to not only make informed choices, but to be able to determine their ripple effects on your project down the line.

Claire Mundell

Claire Mundell is an executive producer and the founder/ creative director of Synchronicity Films, a scripted and feature film production company. Her recent project, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, is a six-part limited series adapted from the novel by Heather Morris, which was based on the real-life experiences of Holocaust survivor Lale Sokolov. The series garnered double Emmy nominations, and features music by Hans Zimmer and Barbra Streisand.

In 2023, Mundell won a BAFTA Scotland Best Scripted award for the adaptation of the novel Mayflies. Synchronicity Films is known for high-quality adaptations, including The Cry and The Young Team Mundell’s film credits include The Party’s Just Beginning, Only You and Weekend

Before founding Synchronicity, Mundell had a distinguished career at the BBC, where she won multiple awards, including a BAFTA and an RTS. She is also a PACT Council Member and National Rep for Scotland.

What is one daunting challenge you’re proud of having overcome during your career as a producer across film and television?

Producing is a constant cycle of problem-solving, much like the myth of Sisyphus, where challenges, like rocks, continually roll back, demanding fresh solutions. One of my greatest challenges was shepherding the series The Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on the best-selling book.

Through six years of development, we reached a green light and began a demanding 77-day production in Slovakia. With hundreds of cast and crew, over 5,000 extras, and a complex postproduction process that included over 400 VFX, we worked tirelessly to create a show that honored Lale and Gita Sokolov’s inspiring love story. The production was intense, but the final result was worth every moment of effort. The series has been warmly received globally and has done justice to the incredible real-life story we sought to tell. Delivering this drama for our partners at Sky, Peacock, Stan and All3 was a deeply rewarding experience—one that captured love against all odds.

Barry Ehrmann

Barry Ehrmann has more than 30 years of experience in the music and film industry. As founder and senior producer of Enliven Entertainment, he’s built a top-tier production company that specializes in live events, concerts and documentaries for film, streaming and television.

Ehrmann began his career in television commercial postproduction before shifting to music, launching King Biscuit Flower Hour Records. Seeing the potential in concert DVDs, he founded Enliven in 2001 and has since led cutting-edge, multicamera concert productions, evolving from HD to 3D and now using state-ofthe-art cinematic cameras and advanced tech.

His recent production, Billy Joel: The 100th—Live at Madison Square Garden, earned Emmy Awards for technical direction, lighting design, and audio mix. Ehrmann’s credits include projects with Beyoncé, the Jonas Brothers, the Eagles, Travis Scott, Jeff Beck, Romeo Santos, Jason Aldean, Def Leppard and Barbra Streisand, as well as Broadway shows and work for brands such as Ralph Lauren and Cartier.

What skills have best served you in your career as a producer of high-profile live events? What skills would you advise a producer to hone if they want to work in this area? Passion and preparation define my work. Live has always been my greatest passion—nothing matches the energy and risk of an event environment. While I began my career in live audio, learning to craft visuals that translate the excitement of a live performance into an unforgettable experience on screen has given me true purpose.

As a producer, I love building. Taking a project from a simple idea through production to its final, polished form on screen is what fuels me.

Preparation is everything in this industry. In the world of live production, I have one chance to get it right. There are no retakes, no reshoots and no controlled sets. I work in unpredictable environments, surrounded by 18,000 fans, with no safety net. Precision, attention to detail, and meticulous preparation are the keys to capturing those perfect, fleeting moments that make live performances timeless. These are essential skills for anyone entering this field.

IN 2011, I DIDN’T THINK ABOUT IT.

My great-grandparents were Armenian Genocide survivors and I wanted to honor them in The Promise. When a close mentor offered the use of his office to kick off our movie he was saying: "I'm using the weight of my office to help you any way I can. This is what our community’s all about."

Being able to count on colleagues is immeasurable. We all rely on one another. That's why I support MPTF - it's an anchor for our community.

Caring is Infinite, since 1921

Aaron Merrell

Aaron Merrell started his career learning from the producers of The Prince of Egypt at DreamWorks, followed by stints at Walt Disney Pictures, The Jim Henson Company, Phoenix Pictures, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, AOL Productions and Cinefinance. He has been based in Utah since 2011, where he produces niche-market content, particularly the five-season Book of Mormon series.

What is most rewarding for you about producing short-form content, and what are the producing skills you call upon most when working in this format?

What I love the most about producing is taking the chaos of the beginning of a project and gradually organizing it into something beautiful. Producing is an art form to find the right story, build the right team and pursue the right plan to create something that can be widely enjoyed.

The producing skills I use the most in my market are strategic project planning to tackle difficult deliverables, open and honest collaboration with trusted filmmakers, and a positive working environment to bring out the best in my teams.

Mary Swanhaus

Mary Swanhaus is a co-executive producer with two decades of experience in unscripted television and branded content. She has worked across networks including MTV, HGTV, ABC and Discovery, producing works ranging from Room Raiders to branded content for brands such as Ford and Trident Gum.

Swanhaus is at the helm of the History Channel’s American Pickers, where she has been instrumental in driving the show’s success, delivering more than 400 one-hour episodes as it enters its 13th season. With a keen eye for narrative and a passion for collaborative leadership, Swanhaus prides herself on discovering fresh angles in the unscripted world.

What is most rewarding for you about producing unscripted content, and what are the producing skills you call upon most when working in this format?

The most rewarding part of producing unscripted content is cracking the code on a format that can build a legacy brand. I’ve been fortunate to work on shows delivering 400+ hours, and I enjoy the challenge of avoiding plug-and-play storytelling—making each episode feel fresh, memorable and engaging while staying true to the brand.

Experience in postproduction is essential to becoming a strong director/producer in the field. Understanding what works in the edit—and reverse-engineering the story—ensure that you capture the key moments and connective tissue needed to deliver standout episodes.

Other skills I rely on most are adaptability and creative instinct. I focus on fostering an environment where talent and crew feel inspired, while crafting stories that are authentic, emotionally compelling and resonate with the demo audience. ¢

Chris Meledandri’s ability to deliver audiencepleasing stories that convey a sense of joy is built upon trust in his own vision—and an ability to create an atmosphere where talented artists can do their best work.

Written by Katie Grant

Photographed by Phillip Graybill

For Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of the box officesmashing animation studio Illumination Entertainment, character—not story—is king. And there’s a reason. Meledandri might be the ultimate people person. From the artists he collaborates with to the global audience he connects with to the characters he helps create, Meledandri is all about the human experience—even if that means portraying it through singing animals, video game villains or little yellow creatures with one eye.

“Chris’s standout trait is his commitment to portraying the authentic human experience in all his projects,” says Donna Langley, chairman and chief content officer at NBC Universal, of which Illumination is a division. “His high degree of empathy and unique point of view leads to finding the truth in what makes us all truly human.”

That empathy extends also to his collaborators. Writer Matthew Fogel (Super Mario Brothers, Minions: Rise of Gru) is most inspired by Meledandri’s faith in the creative process and the people he works with. “That faith inspires people to do better and better. And the faith he has in all the creative people, they also have in him,” Fogel says.

For Garth Jennings, writer and director of the Sing movies, that faith creates a beautiful symbiotic relationship that is built on trust, which he feels is rare in this business.

“People are operating out of fear all the time,” Jennings says. “Chris is operating out of trust and a belief in the creative process. That allows everything to flourish.”

Meledandri then takes that love and respect for talented humans and channels it toward the viewer. “He is so hands-on and hyperfocused on the audience experience,” Langley says, noting Meledandri’s ability to know what the audience will connect with and then

Chris’s standout trait is his commitment to portraying the authentic human experience in all his projects. His high degree of empathy and unique point of view leads to finding the truth in what makes us all truly human.”

—DONNA LANGLEY

infusing his films with that feeling.

Langley marvels at Meledandri’s ability to capture the imagination of the elusive 18- to 35-year-old market using tactics that don’t feel like typical blatant marketing. “People didn’t know that they needed the Minions in their lives, but these lovable characters have permeated the culture, creating a global brand that reaches across our entire company.”

COMING INTO HIS OWN

Meledandri grew up in New York City with parents who took him to see movies from a very young age. They weren’t movies made for kids, but rather art house films the adults wanted to see, like Midnight Cowboy, Easy Rider and every Woody Allen movie. “Except for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex. That was where they drew the line,” Meledandri recalls.

His folks loved stories and the dramatic process enough to even invest in some failed Broadway shows.

Meledandri was active in his school drama department and worked and volunteered at tiny off-off-Broadway theaters in New York. In his first year of college at Dartmouth, he was focused on pursuing a career as a stage manager and possibly directing for the stage. But he was soon bit by the film bug. “Once I took my first cinema class, I realized that this was the path for me, and I never looked back,” Meledandri recalls.

In college, his most substantial project was a documentary about director Michael Powell (The Red Shoes, Peeping Tom) coming to Dartmouth to teach a class. One of Powell’s dreams was to direct a movie based on Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy. So the class filmed a sequence from the books that Meledandri cowrote and acted in.

A couple of years later, 21-year-old Meledandri was preparing to make a short film for a transfer term at NYU when his life took a dramatic turn: His father died unexpectedly of a heart

attack, and Meledandri was unable to follow through with NYU.

Meledandri switched gears, moving to Los Angeles and taking a job as a gopher. It didn’t take long for him to earn a reputation as one of the most respected and creative collaborators around.

Meledandri started out in Hollywood working for producer Daniel Melnick (All That Jazz, Punchline, Footloose). After paying his dues as Melnick’s assistant, Meledandri was given opportunities working for the three producers of Footloose along with its director, Herbert Ross, gaining front-row experience in every facet of production.

“I was the second or third person, after the location manager, to arrive in Utah (where Footloose was filmed) and one of the last to leave,” Meledandri recalls. “I was there for five months through the entire prep and production. Then I worked in marketing between the music and the film and post.”

Meledandri responded to the contagious energy of collaboration

on set. “I just loved how all of these different influences and voices wove together to create something that felt seamless,” he says.

From there, he cofounded The Meledandri/Gordon Company with Mark Gordon in 1987. Meledandri departed in 1991 to become president of Dawn Steel Productions, where he executive produced Cool Runnings, a successful live-action film for Disney.

After making a move to 20th Century Fox, Meledandri was put at the helm of the studio’s animation wing. There he produced the successful Ice Age movies with Blue Sky Studios, the visual effects house he helped Fox acquire—but only after producing the box office debacle Titan AE, which nearly cost him his job.

In 2007, Meledandri left Fox to start Illumination. His strategy was to encompass a holistic process, from the inception of ideas through the marketing of movies to the afterlife of his films’ characters. Producer Janet Healy left Fox to become the second

employee of Illumination. That’s when the Despicable Me and Minions spin-off films took the world by storm.

“I have never drawn lines between production and creative, which allowed for the discovery of a breadth of talent in Janet that extended way beyond line producing,” Meledandri says. “She deployed her vast experience and creative instincts to work side by side with me in the execution of my vision.”

According to Healy, many people in the animation business emphasize story when it comes to creating content. But not Meledandri. “Chris always says, ‘Story is important, but it’s not the ultimate thing that makes our movies distinctive,’ Healy says. “It goes back to his commitment to people and creating characters that ring true.

“You’ll see that on the page, in the designs, what characters look like, what they wear, and how they act,” adds Healy, who retired in 2017.

Illumination is now led by COO

Sebastian Maniscalco, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Melendandri, Chris Pratt and Mario video game franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto at a screening of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023.

Keith Feldman and four copresidents of production. Joy Poirel and Bill Ryan are based at the company’s Santa Monica location. Bruno Chauffard and Nathalie Vancauwenberghe work abroad alongside Jacques Bled, president of Illumination Studios Paris.

“On every movie, we have younger producers who have all come up through the ranks of the company,” Meledandri says.

When asked which of his more than 75 characters he’s most like, Meledandri says, “There are analogies that have been made about me in relation to Gru (Despicable Me). I don’t think it’s just the bald head. But there’s also a reason I felt so pulled to make The Grinch. At the heart of both those stories are tales of personal transformation.”

Like the characters in Cool Runnings, who had never seen snow yet wanted to compete in bobsledding in the 1988 Olympics, Meledandri is drawn to those who have audacious aspirations.

“I respond to that journey of setting

out to do something that you know the world hasn’t chosen you to do, but you’re determined to get there and complete it,” he says.

KEEPING COMPANY

Those who work with him depict Meledandri as a character from one of his movies: intelligent, magical, audacious, loyal, authentic. He identifies the strengths of the artists he works with and coaxes those strengths out.

“When I turned in the first scenes of Cool Runnings, it was full of Swedish ski bunnies in bed smoking pot,” recalls Tommy Swerdlow, writer of that film and The Grinch. “Chris said to me, ‘Brilliant. Great. Can you move it over here a little bit?’”

Swerdlow felt like his spirit was never shut down in the writing process. “Chris never messes with my artistry and my poetry. He has the ability to get what he wants and at the same time give me what I need.”

Eric Guillon, character designer on the Despicable Me, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets films, cites Chris’s ability to synthesize, analyze and make proposals. “His superpower is the ability to make several films at the same time while maintaining the same intensity, the same desire and the same energy for each of his films,” Guillon says.

Jennings has learned from Meledandri to see producing as an art. He’s observed how the accomplished producer can spin a magical potion between personalities and experience, even with all the conflicting elements. “Chris creates a way for all of this stuff to swim together to make a movie. That is an extraordinary gift that feels as close to a magic trick as anything.”

Healy notes that when Illumination’s international headquarters was set up in Paris, the founders structured the company very differently from other feature animation studios. “We inserted Chris and his point of view, his taste and his guidance at every critical stage of each production,” she says.

Meledandri has his hands on every aspect from set and character design to how the camera is moving in the layout department to how performances look to final lighting and editing.

Healy further touts Meledandri’s ability to articulate how to improve issues in both big and small ways. “His aesthetic, sense of story and that allimportant sense of character—he’s got them to such a level of sophistication.

I’ve never seen anybody work that hard or be that smart.”

Those smarts include Meledandri’s marketing acumen. To promote Illumination features, the marketing team creates original content—short films that keep their brand top of mind on social media and keep the studio going between feature projects.

“When you finish a movie, you don’t want to lay off 90 or 100 people. You’ve got to keep the pipeline full,” Healy explains.

Clearly, Meledandri is onto something. Industry-tracking website

The Numbers lists him as the #7 all-time top-grossing producer by domestic and worldwide box office.

In 2014, Meledandri won the PGA’s Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures award for Despicable Me 2, which was also nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. All four Despicable Me movies and two Minions movies now make up the most successful animation franchise in history.

That success has garnered him high praise from high places. “Chris is a grand master of the imagination, and his company is the workshop of his dreams,” says Steven Spielberg, who has frequently been in contact with Meledandri given that they are both in partnership with Universal. It’s no wonder that Meledandri is receiving the PGA’s 2025 David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures—only the second animation producer to do so.

Chris Meledandri and Pharrell Williams at the premiere of Despicable Me in 2010.

Q & A

WITH CHRIS MELEDANDRI

DO YOU HAVE A MANTRA WHEN YOU’RE MAKING A MOVIE? SOMETHING THAT FOCUSES YOU WHEN YOU START ON A PROJECT?

The closest thing I have to a mantra is to periodically return to what we started out trying to achieve. Our time frame for making these animated films is many years long, and that’s an invitation to get lost. Making movies is a process where you’re constantly problem-solving, and some problems loom so large that you confine yourself to taking detours. Going back to what the core objective was at the beginning becomes a touchpoint for guiding us through to the end.

DO YOU THINK SEEING SOPHISTICATED FILMS AT A YOUNG AGE

INFLUENCED YOUR WORK IN WHAT YOU DO NOW WITH KIDS MEDIA AND ANIMATION?

We make films for audiences of all ages, not just kids. I think that it definitely influenced my being drawn into cinema as a career. So much of my early exposure to life came through sitting in a theater and staring at that screen. It was a vibrant part of my learning about many aspects of adulthood. Storytelling became a language, a comfort zone for me. Ironically, I’ve ended up telling stories that have much more of a focus on conveying joy and entertaining audiences as opposed to more provocative films like the ones I grew up with.

WHAT HAS INFLUENCED YOUR TASTE IN

ANIMATION?

It really wasn’t until my first son was born (in 1990) that I began to even watch animation. It started with the Disney renaissance of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. Simultaneously, my wife, son and I took a deep dive into (Japanese animation studio) Studio Ghibli. As my son got older, he came of age in the era of the Geraldine Laybourne Nickelodeon creations. So those were the three touchpoints for me in animation: Disney, Ghibli, and the earliest days of Nickelodeon.

WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU HAD KNOWN AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR PRODUCING CAREER THAT YOU KNOW NOW?

A friend was away on a movie

and couldn’t take his son to a final presentation of a film class, so I took him. The kids were all about 11 to 14. The teacher of the class said something that really resonated with me. He described the need to have faith in what the final outcome would be—because if you’re consumed with trying to project forward, asking questions like, “How is this going?” at every turn, it becomes almost impossible to fully embrace the process of creation. That struck me because my natural state is always to be projecting into the future.

As a producer, I’m always thinking about where something is leading and the potential potholes that we might fall into. How are all these elements coming together? What can we do to not only anticipate but be prepared when problems occur? Where is the director’s vision? Where is the film diverting from a director’s vision?

Countless questions. They’re not just creative. They’re budget questions, scheduling questions. But it’s important to have this other side where you go, “OK, I’m going to balance all of that with a core belief that we will emerge with something that is going to be wonderful.”

It doesn’t mean everybody’s going to love it. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be successful or not successful. The most important reason to balance it is not only for one’s own sanity, but also to create an atmosphere for everybody to do their very best work.

If I’m too consumed with projecting forward, which is a very important part of my own job, I can very easily infect others around me with worries and anxiety. It’s something I work on to this very day after all these years making movies.

hard today for younger people to embrace the idea of being a late bloomer because the culture has fed us so many stories about people who have had extraordinary success in their 20s. Social media is fueled by people creating images of their lives that only show off certain aspects and frequently don’t share the struggles.

If you’re young, you grow up thinking that immediate meteoric success is going to determine whether or not you’ll have a career. I don’t think I really hit my stride until my 40s. I had flirtations with success—for example, Cool Runnings, or my little credit on Footloose. But I also made a bunch of movies that didn’t work. Didn’t deserve to work.

It didn’t mean that I worked any less hard on those movies. I killed myself on those films. I had films where I was

ranked by how much money they lost, not made. I believe that I became more successful as I got in touch with what it was that I truly wanted to do. I had immense determination, but I hadn’t quite found what excited me.

So when I talk to people who are starting out in their careers, I encourage them to locate their authenticity, regardless of what it is. For me, it was connected to my ability to recognize talent regardless of what anybody else thought, or what they had or hadn’t done. That lit me up. Hence the name Illumination.

WHEN

DID YOU FIRST LISTEN TO THAT INNER

VOICE PROFESSIONALLY?

My first real experience listening to that inner voice was seeing the

WHAT DISCOVERIES HAVE YOU MADE AS YOU FORMED YOUR COMPANIES AND MOVED TO DIFFERENT

STUDIOS?

I consider myself a late bloomer. It’s

Chris Meledandri with Comcast Chairman/ CEO Brian L. Roberts, Steven Spielberg, Donna Langley, and Comcast President Mike Cavanagh at the 2024 Prelude to the Olympics.

work of Blue Sky Studios, which we eventually purchased at Fox and made Ice Age with. I had seen their short clips of animated cockroaches dancing in MTV’s first movie, Joe’s Apartment The film’s director, John Payson, shared these scenes with me. When he saw me get excited, he said, “There’s this little company in Westchester County, New York, that did these sequences. It’s run by a guy named Chris Wedge. You should go find him.”

It was 40 or 50 people, and their business was built around doing work in other people’s commercials, or in this case, another person’s film. They had a dream to make their own movies and they had immense talent. It was my listening to my own reaction to the work that ultimately led to me offering them Ice Age. That led to me trusting my own point of view.

WAS THERE A MOMENT WHEN SOMEONE BELIEVED IN YOUR TALENT REGARDLESS OF ANYONE ELSE’S OPINION?

Peter Chernin, former chairman and CEO of the Fox Group, backed me to make Ice Age coming off the massive failure of Titan AE. Even after the success of Ice Age and its sequel and Horton Hears a Who, people asked, “Why are you going back to him?”

Whatever you set out to realize is not going to be met with affirmation prior to your doing it. You have to do it because of some inner belief. You also have to be prepared to be resilient when it doesn’t work. And you can’t keep walking down paths that everybody else has walked down already and expect to change the world. Even if you believe in something and it doesn’t fit all of the commercial requirements of the moment, you have to find a way to convince people that it’s worthy of being made. The creativity it takes for a producer to convince others to follow you, to trust

you, to back you—that is real creativity. I remember once when Peter Chernin said, “If you bring a project and suggest that we do it and we don’t, then somebody else does it and it works, you might have an impulse to say, ‘I told you so.’ What I’ll say back to you is, ‘You didn’t sell it well enough. It’s your responsibility to get this sold.’”

HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE NEW TALENT IN YOUR COMPANY?

One of the things I’m most proud of is that over the last 16+ years, Illumination has created opportunities for more than 40 people to either direct or codirect an animated film or an animated short for the very first time. I wanted to give opportunity to people whose talent I believed in regardless of what they’ve done before. For me, the idea that the movies we make bring joy to audiences is so central to what we do: Tell stories that convey a sense of joy.

HOW DO YOU APPROACH MARKETING?

Illumination was founded with the belief that the most effective marketing isn’t messaging, but rather creating short-form content that aspires to delight our audience. Above all else, we are making movies for our audience. In animation, one of the benefits of a long production process is to allow the filmmaking team to become the movie’s first audience. Given our iterative process, we are able to learn from their reactions.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE PARIS FOR ILLUMINATION’S INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS?

The competition for extraordinary digital artists was so tough here in the States. I needed to find somewhere we could gather 250 to 300 people who are top in their field. It was just

impossible, as a start-up, to do that here in the U.S. France was very advanced in visual effects work. Their ability to make exquisitely beautiful images was extraordinary. I found artists there with a like-minded sensibility. They also have one of the greatest animation universities, and other schools as well, feeding the talent base.

WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOUR COMPANY TO BE INTERNATIONAL?

One of my aspirations for Illumination was to build a company where the creative influences were similar to the audience that we intended to reach— and that was cultures from all over the world.

My decision to create a company that had this global diversity and creative leadership came as a result of working with director Carlos Saldanha, who is Brazilian. Even though he speaks English and we could spend hours discussing story points, he was more comfortable in visual language. He would go off and work and come back with solutions that were in a visual language that was more helpful than all the talking we would do. I thought, oh, that’s it—visual language is the language of animation. It’s the unifying language that brings audiences together. And if I could lean into seeking out this kind of cultural diversity, that’s what I wanted to do.

We made the first movie, Despicable Me, in France. The original concept was brought to me by a Spaniard. Our composers were Brazilian and American. It was directed by an American and a Frenchman. I was realizing my aspiration.

WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS AND PRODUCE?

My mother was very savvy about film. Way before I decided to pursue this, she explained to me that a producer’s role is to create the stage on which

artists come together to do their very best work. By the way, this was the same mother who, after I made Ice Age 2 , said, “What is it again that you do on these movies?”

That description has always stayed with me. That stage can be a concept for a movie. I can go to my collaborators and say, “I want to make a movie about the secret life of pets.” That becomes the stage or the foundation for a movie like Sing

It is ultimately about enabling the creative contributions of others. I always reflect back on that when I look at one of our films. I know that when audiences leave the theater, what has entered into their consciousness and remains with them was created by directors and artists, and that makes me really happy.

I get great joy out of the process of watching, on a day-to-day basis, these wildly creative people will these

“I WANTED TO GIVE OPPORTUNITY TO PEOPLE WHOSE TALENT I BELIEVED IN REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY’VE DONE BEFORE. FOR ME, THE IDEA THAT THE MOVIES WE MAKE BRING JOY TO AUDIENCES IS SO CENTRAL TO WHAT WE DO: TELL STORIES THAT CONVEY A SENSE OF JOY.”

stories to life, whether it’s inhabiting an incredible character design with a soul or the writing of a melody that will

carry us through a movie. That’s my joy. Knowing that I’ve given these people that stage is deeply satisfying. ¢

Janet Healy and Chris Meledandri at the premiere of The Secret Life of Pets 2 in 2019.

How the nominees for the PGA’s 2025 Innovation Award combine cuttingedge technology and visionary concepts to create transportive experiences for audiences.

Written by Eve Weston

Do you want to be a pirate? Cast a spell? Hear from forest creatures? Understand the feelings of someone experiencing a disability—or outer space? Thanks to technical innovations, combined with creative talent, you now can.

Each one of these experiences is provided by a nominee for this year’s Producer’s Guild of America Innovation Award, which recognizes the production of a noteworthy emerging media program that significantly elevates the audience’s viewing experience. Following is a description of each piece and the producing efforts that led to these innovative, transforming works of art.

THE PIRATE QUEEN WITH LUCY LIU

Produced by Singer Studios

Allowing the player to step into the boots of the legendary pirate Cheng Shih—who led the largest and most successful pirate fleet in history—this VR game gives the player insights into Shih’s life and her road to becoming Pirate Queen by letting them move around, pick up objects and hear from characters. Shih is not the only formidable woman integral to this project. Lucy Liu voices Shih, and Emmy nominee Eloise Singer directed and produced the experience. In their fitting tribute to the pioneering Shih, Pirate Queen uses innovation in development, spatial sound, haptics and eye tracking to tell her story.

In game development, game mechanics are often determined first. Then the narrative designer writes the story to fit what a player is

Sumptuous settings (left and right) are part of The Pirate Queen’s immersive gameplaying experience.

“We were like, ‘OK, if we’re gonna start on the pontoon, how are we gonna get to the boat? Let’s row to the boat.” This led to the decision to add a rowing mechanic to the game.

“It was really refreshing to do it that way,” Singer adds, “because it felt very authentic to the narrative.”

As innovative as Pirate Queen is in its development process, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The immersive game also leverages sensory experience. One example is its use of haptics: You feel the pull of the water when you’re rowing, the resistance of the rope when you’re climbing, and the catch’s bite against the line when you’re fishing. How? Essentially, buzzers in the controllers. Another example is the game’s use of 3D spatial sound “which means, for example, if I go to the west of one of the rooms,” explains Singer, “I’ll be able to hear the wind blowing toward the ship. If I go to the other side, I’ll be able to hear the waves crashing against the side.”

The game also employs eye tracking. When you-as-Shih are throwing something in a pot, you can look at the pot, fix your eyes on it, and then when you throw, it locks in the location for accuracy.

EMPEROR

Produced by Atlas V; Coproduced by Reynard Films / France Télévisions Emperor is an interactive, narrative VR experience that invites the user to step inside the shoes of a father suffering from aphasia. You, as this father, have lost your ability to speak, and your daughter is trying to communicate with you. You are able to move around the space and use gesture-based mechanics to engage in the experience. The piece is innovative aesthetically, technically and through its approach to story.

Marion Burger wrote and directed the experience—which is based on her personal experience—with Ilan J. Cohen. With this, their first foray into virtual reality, they’ve created an impressionistic

The monochromatic milieu of Emperor underscores the sensations of aphasia that are at the heart of the interactive VR experience.

reality. The hand-drawn, monochrome landscape visually represents the father’s experience as aphasia begins to impede his writing and speech, conveying a sense of the void he may be feeling.

“The idea was not to represent everything, every environment or every asset in full 3D,” explains producer Oriane Hurard. “We used a combination of 3D assets, 2D assets, hand drawings and textures, as well as some camera mapping for the distant elements in the environment.”

Emperor also innovatively uses the idea of technical difficulty as a feature, not a bug.

“The real first interactive scene is on the table where you have to write the date,” Hurard explains. “It’s very frustrating because it doesn’t work, because writing in VR is not so easy.”

At first, the user thinks it’s difficult because the VR apparatus is not working. It then becomes apparent that the experience is designed that way. The frustration the user feels in their role

as the father character is analogous to the frustration that the director’s actual father felt dealing with aphasia. While simple in concept, it was challenging to make the interactivity work—and also not work too well. “The balance, the fine-tuning, was really difficult to achieve,” Hurard says.

While some of Emperor’s story-related innovation will be visible to the audience, one noteworthy approach is invisible. In the aforementioned writing scene, the viewer-participant discovers that they need to use their nondominant hand. Since more people are right-handed, one might assume—incorrectly—that the experience just plays the odds and defaults to a left-handed writing experience. In fact, the creators found a clever way to determine the viewer-participant’s dominant hand at the start of the experience. This information is recorded, and when it comes time for the writing interaction, the experience requires the use of the nondominant hand, supporting the story by making the task more challenging.

WHAT IF…? AN IMMERSIVE STORY

Produced by Marvel Studios / ILM Immersive / Disney+

In this game, the player takes the lead ing role in an hourlong, narrative-driven superhero journey, learning how to cast spells and more. But what’s truly magical is that the player uses their hands and eyes to interact with the world around them. This experience answers the question “What if we didn’t need game controllers anymore?” and showcases innovation in its immersivi ty, gameplay and workflow.

To appreciate its innovation, we need to understand mixed reality (MR), in which elements of the physical and dig ital worlds are blended. This is a step be yond augmented reality (AR), in which digital information is overlaid onto the real world, effectively augmenting it. MR goes beyond merely augmenting the real world; in MR, the digital and

physical elements are able to interact with each other. MR is also distinct from virtual reality (VR), in which the real world has been replaced by one that is entirely virtual.

“What really attracted us to the entire concept was bringing Marvel characters into your living room,” says executive producer Shereif Fattouh. While pass-through functionality—allowing the wearer of a VR headset to see the real world around them for safety reasons—has been on headsets for years, it was only with the release of the Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro (AVP) that true, high-quality mixed reality became available for game experiences.

“It was exciting, but really challenging because now we’re dealing with an all-new tech stack. There was no native game engine support,” Fattouh explains.

At the time, the Apple OS system didn’t support Unreal Engine, the computer graphics game engine of choice for creating 3D experiences, and/ or importing from Unreal in any sort of

native or direct way. This meant that to achieve their target fidelity, Fattouh’s team couldn’t rely on all the tools that they were familiar with. Rethinking their approach, they wrote a software program—a middleware translation, enabling their application in Unreal Engine to communicate with the AVP’s operating system—and developed a new pipeline.

Such technical innovation allowed for the innovative gesture-based mechanics, which were custom-built for the experience.

“What we ended up doing was thinking about what would be the most authentic Marvel gestures that really tied in with the fiction. Then we were able to design them from our imagination,” explains Fattouh. “(In the game), you’re going to draw spells like Doctor Strange. Now, with tracking as well as this is (in the AVP), we can do it.

“We didn’t want to do something that had been done before. We asked what you could do that’s like fantasy fulfillment.”

Gameplayers become superheroes in the interactive, mixed-reality world of What If...?

IMPULSE: PLAYING WITH REALITY

Produced by Anagram / Floréal / France Télévisions

This 40-minute VR experience leverages the mixed reality feature of the Oculus Quest headset to engage the user in a narrative experience about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) that plays out in the real physical space around them—e.g., their living room. The viewer-participant is able to move around the space and use the controllers to interact with the experience.

A production of London’s Anagram studios in partnership with Meta, the experience was cowritten and codirected by May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy, narrated by Tilda Swinton and produced by Ryan Genji Thomas.

“It’s a mixture of immersive VR and MR, mixed-reality pass through, probably 75% pass-through,” Thomas explains. “There are interactive elements as well as an overarching narrative, an artistic imagination of what it’s like to have ADHD married with the testimonials of individuals expressing their lived experience with visuals that animate in front of you as they tell their story.”

The production’s innovations—and related challenges—largely came out of creating for the Quest 3. “We developed this as the Quest 3 was getting released,” explains Kirsty Jennings, managing director at Anagram, “There’s quite a lot that wasn’t off the shelf that we’ve kind of invented to try and push what you can do with mixed reality.” The team is particularly proud of their software for real-time user interaction and their projector shader render system, which projects textures onto 3D surfaces, allowing for effects like projected shadows and stylized lighting.

“The software development kit features bundled by Meta have very strict limitations guided by privacy concerns,” says Murphy. Challenging restrictions include a lack of UVS, which is a method by which texture and correct placement of textures can be rendered onto surfaces.

Murphy describes the process as similar to pattern cutting when making physical garments. “UVS determines where each color pixel’s infor mation sits on any given mesh.” This is where the custom-built projector shader render system came into play, which forced the image desired by the creators to sit on top of the pass-through layer.

“This gave an uncanny effect of light passing through the space, creating another level of immer siveness that speaks directly to the animal brain of a viewer,” says Murphy, referencing what is also known as the “reptilian brain.” That’s what controls basic survival functions like breathing, heart rate and immediate fight-or-flight responses. Murphy’s figurative usage indicates that the intention here is to appeal to the viewer’s instinctive response rather than their capacity for complex thought.

Impulse delivers an interactive VR experience of what it is like to live with ADHD.

The Critterz critters were the result of dozens of iterations rendered by OpenAl’s DALL-E AI, by way of a series of creative prompts and, ultimately, human fine-tuning.

CRITTERZ

Produced by Native Foreign Critterz, an animated science documentary-turned-comedy—while not virtual reality or mixed reality—is definitely the harbinger of a new reality. It is a first-ofits-kind film whose imagery was entirely generated with OpenAl’s DALL-E AI.

“We asked how can we utilize normal, traditional techniques, but bring AI into the workflow and use this as a tool,” recalls Chad Nelson, writer and director of Critterz and cofounder of production company Native Foreign.

The process began with simple prompting, with Nelson describing characters he wanted to see with nothing more than entering text like, “a red, furry spider hangs from a tree in a misty forest.” DALL-E would generate an image based on the prompt, which Nelson would fine-tune by entering additional prompts.

“It was like talking to a sketch artist over and over for dozens and dozens of generations,” Nelson says. “I finally got a spider that I kind of liked. Then I would work on the eyes, I’d work on the mouth, and iterate and iterate and iterate until I got to the point where I was like, ‘Yeah, this is actually matching

ing the visuals at a faster rate. Doing so proved an excellent case study for the saying “time is money.”

“I’ve heard numbers from $200,000 to $300,000 a minute for a Pixar or DreamWorks film,” says Nelson, “We came in under $10,000 a minute.”

Nelson is quick to point out that Critterz isn’t Pixar quality. But it shows that for commercial or inde pendent production, new voices can be heard and stories told that may not have been told before.

Whereas the same budget would have allowed Nelson to explore only five or six character designs in the traditional way before he ran out of money, DALL-E allowed him to explore closer to hundreds of designs.

And iterating isn’t the only thing that was done quickly. “We had two weeks of preproduction, then two and a half weeks to do all the animation in post,” Nelson says. “So, about a month to build the film.”

ORBITAL

Produced by: Cosm Studios / Planetary Collective / Kuva

Orbital conveys to Cosm theatergoers “the overview effect” of gazing down on Earth from low-Earth orbit.

Then Nelson and his team applied tried-and-true animation techniques with Unreal Engine, using facial performance capture to do the lip sync and After Effects to do all the background animations. Real-life writers wrote the script, and real actors voiced the characters. The team used AI only for iterat-

The team at Cosm, an experiential media and immersive technology company, has managed to fit the epic journey from the big bang to the flourishing of life on Earth into a dome theater. Orbital, a film by Guy Reid and Planetary Collective, is the first planetarium film made at 12K+ resolution. It uses NASA datasets to recreate the feeling of seeing Earth for the first time. But the technical accomplishments do not include the innovation the team is

most proud of. Orbital was inspired by author Frank White’s work on “the overview effect” (and his book by the same name)—the profound shift in perspective and awareness that astronauts experience when viewing Earth from space. It’s often characterized as a feeling of awe, interconnectedness, and a deep appreciation for the planet’s fragility and beauty when seen as a single entity against the vast backdrop of outer space.

Andy Merkin, director of creative productions at Cosm, explains that the team developed a creative treatment specifically to address the recollections of actual astronauts.

“Only 681 (astronauts) have ever seen this view,” Merkin explains. “How do we bring three or four hundred people to space and show them that overview effect? It’s a very complex feeling.”

To make sure they were living up to their intent, the Orbital team did extensive previsualization in VR and Unreal Game Engine along with more than 40 hours in domes. The fact that Orbital, which allows the audience to gaze down on our planet from low-Earth orbit, has been launched at all COSM venues implies that the creative team feels that they’ve delivered on their intent. ¢

UNITED IN SUSTAINABILITY

Throughout our industry, guilds and unions are addressing the challenge of climate change with initiatives that are promoting sustainable practices, creating safer workplaces and telling stories that must be told.

As catastrophic climate events accelerate due to global warming, union and guild members in the entertainment industry are taking action. The greatest impact is achieved when producers, writers, directors and every department in a production feel empowered to make decisions about sustainable practices based on their training and experience, and to craft narratives that address deeper, more complex climate stories. Working together, members demonstrate that empowering everyone on a production to decarbonize, whether an independent or studio, is leading to change.

THE POWER OF COLLABORATION

Building on years of inter-guild collaboration, a kickoff meeting in March 2023 hosted by PGA Presidents Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line expanded this work into a national alliance that now regularly convenes members and staff from 16 guilds and unions as part of the Inter-Guild and Union Sustainability Alliance.

The goal of the Alliance is simple: to share knowledge, resources and best practices and to build community around forging climate solutions. Mitigating carbon emissions in our workplace and amplifying climate in culture on screen should be the priority across our industry.

The Inter-Guild and Union Clean Energy

AS EVIDENCED BY THE RECENT FIRES IN LOS ANGELES, THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS IS ENDANGERING ALL OF OUR LIVES AND OUR LIVELIHOODS. NOW MORE THAN EVER, IT IS TIME FOR OUR INDUSTRY TO TAKE ACTION AND PUSH FOR A CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION.

Working Group is co-led by the PGA, Teamsters, IATSE, DGA, and DGC, promoting the transition away from fossil fuels and toward innovation and the implementation of clean renewable energy sources.

A partnership between Teamsters Local 817, the PGA, and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment with support from studios paved the way toward making renewable diesel (RD)—a much cleaner and safer fuel alternative to regular diesel—available in New York. Through the efforts of this collaboration, the first public fuel station to offer RD was opened in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in January 2024 and has successfully proved demand for this low-carbon fuel.

In October 2024, a second RD pump opened in the Bronx to serve not just vehicles from the film and TV industry, but fleets from other key industries such as food distribution.

The WGA/PGA Climate Storytelling Working Group promotes education and training around creating deeper climate content for showrunners, creative producers and writers in collaboration with NRDC’s Rewrite the Future. Leaders of the group are part of the Climate Storytelling Stakeholders in Entertainment consortium of 60+ organizations involved in research, advocacy, audience engagement, development of the business case, and support for building a pipeline for climate content on screen.

Members from PGA, DGA, IATSE Locals 600 and 728, and ADG IA/Local 800 presented a panel at the 2024 Hollywood Climate Summit titled “Building a Culture of Sustainability on Set.” Leaders laid out initiatives and collaborations being undertaken by each group focusing on clean energy, climate storytelling, materials circularity and waste reduction.

A recording of the event can be found on the Hollywood Climate Summit YouTube channel. A Linktree created for the event aggregating resources from around the industry can be found at linktr.ee/sustainablehollywood.

PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA

• producersguild.org/sustainability

• producersguild.org/ sustainability-tool-kit

• lgaribay@producersguild.org

Producers provide critical support to departments, empowering them to guide all parts of a production into a

united force for sustainability. To assist in this endeavor, the Guild has launched its Producers Sustainability Tool Kit, which is free to anyone and available at producersguild.org/ sustainability. It offers valuable sustainability tips for all members of the producing team in developing projects as well as guidance on production practices from preproduction all

THE INTER-GUILD AND UNION SUSTAINABILITY ALLIANCE

• Directors Guild of America

• Directors Guild of Canada

• IATSE

• IATSE 44 Affiliated Property Craftspersons

• IATSE 52 Motion Picture Studio Mechanics

• IATSE Local 80 Motion Picture Grips, Crafts Service, Marine, First Aid Employees, and Warehouse Workers

• IATSE Local 600 International Cinematographer’s Guild

• IATSE Local 705 Motion Picture Costumers

• IATSE Local 728 Studio Electrical Lighting Technicians

• IATSE Local 729 Motion Picture Set Painters & Sign Writers

• IATSE Local 800 Art Directors Guild

• IATSE Local 829 United Scenic Artists

• IATSE Local 892 Costume Designers Guild

• Producers Guild of America

• Teamsters Local 399

• Teamsters Local 817

• Writers Guild of America East

• Writers Guild of America West

the way through to publicity and marketing.

The Producers Guild has been a leading advocate for sustainability in the entertainment industry for more than 15 years. In 2010, it collaborated with studio partners (now known as the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance) to create the Green Production Guide, designed to reduce the film, television and streaming industry’s carbon footprint and environmental impact. It includes a worldwide database of vendors that provide sustainable goods and services, all accessible at greenproductionguide.com.

Under the continuing leadership of Lydia Dean Pilcher and Mari Jo Winkler, cochairs of the PGA Sustainability Task Force, the PGA represented in 2015 the entertainment industry efforts in the Paris Agreement at COP21, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) annual global summit. This landmark convening marked the long-term goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C as the global benchmark for climate action.

Leading into COP26 in 2021, the PGA issued a call for the industry to transition to clean energy to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, emphasizing the need for clean energy and protection of the health and safety of cast and crew.

The PGA also participates in the Entertainment & Culture for Climate Action (ECCA) Film & Television convened by UNFCCC to support international industries’ contributions to climate action.

PGA’s Producers on Producing Sustainably events have trained a spotlight on how the producers of films and TV shows such as Everything Everywhere All at Once, Joker: Folie à Deux, Nope and True Detective: Night Country successfully brought sustainability into their storylines and sets. Recordings of these sessions are available to PGA members.

By the 2023 awards season, the Producers Guild fully eliminated all physical screeners and expanded its collaboration with Indee in creating a dedicated screener platform for its awards submitters and members.

Producers Guild members can attend bimonthly sustainability office hours on Zoom, where they can share questions and ideas about current trends and increasing sustainable practices on their productions.

As evidenced by the recent fires in Los Angeles, the global climate crisis is endangering all of our lives and our livelihoods. Now more than ever, it is time for our industry to take action and push for a clean energy transition, use our climate storytelling voices to educate and inspire, and implement the changes needed for a sustainable future.

DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA

• dga.org/the-guild/committees/special/ sustainable-future-committee

Founded in 2022, the Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Sustainable Future Committee works to empower DGA teams with a climate action plan to promote clean energy and decarbonization of their work and workplaces. Reduction of plastic and landfill waste that productions generate is also a priority.

“Filmmaking is the act of focusing a spectrum of efforts toward a single shared goal. In exactly the same way, immense collaboration and coordination are needed to transform our wasteful and polluting business-as-usual into a sustainable production model,” says committee cochair Mari Jo Winkler.

The committee has presented member-facing panel events on clean energy, strategies for eliminating paper and plastic, and climate storytelling as a climate solution. It partnered with BAFTA/Albert on a bespoke training for all DGA members.

DGA Pro-Tips for Sustainable Production, available at dga. org, offers tools to support a climate action plan for any production. Tools include the Emissions/Cost Optimizer, a user-friendly Excel doc for calculating the emissions and cost comparison of diesel generators versus clean energy.

Articles in the members area of the DGA site and in the DGA Quarterly magazine have covered clean mobile power planning, renewable diesel and climate offsets for travel.

The DGA commissioned a Net Zero by 2050 assessment and is now examining the report’s tiered action items to meet that goal for its West Coast offices and operations. The guild has also made a commitment to eliminate red meat in awards catering and repurposing unused meals back to the community via Everyday Action (EDA), a nonprofit that distributes leftover food from productions to local people in need. EDA provides an extra layer of liability insurance that fully releases the production of any legal ownership of or responsibility for the excess food.

In the DGA’s 2023 negotiations, it won the right to annual meetings with senior studio leadership in production, content and sustainability. The goal is better understanding of each studio’s organization and methodologies on sustainable production and climate storytelling to better inform and educate DGA members about studio policies and practices.

DIRECTORS GUILD OF CANADA

• dgcgreen.ca

The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) National Sustainability & Climate Action Committee was created in 2020 to examine the challenges and opportunities to achieve sustainable productions across all regions in Canada. The work of the committee is guided by the pillars of “lead, empower and advocate” to change the culture of filmmaking and screen production, mobilize DGC membership, and become leaders in climate action.

The committee aims to empower DGC members to progressively adopt sustainable practices on production

sets or in the studio with the goal of making their jobs more efficient and rewarding. A robust set of resources—including the group’s Power Budgeting Tool and Materials Carbon Calculator, Top Tips for Climate Action broken down by production departments, and a list of green vendors—are available on the committee’s website.

Another resource championed by DGC is the Reel Green Production Training program offered by the BC Film Commission. These free online sessions are offered throughout the year for industry professionals no matter where they are. Find out more and sign up at creativebc.com/reel-green.

IATSE & IATSE INTERLOCAL

In October 2024, IATSE members from a number of locals came together for an Interlocal Spooky Swap, an event focused on reallocating kit items to members who need them as well as collections for e-waste, textiles and paint.

The successful event was hosted by Ecoset—a reuse center in Los Angeles where nonprofits, artists, theaters, schools and individuals can receive valuable materials for no cost including sets, flats, furniture, decor, home goods, lumber, art materials and expendables. It was one of the first large-scale collaborations between the interlocal green/sustainability committees.

Materials that were kept out of landfills included paint, textiles, electronics, batteries, cell phones, light bulbs and laptops. Additionally, 41 pounds of screeners were collected to be recycled with GreenDisk, which turns disk plastics into viable polycarbonate for making automotive parts, household appliances and 3D printing filament.

Green/eco committees from various locals have also hosted an eco booth at “IA All-In” mixers attended by thousands of union members. These committees have helped facilitate sustainability panels at events like SXSW, International Production Design Week and Production Designers Gathering.

The IATSE Green Committee is made up of members from a variety of crafts from across the US and Canada. It offers education and advocacy for individuals, productions and locals to promote sustainability in all aspects of the entertainment industry.

IATSE LOCAL 44 AFFILIATED PROPERTY CRAFTSPERSONS

• instagram.com/iatselocal44sustainability

• Local44green@gmail.com

The Local 44 Sustainability Committee, led by Sarai Sosa and Amy Wallenberg, was formed in fall 2023 to help members create an environmentally conscious workplace through education and community engagement. Recent initiatives include “greening” Local 44 meetings and industry events by establishing systems to help eliminate single-use plastics and

ensure the practice of recycling and composting.

The committee’s Instagram features videos showcasing waste diversion efforts at events. A Linktree lists industry guides and educational resources that range from practical tips for sustainability at home to best practices for sustainability in the workplace and information about local food pantries. Visit it at linktr.ee/iatsel44sustainability.

“We are inspired and motivated by our ongoing communications with our sister locals and guild’s green committees through quarterly Zoom meetings and active Discord and Slack workspaces,” says Sosa.

Plans for the future include developing a system for the collection of plastic film on set and in prop houses, and helping to implement a sustainability course, possibly through the IATSE Training Trust Fund. “We have a long list of ideas and plans and welcome others to join us in helping do the work needed to achieve all of our goals,” says Wallenberg.

IATSE LOCAL 52 MOTION PICTURE STUDIO MECHANICS

• iatselocal52.org

• Local52Green@gmail.com

The Local 52 Green Committee aims to promote a dialogue concerning the waste created within our industry and to further initiatives that help its members to be a part of the solution rather than the problem.

The local’s ongoing efforts include creating a set of practical guides to serve as a template for a sustainable wrap, and directing members to local resources such as Earth Angel, Materials for the Arts, and Build It Green, which aid in greening our sets from preproduction to wrap.

Local 52 is also researching a Green Fund option for its 401(k) plan that is free of fossil fuel investments and laying out a path toward developing a union sustainability position for future contracts.

The Green Committee encourages Local 52 members to participate in collaborations with other locals across interguild sustainability efforts such as e-waste recycling events. Committee members are eager to partner with professionals outside of IATSE, especially producers, who are invited to contact them about how to make sets greener.

IATSE LOCAL 80 MOTION PICTURE GRIPS, CRAFTS SERVICE, MARINE, FIRST AID EMPLOYEES, AND WAREHOUSE WORKERS

• iatselocal80.org

• info@eathealthycrafty.com

IATSE Local 80—which includes crafts service, grips and set medics—is in a unique position to reduce waste in regard to food service and water bottles on set. Its Green Committee was established in February 2024.

person skills training class at the local, sponsored by Contract Services. The committee has created a Best Sustainable Practices for Crafts Service (Food Service) Guide and a PlantBased Foodware Resource Guide.

While these guides are hosted on the members-only side of Local 80’s website, committee leaders are happy to share them with producers seeking ideas on how to improve sustainability in their food service on set, according to committee chair Terri Freedman.

Sustainability tips and education regarding state laws and local ordinances are provided in the monthly Local

80 newsletter, which is publicly available at iatselocal80. org. Anyone can sign up for a monthly email that lists sustainability- and entertainment-related Zoom gatherings, webinars and in-person events.

The Local 80 hall and stage is equipped with dedicated blue recycling bins and bins for organic waste recycling. Bins on the stage allow for three-stream waste disposal, and a bucket for discarding liquids keeps the receptacles dry. A water dispenser is provided for general membership meetings and classes. With the supplementation of aluminum canned water, thousands of single-use plastic bottles have been saved.

Members of IATSE locals further sustainability through networking, recycling and waste collection, and environmental stewardship.

IATSE LOCAL 600 INTERNATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHERS GUILD

• icg600.com/my600/member-resources/sustainability-corner

• instagram.com/600sustainability

• 600sustainability@gmail.com

After IATSE’s Education and Training Department presented a webinar titled “The Impact of Climate Change on IATSE Worker Safety and Health,” the Local 600 Sustainability Committee realized that climate change needed to be framed in the context of on-set crew health and safety—a core tenet of the Local 600 mission statement, which states that the union fights effectively for a safe workplace.

The committee, founded in 2019, set out to define a safe workplace as one free from environmental hazards such as air pollution, heat stroke conditions and UV radiation exposure.

Using this new framework, the union’s National Executive Board passed the Local 600 Sustainability Resolution in February 2024, which declares a commitment to the safety of their crews by encouraging and endorsing carbon-neutral productions through sustainable on-set practices.

In the Fall of 2024, Local 600 partnered with Ecoset in Los Angeles to develop a camera expendables reuse program to encourage materials circularity.

“I feel items should have another place to go after they are used, and hopefully that place is somewhere other than a landfill,” says Alex Coyle, a Western Region Member of the Sustainability Committee.

Allison Elvove, Western Region Chair of the Committee, looks at the solution as being both top-down—where decision-makers budget for sustainability—and bottom-up, where crew are empowered to speak up about their wishes to be more sustainable.

For instance, camera assistants are trained to have many battery backups and to continuously charge. This can often lead to overpreparation, such as requesting a generator too big for maximum efficiency or charging batteries all weekend when turning on the truck the day before shooting might suffice.

“It’s really important that we promote a culture of open communication surrounding sustainability on set,” says Elvove. “If every department talks more with each other, then Transpo will not need to go on multiple runs for a single cable or one lens. Preproduction planning and proper wrap-out time are key to decreasing waste generation.”

LOCAL 705 MOTION PICTURE COSTUMERS

• instagram.com/local705greenroom

• Greencommittee705@gmail.com

Local 705 works closely on sustainability efforts with the Costume Designers Guild (whose sustainability initiatives are listed later in this article). An effort benefiting members of both unions—and the productions they work on—is the Green Room, founded in 2022 by 705 Green Committee Chair Georgina Curtis as a space for reusing and

IF WE CAN SAVE PRODUCTION MONEY THROUGH REUSING MATERIALS, ASKING FOR AND FINDING BUYBACK PROGRAMS, REDUCING OUR TRASH AND CARBON FOOTPRINT, AND FINDING MORE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS, IT MIGHT NOT JUST BE THE CLIMATE WE ARE SAVING, BUT OUR JOBS, TOO.” Amanda Smith, chair of the Local 729 Sustainability Committee

A diagram by Local 829 depicting sustainability touchpoints on a typical film or TV production.

recycling costume kit items.

“The Green Room saves money for producers. If reuse of more items was encouraged in our community and on sets, we would have less waste and we would spend less by not continuously buying the same items,” says Curtis.

While the Green Room—located at 705’s Los Angeles office—is only open to members of 705 and 892, Curtis invites producers to reach out to discuss ways that costuming can be more environmentally and financially sustainable on their productions.

LOCAL 728 STUDIO ELECTRICAL LIGHTING TECHNICIANS

• iatse728.org

The Eco Committee of IATSE Local 728 identifies energy solutions that reduce climate impact and improve crew health and safety.

During a panel on sustainable production at the 2024 Hollywood Climate Summit, committee chair Max Schwartz explained how on-set generators, which can be as loud as 90 decibels, threaten hearing and impact production. Silent, emissionless generators are not only safer for crew ears, they are more suitable for tunnels, residential streets or national parks, where dripping oil and fumes are major concerns.

Newer technology can also help reduce injury. “There’s less toll on your back when you’re not laying down 60- to 70-pound cable for hundreds of feet,” Schwartz said.

In 2023, Local 728 presented a showcase of sustainable power solutions for sets, including portable power stations, an electric camera car and large zero-emission batteries. Demos proved how these products are able to power the largest lights for many hours, and how fast setup can go when lengths of cable aren’t needed. A small electric generator can be planted right next to video village. Overnight trucks and entire base camps can be powered with clean energy.

The Eco Committee is also working to alleviate concerns about jobs being usurped. Systems have to be built around these energy sources to keep power consistent. And for that, expert handling is still required.

“We have rigorous classes to make the most proficient set lighting technicians in the world, and we’re working on creating classes around this technology,” said Schwartz.

With education, the Eco Committee is hoping that Local 728 members will feel more comfortable asking producers to invest in this equipment because they can clearly explain the benefits. New tech may be pricier, but it also mitigates costs— for example, saving thousands of dollars in diesel fuel while safeguarding the well-being of the people who work with it.

LOCAL 729 SET PAINTERS & SIGN WRITERS

• instagram.com/sustainablehollywoodpainters

• sustainability@ialocal729.org

“If we can save production money through reusing materials, asking for and finding buyback programs, reducing our trash and carbon footprint, and finding more sustainable products, it might not just be the climate we are saving, but our jobs, too,” says Amanda Smith, chair of the Local 729 Sustainability Committee.

Smith explains that the committee has been focused on alternatives to hazmat disposal, which is typical for leftover paint, such as paint recycling through state-run

WE FEEL WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR WASTE, SO WE SEE IT AS OUR DUTY TO ENSURE THAT OUR WASTE IS REUSED IN THE MOST RESPONSIBLE WAY POSSIBLE.”

Julia Chase, cochair of the CDG Sustainability Committee

Edward T. Morris (Local USA 829) used recycled or repurposed materials for a stage production of School House Rock Live.

programs like PaintCare. While the group has identified moresustainable products to use, additional progress could be made if several productions did trial runs with these alternatives to provide data regarding savings on costs and materials. Sometimes extra space is all that’s necessary for paint to be stored until wrap, so that it can go to a recycler versus hazmat waste disposal.

“It would be great to have producers’ support from the top to do this in a more sustainable way and say, ‘Let us help you find someplace to hold the thing until you can get it to the recycler, rather than pour it down the drain,’” says Todd Moore, a sustainable production professional and former IATSE 729 member.

Moore hosted a tour for Art Directors Guild Sustainability Committee members to examine and learn about new sustainable materials and print processes that he helped source for the Universal Sign Shop.

“We found cost-comparable products that were 100% recycled vinyl, non-PVC print vinyl, and 100% recycled acrylic sheets,” says Moore. “We’ve found replacements for gator foam that are paper-based and recyclable, rather than foam-based. People now know that they can request those at sign shops.”

Front Porch Sessions presented by the committee help educate peers by bringing experienced paint leads to demonstrate finishing techniques with nontoxic materials.

The committee has compiled a “Ten Simple Things” list that can be posted in paint shops to remind crew that basic habits can go a long way. These include reducing and reusing rags, buckets, brushes, roller sleeves and solvents, and following proper disposal procedures (including recycling when offered) for paint and solvent waste.

LOCAL 800 ART DIRECTORS GUILD

• adg.org

• adg800green@gmail.com

The ADG Green Committee was formed after the ADG Education Department and a group of green-minded members hosted their first Sustainability Symposium in 2023. The committee is committed to making positive and lasting changes in the film, television and entertainment industry, and promoting a more sustainable art department by providing resources, education, eco-friendly solutions and partnerships among a multitude of industry crafts, vendors and producers.

The committee is developing a go-to database of materials that have been vetted for eco-friendliness and usability by art departments and such departments as construction, paint, props and set dec. It is also creating a guide for its 800 members to utilize on the ground when searching for recycling/buyback vendors for wrap.

Connecting with vendors and organizations that promote

circularity is also a focus to ensure that resources end up in the hands of professionals who need them, rather than in a landfill. Representatives from green-minded companies such as Urbanjacks, The Good Plastic Company and Lifecycle Building Center have presented during the local’s monthly meetings.

Believing that it is important to visualize the impact our industry has on the environment, the committee is collecting and presenting information in an easy-to-digest format for bolstering conversations about ways to improve sustainability.

The committee is also working to connect with producers and the studios’ environmental teams to empower art departments’ green efforts and align them with company green goals.

As part of a commitment to coordinating green efforts with the green committees of other locals, Local 800 intends to present a resolution at the next IATSE District 2 convention calling for the creation of a director of sustainability. The union is also making plans to host another Sustainability Symposium for the public this year.

LOCAL USA 829 UNITED SCENIC ARTISTS

• usa829.org/safety-and-education/sustainability-resources • sustainability@usa829.org

The Local United Scenic Artists (USA) 829 Sustainability Committee was formed in 2021 after a chapter on sustainable design was written into a handbook compiled by the union’s best practices committee.

In 2023, the Local Union Executive Board hired consulting firm Green Spark Group to conduct an environmental impact study on its members in the workplace, out of which key metrics and recommendations were outlined in an educational tool available to anyone on the Local 829 website.

In 2024, Committee Chair Anu Schwartz represented USA 829 at the Production Designers Gathering, where he served as a panelist for a seminar on sustainable design. An international coalition of sustainable designers was formed out of that event.

Over the years, the committee has conducted training seminars on sustainable design in both live performance and motion pictures. A suite of resources on sustainable production best practices is freely available on the group’s website. These resources include case studies, research papers, green vendor lists, and organizations offering materials exchange and recycling, with breakout sections for live performance, sound, lighting and projection.

LOCAL 892 COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD

• usa829.org/safety-and-education/sustainability-resources

• SustainableCDG@gmail.com

The mission of the Costume Designers Guild Sustainability Committee is to inspire members to make informed choices

and to continually evolve their design process with interconnectedness in mind.

To this end, the CDG textile recycling program gathers material from members to send to specialty recyclers in North America. Because the textile recycling industry is still in its early stages, fiber-to-fiber recycling is limited to a few fiber types. The rest is broken down into “shoddy,” which is used in a variety of applications including stuffing and insulation.

Until there is a robust recycled-fiber market, there isn’t enough profit to cover the cost of recycling. It can cost between 30 cents and $3 per pound for sorting, shipping and processing textiles into fiber. CDG pays to cover these costs as part of its program.

“We feel we are responsible for our waste, so we see it as our duty to ensure that our waste is reused in the most responsible way possible,” says Julia Chase, cochair of the CDG Sustainability Committee. “Supporting textile circularity, especially in these early stages, reduces the impact of the consumption necessary to do our work and paves the way for greater changes outside of the industry.”

The CDG maintains a textile recycling guide for designers to help them make informed purchasing decisions based on what is currently recyclable. The committee is eager to foster more engagement on circularity by consulting with designers and expanding industry connections with local resources.

“We plan to do much more, and we’re going to need the assistance of producers to transform our practices toward a brighter future with deeply meaningful change,” Chase adds. “We are happy to consult with producers and designers to learn what has or has not worked in the past. Sustainability is an industrywide collaborative effort.”

WGA EAST

• wgaeast.org

• dweissman@wgaeast.org

The Writers Guild of America East offers briefings to members from climate storytellers and organizations such as the NRDC, the Norman Lear Center at USC and the World Wildlife Fund to inspire and educate members.

The guild also offers specialized training at the annual Showrunner Academy to instruct executive producers on TV/streaming projects with regard to greening their sets and reducing their overall carbon footprint.

The WGA East website offers anyone access to a research guide with trusted references for creators to consult when developing and writing projects. The “Science” section of the guide lists contact information for organizations that can help writers and producers who want to tell stories about climate change and the environment.

Operationally, the guild’s GreenerScreen program has drastically reduced waste associated with FYC materials that

The first public fuel station to offer renewable diesel opened in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in January 2024.

are mailed to WGA East members.

“I’m proud of the bridge WGAE and the PGA have cocreated for climate storytellers in both of our professional communities,” says Dana Weissman, director of programs and education. “I look forward to offering more opportunities for connection and resources for inspiration and accuracy.”

WGA WEST

• www.wga.org/writers-room/on-the-web/guilds-organizations/ climate-crisis-take-action

The WGA West Climate Action group began its work in spring of 2022. Before then, WGAW members had been interested in both climate storytelling and sustainable production, but hadn’t been formally organized. WGAW members Jessica Poter, Jenny Lynn and Dorothy Fortenberry currently lead the group. They invite guild members to engage with them about climate change.

“We host periodic collaborative workshops with climate storytelling initiatives like Good Energy, the NRDC, and the behavioral scientists at RARE, while also promoting green practices in the room and on-set with companies like Scriptation,” says Fortenberry.

During the 2023 WGA writers strike, the Climate Action group worked with the guild to ensure water coolers were available at strike locations so that members could bring reusable bottles from home and minimize plastic waste.

The group also worked to add green production and climate storytelling to the WGA Showrunner Training Program, allowing new showrunners concerned about the climate to hit the ground running. Resources are available on the WGA website to inform guild members and nonmembers alike about ways that climate-friendly themes and practices can be incorporated into storytelling and the workplace. ¢

Spotlight on:

SET ETIQUETTE TRAINING

Set Etiquette Training provides eligible independent productions access to free harassment-prevention training, and two hours of free legal consultation related to the training. These trainings are designed to establish a culture on set such that harassment and other abusive conduct are prevented from occurring.

Trainings are:

· led by an experienced attorney.

· tailored to each production’s needs.

· conducted during preproduction for the full production team, cast and crew.

· approximately one hour in length.

Each training session is interactive and unique to help foster a culture of respect on your set.

Please note: Set Etiquette Training does not satisfy any legal obligations the production company may have to conduct anti-harassment training.

Applications for training are accepted on a rolling basis. Visit producersguild.org/set-etiquette-training to apply.

Sample Forms to Customize for Your Productions

The Producers Guild also makes available the following forms on its website, which can be customized for your production:

· A Code of Conduct

· Set Responders Guidelines and Incident Log

ONE ON ONE

Trench love

Travel productions, with their long days, daunting logistics and tight schedules, are no one’s idea of a vacation. But connections with local cultures and crew help compensate for the fast-paced frenzy.

Intro by Hugh Hart

Rick Steves popularized travel TV in the 1990s on PBS, and the late Anthony Bourdain gave it edge with his brash No Reservations and Parts Unknown shows starting in 2005. Since then, travel TV has emerged as a mini genre all its own, pegged to charming hosts, vivid locations and quirky interview subjects.

When entertainers like Stanley Tucci, Conan O’Brien, Eugene Levy, Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal or Top Chef judge Padma Lakshmi visit distant locales, camera crews in tow, their encounters with local personalities may look and feel spontaneous, but every minute of breezy chitchat requires weeks of preparation.

For example, before comedic actor-turned-travel show host Rainn Wilson found himself in the rainforest of Thailand hosing down elephants at an animal refuge during an episode of his 2023 Peacock series Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, producer Melissa Wood and her team needed to decide on the destination, figure out how to transport the crew to

the remote location, and juggle several other segments within a tight seven-day shooting schedule.

To explore the rigors of travel TV, Produced By brought together Wood and Michael Indjeian for a candid conversation. Wood earned an International Documentary Awards nomination for Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston before producing Rainn Wilson’s show, which chronicled his visits to Bulgaria, Ghana, Iceland, Thailand and Los Angeles.

Indjeian, along with series producer Sylvia Camine, won an Emmy (garnering three additional nominations) for producing six seasons of Samantha Brown’s Places to Love. The PBS hit follows the perky New Hampshire-bred host to China, New Zealand and Europe plus picturesque North American locales ranging from the Great Smoky Mountains to Montana’s Big Sky country.

Here, Wood and Indjeian share their thoughts on the power of “trench love,” the future of travel TV and the challenge of putting out fires when best-laid plans go awry.

(This conversation has been edited for clarity.)

Rainn Wilson’s office was the world for his travel show

The Geography of Bliss

Above: Samantha Brown on location for a Jersey Shore Places to Love episode.

CULTIVATING THE RIGHT MINDSET

MICHAEL: When I first started on Samantha Brown, I had never done a travel show before, but I had a great deal of experience in the corporate world, including HBO, Hertz, Gap and Pepsi, shooting commercials and making features (including 2022’s Follow Her), so I just approached it with the mentality of “fill in the gaps.” From the show’s inception, there were no guidelines in place, so that was challenging.

After the show’s first season, we got quite strategic on estimating the amount of time necessary per scene, per day, per episode. Even with a logistically strong plan in place, flexibility is always factored in during preproduction.

For instance, during our British Virgin Islands episode in season three, the show was crafted as a catamaran sailing adventure navigating from island to island. For one scene, we decided to have an underwater camera operator capture some unique perspectives while Samantha was snorkeling in the sea. The episode turned out to be absolutely epic.

MELISSA: I’d done international shows on National Geographic, but they were driven by journalists who needed to cover a story. With Geography of Bliss, our quest was to find … bliss. The challenge was to find authentic people who hadn’t been on TV already but could get in front of a camera, be themselves and share that feeling of happiness with Rainn.

MICHAEL: When I preinterviewed people for our show, I had to be 100% transparent to establish trust with the guests so that later, when we showed up with cameras and lights, they’d feel comfortable. Before we went to China

“I’D ALWAYS LAUGH WHEN PEOPLE WOULD SAY, ‘HAVE FUN ON YOUR TRIP.’ I’M LIKE, I’M GOING TO WORK! WHEN YOU CAN, YOU TAKE A MOMENT AND PEEK OUT, GRAB A BITE TO EAT OR JUST EXPERIENCE WHERE YOU ARE AND SAVOR THE MOMENT. ”

—MICHAEL INDJEIAN

to film shows in Xi’an and Shanghai, I’d start my day very early and go very late with fixers. In Xi’an, we found an archaeologist who gave us access to a lower level of the Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum. People travel from around the globe to get to this level, but we were able to get Samantha face-to-face with some of these ancient terra-cotta warriors they were restoring. It was an incredible cultural experience.

WHEN THINGS GO SIDEWAYS

MELISSA: On Geography of Bliss, we had planned to go to Moldova and Finland. We were about four weeks away and a good amount of work had been prepped, but then Russia invaded Ukraine. Moldova shares a border with Ukraine, so it was out of the question. Finland’s supposed to be one of the happiest places on Earth, but it shares a border with Russia.

We were like, “If we film this now and then a year from now Russian tanks show up on the border of Finland, this is not going to be evergreen storytelling.” We had to pivot and find other stories, which is why we went to Iceland and Bulgaria. It’s kind of an adrenaline rush because your creative mind has to work harder when you’re under pressure and dealing with restrictions.

MINDING THE DETAILS

MELISSA: Ideally it takes several weeks to prep a show and roughly one week to shoot. We would do two countries back to back. We had local fixers who helped with language barriers and could track down people if we gave them an idea of what we were

looking for. They played a big role in explaining cultural issues or rules.

For example, when we went to film in Prampram, a coastal village in Ghana, we first needed to get formal permission in person from the village chief on the day of filming. That’s nerve-racking of course, but to show respect for the local culture, this is how it had to be done. There was a traditional script that we went through to ask the chief for permission, and then we participated in what’s called a water ceremony, which honors the ancestors and also blesses our crew.

As an American, you have to keep your eyes open and respond to what you see when you land rather than being stuck on the story you created when you were back in the U.S. We realized in Bulgaria, from going to their parks, just how important nature is to their culture, so we asked our

participants about that and filmed in as many parks as possible.

In Accra (Ghana), we saw how important the Makola shopping market was. It’s a place to not only buy things, but also to really get a sense of daily life in that area and see how people connect with each other. The same went for the night markets in Thailand. It’s these little things that come from being in a place and seeing them with your own eyes that helps you realize what’s important to the local people.

MICHAEL: You need to be extremely organized. I use Google spreadsheets, and I’m constantly making lists because the clock is always ticking. Getting a location release can take weeks because it needs to go through lawyers. Getting a drone permit takes time. Sometimes I draw maps. We’re going from here to there. How are we going

to schedule 10 locations in four days? What are the distances? Where are we stopping for lunch? How are we dealing with breakfast? Does the hotel have an ice maker? We need water for the crew. We have to have snacks. If we’re shooting in a desert, is there a restroom nearby? If we’re going someplace cold, do we have hand warmers? I’d love to have two weeks to prepare a show. Sometimes it’s 10 days, sometimes a week. There are so many things to think about. I want the shoot to be a seamless, safe environment so the host and our camera people and our director can connect with people they’re meeting for the first time.

MELISSA: In Bulgaria, we wanted to explore the fact that there’s a huge population loss in the countryside, so we found a website that helps people

Michael Indjeian on location in Xi’an, China, during season one of Places to Love.

who want to work on a farm. That’s how we reached out to this wonderful woman, Ejo Kirilova, who lived on a farmstead and was looking for workers.

To get ready for our trip to Ghana, we saw something on the web about this cocoa bean farmer. Her name was Doris Korkor Nyame, and she was trained by a nonprofit to incorporate sustainable farming practices into her business. Ahead of our trip, our local fixer visited Doris on her farm to learn more about her and make sure we’d logistically be able to manage filming there. The farm itself was north of Accra through quite challenging roads and terrain.

ON THE ROAD

MICHAEL: When you’re on the road, loading all the gear into the truck each

time you change hotels takes a lot of time. Even if you have to peel yourself off the bed at 4 in the morning just to make that two-hour drive, shoot all day in the elements, get back in the car, make the two-hour drive back, and do it all over again the next day, it’s wonderful if you can stay in one place for like four days. I always lobby for going a day early, but there is a financial commitment for hotels and stuff like that.

MELISSA: Shooting in the States is 100 times easier logistically. In Bulgaria, we stayed in Sofia, and Ejo’s place was about two hours away. We didn’t want to do a company move where you pack up everything and move to a different hotel. So we used a small cargo van that drove us out there, stayed for the day and then came back to our hotel. We brought the director, the DP, the

second camera, sound, an assistant camera, our DIT, and probably four in our fixer team. We wanted a small footprint, three or four people, but when you’re in a different country, you end up getting huge. Like Michael said, you don’t want people to feel like they’re performing, so you try to be low-profile and blend in. But sometimes it’s unavoidable.

For the Thailand episode, our home base was Chiang Mai, which gave us easy access to less urban areas. But it was also an urban home base with resources. We visited a monk named Phra Vichian who was located in Wat Thung Kisua, the Chom Phu subdistrict in Chiang Mai, though if you try to Google it, you won’t find it. That was the case with a lot of Thailand locations—the names on their own are tough and we needed our fixers to make sure we were going to the right

Melissa Wood and crew in Bulgaria for an episode of Bliss in 2022.

place. We wanted to cover as much of the country and different lifestyles as possible, which involved a lot of long days and a lot of driving.

A TOUGH JOB

MICHAEL: Producing a travel show is an amazing way to see the world.

MELISSA: But it’s not a vacation. You don’t take in sunsets or go to museums and fancy restaurants. I wish we had the luxury to stick around for a few days to enjoy the locations. But every day counts on a travel doc and we’re always working on the tightest possible schedule to keep the costs from going out of control. It can get expensive fast.

But you do get to know local people in a special way because it’s a pressure cooker situation. We developed fast and deep friendships with the local production teams we worked with and the people we met. For me and for Rainn, meeting these incredible people around the world was a life-altering experience. We call it “trench love.” Like when you go to war with someone, you love your band of brothers. Well, we had trench love for every character we met and every crew member we worked with.

MICHAEL: I’d always laugh when people would say, “Have fun on your trip.” I’m like, I’m going to work! When you can, you take a moment and peek out, grab a bite to eat or just experience where you are and savor the moment. But in the back of your mind, you’re always thinking “What’s next?”

THE FUTURE OF CHARACTER-DRIVEN TRAVEL TV

MELISSA: I feel for young producers. If I were starting my career in this

climate, I don’t know if I would stick with it just because it is hard and not a lot is being bought right now. It’s a really slow time. One of the few things being funded right now are celebrity-driven projects. The distributors believe that’s a sure win to get eyeballs.

Hopefully, the pendulum will swing a bit because people still have a hunger for travel documentaries. But they’re expensive to make. The risks that were taken on new ideas a few years ago are not really happening. If you’re a producer and you know a celebrity, be sure to put them in your pitch deck. I’ve heard more distributors are open to alternative sources of funding or coproductions these days. But as with any series, a pitch needs to have a unique, fresh spin to make it sellable.

MICHAEL: Or maybe you find an influencer with 10 million followers. That’s the world we live in today.

MELISSA: Travel shows are about experience by proxy, so you do need someone to guide your audience. People mention Anthony Bourdain as being incredibly groundbreaking. They’ve been trying to match that tone and intelligence for years, but I also think that travel documentaries have been largely led by cisgender white men, Samantha Brown (and Baratunde Thurston) being an exception.

My hope for the future would be to get new voices from different backgrounds who can guide us through the world. That’s the only way you come up with something new. It’s not by trying to do Anthony Bourdain again. It’s by finding somebody with a different perspective who feels as fresh and insightful as he did. ¢

“MEETING THESE INCREDIBLE PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WAS A LIFE-ALTERING EXPERIENCE. WE CALL IT ‘TRENCH LOVE.’ LIKE WHEN YOU GO TO WAR WITH SOMEONE, YOU LOVE YOUR BAND OF BROTHERS. WELL, WE HAD TRENCH LOVE FOR EVERY CHARACTER WE MET AND EVERY CREW MEMBER WE WORKED WITH.”

—MELISSA WOOD

THE PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA THANKS THE SPONSORS OF THE

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