Grist: Climate Change on TV story references Reality of Change
Grist recently published an article on the state of climate storytelling in television, along with strategies for incorporating climate & sustainability messaging. Cyle Zezo (Reality of Change) was featured.
Here's an excerpt:
“It doesn’t necessarily need to be the ‘A’ story,” says Cyle Zezo, an executive producer specializing in non-scripted content (reality TV, documentaries, and game shows) and the former head of alternative programming at the CW Network. Zezo is now working on an initiative he’s calling Reality of Change, focusing on climate storytelling opportunities in non-scripted shows. He’ll be speaking about the idea at upcoming industry events and conferences, and is also on the board of advisors for this year’s Hollywood Climate Summit, which will feature a reality TV presence for the first time.
“I think non-scripted is such an obvious place to see this play out, because climate change is reality, and we’re talking about reality TV,” he says. In one example, Zezo worked on a cooking show called Recipe for Disaster that will debut on the CW later this year — “It’s this absurd but fun, family-friendly cooking competition show that has nothing to do with climate change,” he says. But without making it the main focus, the show’s format provided opportunities to feature climate-related challenges and plant-based cooking. Zezo says the producers also made sure to cut to shots of the compost bins on set.
“In the normal course of things, there are these elements you can incorporate that reflect where audiences already are and what they’re looking for,” he says.