Pledge & Roadmap

  • Climate change is one of the most urgent threats of our time, with its impacts becoming increasingly more severe and widespread. But it’s not too late to avoid the worst consequences – if we act now, and we act together. 

    The unscripted entertainment industry has a unique role to play in helping to raise issue awareness and advance sustainable solutions. Unscripted content features real people in the real world; its themes and genres intersect with many high-impact climate solution areas; and audiences come to many of the subgenres of unscripted entertainment expecting actionable takeaway. Furthermore, sustainable production practices behind the camera can contribute to an overall culture of sustainability while also reducing carbon emissions and waste. For all these reasons and more, the unscripted industry can inspire positive change – on screen for audiences at home, and behind the scenes with creatives in our field. 

    While we have seen examples of important but isolated leadership from unscripted creators and professionals, the potential of this sector has been underestimated and underutilized. Many in our industry are aware of the severity of climate change, but they may not realize the audience demand for seeing these themes and solutions reflected in content or the various ways these issues can appear in our stories.

Mission

Our mission is to lead the unscripted industry in addressing climate change by incorporating sustainability into our content, promoting environmentally responsible production practices, and inspiring collaboration across the industry to build a more informed and engaged global audience.

Three Pillars

Production

We can lead by example in our own work. We pledge to evaluate and evolve pre-production and production practices to avoid waste, reduce emissions, and incorporate production efficiencies in our projects.

Audience

What we show on screen matters. We pledge to look for diverse and entertaining opportunities to include themes and solutions around climate and sustainability in the content we produce – from storylines that center these issues, to small moments and mentions – and will endeavor to recognize and avoid harmful on-screen representations that may promote damaging practices.

Industry

We are stronger together. We pledge to endorse these efforts within our industry, to welcome and consider ideas from our crews and employees, and to encourage our peers to join in this collective effort. 

We pledge to engage meaningfully on the above pillars and to share our learnings and insights on an ongoing basis in order to continue to advance this mission.

TAKE THE PLEDGE

  • The 2024 advisory committee members below developed the pledge and roadmap on this page:

    44 Blue Productions, Alfred Street Industries, APG Pictures, Back Roads Entertainment, Blind Nil, Boardwalk Pictures, Common Ground Studios, Critical Content, DAT’s Entertainment, Fremantle North America, Fulwell Entertainment, Intuitive Content, Jolly Octopus Entertainment, Lighthearted Entertainment, Magic Lemonade, Margot Station, MFP Inc, MGM Alternative, Evolution Media (an Amazon MGM Studios Company), Mission Control Media, MorningStar Entertainment, Range Studios, Scout Productions, Inc., Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation, Unger Media, Velvet Hammer Media (VHM), Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, Warner Bros. Unscripted Television and Wrigley Media Group, as well as key executives formerly of Participant.

Unscripted Sustainability Roadmap Overview

Statement Endorsed by the Unscripted Climate Advisory Committee

The Unscripted Climate Advisory Committee, which met over the course of 2024, has identified key areas where additional support and resources will significantly help to further our collective goal to advance sustainability in our industry and produce compelling, climate-responsible content.

We endorse the development and dissemination of:

Written materials, including those that can be integrated throughout the production timeline.

Trainings on both sustainable production practices and on-screen sustainability representations.

Resources and avenues to support ongoing industry engagement.

We have worked with Rare and Reality of Change to comprehensively detail what these assets should look like to facilitate effective and consistent use by the unscripted entertainment sector, and they will continue to spearhead the creation of these tools and resources.

Unscripted Climate Advisory Committee Members, January 2025