Fair Game Sustainability Efforts
NY Shoot– 31 Shoot Days (April and May 2009)

THE QUICK STATS

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Change Starts At Home – Practices in the Production Office
Sharing the Load – Art Department and Set Dressing
Water, Water Everywhere – Eliminating Plastic Water Bottles On Set
Waste Not, Want Not — Composting, Recycling and Waste
A Film Without the Film – Shooting on the Red Cam
Getting Around Green – Rethinking Transportation
The Global Picture – Reflections from the International Unit
Hindsight is 20/20 – Lessons for Next Time
Appendices

Change Starts At Home: Practices in the Production Office

Informing the Crew: Along with their start paperwork, crew members were given a memo listing green practices and suggestions from the production office. Production paperwork was distributed electronically when possible – for example, we did not circulate paper copies of our pre-production schedules. Likewise, in lieu of wrap binders filled with multiple photocopies of production paperwork, our production coordinator distributed that information electronically via flash drives.

To raise awareness, the call sheet highlighted an "Environmental Fact of the Day." The directions attached to the call sheets contained Public Transportation routes to the set as well.

Recycling: Several paper recycling bins were placed in strategic areas around the office. We were able to take advantage of the New York City recycling system already in place. Also, the company that destroyed our excess confidential paperwork guaranteed that everything that was shredded was recycled.
 
In addition to paper recycling, we recycled both batteries and ink cartridges. The office had a similar recycling set up to the one on set where the office staff could toss away compostable materials and recycle plastic and aluminum.

Office Supplies: We purchased paper that contained 30% to 100% post consumer waste. Also, Tribeca Office Supply "Greener Alternatives" catalogs were passed around the office in order to encourage purchasing supplies with post consumer content.

Office Furniture and Equipment: In addition to renting furniture and equipment (including our copier, fax machine and printers) from a local vendor rather than purchasing, we borrowed items from another production that had already wrapped.

Cleaning Supplies: Seventh Generation donated boxes of recycled paper towel, recycled toilet paper and natural dish soaps and cleaners. These were used around the production office, the editorial suites, on set and in the trailers.

Kitchen: The kitchen was stocked with reusable dishware purchased at Goodwill. We requested that lunch deliveries leave out any plastic utensils and excess napkins. Great care was taken to purchase local or organic food, and the office staff was able to take advantage of the Tribeca Farmers’ Market that opened in the spring. Our coffee was free trade and organic. Similarly, we bought organic milk from a local NY farm at the Farmer’s Market in Union Square every Friday.  

Vendors:

OFFICE SUPPLIES: Tribeca Office Supply, 40 S. 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Contact: Lee Green. Phone: 718.963.1701
FARMERS’ MARKETS:
Tribeca Greenmarket (Open Wednesdays from 8A to 3P from April 1st to December 23rd, Saturdays year round): Greenwich Street at Chambers Street, www.cenyc.org
Union Square Farmers’ Market (Open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 8A to 6P, year round), www.cenyc.org
MILK: Milk Thistle Organic Dairy Farm, 170 Schmidt Road, Ghent, NY 12075. Contact: Dante Hesse. Phone: 518.567.9490
CLEANING SUPPLIES: Seventh Generation, 60 Lake Street, Burlington, VT 05401. Phone: 800.456.1191
RECYCLING OF BATTERIES & TONER CARTRIDGES:
1) Staples, 390 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10011. Phone: 212.673.1090
2) Cartridge World, 155 W. 35th Street, New York, NY 10001. Phone: 212.777.6600
SHREDDING & RECYCLING CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS: Brinks Document Destruction, 654 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Contact: Soledad. Phone: 718.422.2461

Sharing the Load: Art Department and Set Dressing

The Norm: When constructing and dismantling sets, much of the material used can end up in a dumpster.

The New: The approach with our Production Designer was to find as many practical locations as possible rather than have to build. This creative decision was largely due to time and budget; however, it had a positive effect on the environment.

We shared a shop space with another show, thus limiting the resources involved with setting up and breaking down the shop, as well as the energy used in running a shop space. We repurposed set pieces from one to the other (i.e. walls from the CIA lobby set build were repurposed to be used as walls at the CIA office set). We utilized low VOC paints and the least toxic supplies available in the paint department. We also repurposed many supplies left over from other productions.

Similarly, a majority of our set dressing was rented versus purchased. At picture lock, the left over props and set dressing will be taken to a company called FilmBiz Recycling to be donated, reused or repurposed within the film community in New York, diverting waste from going into the landfills.

We were able to donate a few set dressing items to Build It Green! NYC. Lastly, we recycled construction materials that we were unable to repurpose through Meserole Recycling.

The Numbers:

Meserole Street Recycling took 15,130 lbs (or 7.56 tons) of our set materials, including lumber, Styrofoam, metal, plastic and mixed paper.

Vendors:

RECYCLING SETS: Meserole Street Recycling Inc., 111 Gardner Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11237. Phone: 718.456.5000
SET DRESSING DONATIONS: Build It Green! NYC, 3-17 26th Avenue, Astoria, NY 11102. Phone: 718.777.0132
SET DRESSING REPURPOSING: Film Biz Recycling, 43-26 12th Street, 2nd Floor, Long Island City, 11101. Contact: Eva Radke. Phone: 718.392.3304. http://filmbizrecycling.com/index.html

Water, Water Everywhere: Eliminating Plastic Water Bottles

The Norm: Crew members have gotten used to drinking out of small plastic water bottles on set. Unfortunately, 8 out of 10 plastic water bottles in the United States become garbage or get put in a landfill. (http://www.container-recycling.org/mediafold/newsarticles/plastic/2007/5-24-DC-LandFullBottles.htm)

The New: We gave each crew member an 18 oz. stainless steel water bottle
 (100% recyclable and BPA- and toxin-free).

To fill the individual bottles, we provided 5 gallon water jugs for set, base camp, catering, craft service and the production office. Also, we had 3 gallon jugs in the Hair & Make up Trailer. These jugs were picked up by Manhattan Water Company, then cleaned and reused. The water itself was sourced in the Catskills.

Similarly, craft service used Igloo coolers filled with filtered tap water. Brita generously donated faucet filters, additional Nalgene water bottles and a faucet mount built specifically to attach a filter to an outdoor water hook up.

For 7 days at one location in Westchester, we used filtered tap water exclusively. We were able to fill the coolers and hydrate the crew using a garden hose with a filter attached.

The Numbers: We consumed approximately 1047 gallons of water from the 5 gallon jugs. That equates to roughly 7,930 16.9oz individual plastic water bottles that were never purchased. This number does not include the 7 days where we were able to drink filtered tap water.

Vendors:

WATER COOLERS AND JUGS: Manhattan Water Company, 1 State Street, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10004. Contact: Marc Dushey. Phone: 646.330.4730
STAINLESS STEEL BOTTLES: Klean Kanteen, 4345 Hedstrom Way, Chico, CA 95973. Contact: Peter Melton. Phone: 800.767.3173 ext.1-312
WATER FILTERS: Brita, via their PR Company, Edelman. Contact: Georgeanna Smith. Phone: 312.233.1271
DISHWASHER SAFE LABELS: Kenco Labels, 6585 North Sidney Place, Milwaukee, WI 53209. Contact: Aaron Karan. Phone: 800.537.3336
VELCRO LOOPS: Riptie, 883 San Leandro Boulevard, San Leandro, CA 94577. Phone: 800.348.760

Waste Not, Want Not: Composting, Recycling and Waste

The Norm: Film shoots are known to create an immense amount of waste in a short period of time.

The New: We attempted to compost and recycle every chance we could.

To facilitate this practice on set and at base camp, we used ClearStream containers – a portable waste management system. The ClearStreams were labeled in 5 categories: Recycling (Cans & Bottles), Recycling (Paper), Compost (food), Compost (dishware) and TRASH. We used compostable trash liners as well, so that we weren't throwing items that would compost into a plastic bag that would not.

For catering, we used china and silverware, and for craft service, we used only compostable dishware and cutlery (with the exception of hot cup lids, which are currently unavailable in compostable form). These products needed to be composted in a commercial facility; our carting company dropped them off at Converted Organics, along with our food waste. In turn, Converted Organics turned all of this material into an all-natural, organic fertilizer.

In addition to composting food waste, we were able to donate a fair amount of extra food that would've otherwise been thrown out through a program called Rock It and Wrap It Up! We sent them our location list, and they found programs near our shooting locations that were in need of help. We would call their local contact when we had enough food to make a contribution, and the local program would come to set to pick up the donation.

Vendors:

WASTE REMOVAL: Chelrae Carting LLC, 841 Barretto Street, Box 14, Bronx, NY 10474. Contact: Laurel Greeman. Phone: 347.862.3977
RECYCLING: Falso Carting Inc., 97 Bruckner Blvd. Bronx, NY 10454. Phone: 718.292.0649
COMPOST: Converted Organics, 75 Crows Mill Road, Keasbey, NJ 08832. Phone: 908.202.1589
RECYCLING RECEPTACLES: Cleartainers, Inc., 6420 W. 127th Street, Unit 212, Palos Heights, IL 60463. Contact: Teresa Sykes. Phone: 800.872.8241x114
COMPOSTABLE DISHWARE: Ecoproducts, 4755 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO 80301. Phone: 303.449.1876
COMPOSTABLE TRASH BAGS: Kathy Yavarkovsky, Inc. (aka "Fast Kathy"), 4018 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11232. Contact: Dominic. Phone: 212.775.7794
GREEN PRODUCTS/CONSULTING: Green Media Solutions, 1560 Broadway, Suite 615, New York, NY 10036. Contact: Katie Carpenter. Phone: 917.355.4074
FOOD DONATIONS: Rock It and Wrap It Up! Contact: Diane Mandelbaum. Phone: 516.295.0670, www.rockandwrapitup.org

A Film without the Film: Shooting on the RED Cam

The Norm: A 2-camera film can shoot upwards of 15,000 feet of film a day. The harmful chemicals used in developing and processing can multiply across the various film passes during the course of a project (the negative, work print and answer print). Often, the addition of a tape stock during the telecine process further amplifies the non-biodegradable waste. And the environmental impact is not limited to the stock itself: Film is wrapped on a plastic core, in a plastic sleeve, inside of a metal can. 

The New:  "Fair Game" was shot on the RED Cam, a high performance digital camera. Shooting digitally creates quality results on par with industry and audience expectations without the need for photochemical processing.  Also, the RED Cam records images onto a compact flash card which is comprised of less plastic than a film core.

There is a reincarnation effect with the camera and its media as well. All of the media utilized on our project is reusable; the digital storage devices we employed have life-spans that can cover fifteen to thirty thousand uses.  That means that the tangible impact of one set of digital stock is accurately compared against the impact of seventy to one hundred fifty projects shot on film.

In a similar vein, most of our still photography was shot digitally. Instead of printing one-sheets of these photos, we uploaded our digital stills to a site where users could log in to view and approve the photos.

The Numbers: We shot 106 hours and 45 minutes on the Red Cam (this number includes our International Unit). That equals 576,000 feet of film that we would have processed. As films typically process 90% of what is purchased, our estimated film purchase would have been 640,000 feet.
Likewise, we ended up storing over 17,000 digital stills online.

Vendors:

CAMERA RENTAL AND PROCESSING: OffHollywood Digital LLC, 580 Broadway, Suite 8, New York, NY 10012. Phone: 212.260.8400
STILL PHOTOGRAPHY: GLOBALedit, 32 Avenue of the Americas, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10013.
Contact: Graham Pollack. Phone: 212.792.2753

Getting Around Green: Rethinking Transportation

The Norm: With the numbers of vehicles required to transport equipment and crew, and with the need to generate electricity in shooting locations, a production can go through enormous amounts of diesel fuel.

The New: We used "B5" Biodiesel to run our base camp generator, set dressing trucks and rigging trucks. Also, the overall plan for our equipment included "tying in" to each location's power source wherever possible.

For every other truck and our main unit generator, we used an ultra-low sulfur diesel which burns more cleanly.

Our line producer and transportation coordinator instituted an anti-idling rule for the drivers, requiring drivers to turn off vehicles while not in motion, thus reducing our carbon dioxide output.
For car services, we requested that our accounts were set up with a hybrid vehicle as the "default" request where available. We used NYC Greencar on occasion, a car company that donates part of their profits to one of four "green" charities.

We opted for the Green Guerillas, a group that supports community gardens.

The majority of our rental cars for the run-of-show were hybrid vehicles as well.

Finally, we encouraged public transportation. This included location scouts that were done entirely via subway (our director and producers included) as well as transportation both to set and to the airport via subway and rail. The entire crew and our cast took the train to travel from NYC to Washington, D.C. for the D.C. Unit.

The Numbers: We went through 892 gallons of "B5" Biodiesel. And on 8 out of our 31 NY shoot days, we operated without a generator as the production tied into the shooting locale's power source.

Vendors:
BIODIESEL: Tri-State Biodiesel, 36 E. 23rd Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10010. Phone: 646.432.5759
HYBRID VEHICLES:
1) NYC Green Car, 315 Bleecker Street, Suite 162, New York, NY 10014. Phone: 646.912.6600
2) BLS Limousine, 18-20 Steinway Street, Astoria, NY 11105. Phone: 800.843.5752

The Global Picture: Reflections from the International Unit

We shot internationally in Cairo, Jordan, and Kuala Lumpur. Due to budgetary constraints, our approach with the International Unit was to fly as few US crew members as possible and only bring the bare essentials, working as locally as possible, which in turn had a positive effect environmentally. Though we were not able to implement the same modernized sustainability methods that we utilized in New York while shooting overseas, in all three of these countries, we noticed that we simply did not generate as much waste as we did in the United States.

We had fewer materials to work with, less equipment available and a smaller amount of demands made on us by our local cast and crew. With our limited options, materials and time, it forced us to use what we had available locally to create what we needed on screen. There was an acceptance of what was available and the limitations in these countries forced simplicity, conservation, and inventiveness that served the film in a positive way.


Hind Sight Is 20/20: Lessons for Next Time

Here are a few ideas to implement on future shoots:

Water:

There were several lost water bottles, and purchasing enough bottles for each and every day player became too cost prohibitive (we ended up using more compostable cups for drinking water than originally anticipated).

Also, the wider mouth piece was a little messy for actors' make up. We ended up purchasing special squeeze tops for the actors' bottles.

The 5 gallon jugs are not easily portable. Next time, we would look for a water source at each location where we could attach a filter, much like the Brita faucet filter linked to the garden hose.

Compost, Recycling and Waste:

Separating our waste 5 different ways proved confusing to crew members and day players. We could have combined the food and compostable dishware bins into one (we had initially thought we'd send the food waste to a community garden).

It would be great to find a way to recycle expendables such as black wrap and gels.

Transportation: 

Hybrid cars are not always available, and some of our smaller, local car companies did not have them.
It would be beneficial to burn B5 in more than just the base camp generator or experiment with solar when it comes to the market.

APPENDICES:

Green Memo Issued to Crew

FAIR GAME

Fair Game Productions, LLC

To:  Department Heads and All Crew
 
From:  The Production Office
 
It is our vision to be as sustainable as possible throughout the production of FAIR GAME.  You can help us by participating in the following activities:
 
PREP / OFFICE
 
RECYCLE: Paper, cardboard and plastic, cans & glass all need to be separated into the proper marked containers. If you need a specific box for your space, you may request one from the Production Office.
You may recycle ink cartridges, batteries, and other industrial items.  Please turn in cartridges and batteries for recycling.  For specialized items, please ask the Production Office.
 
REUSE: Boxes and packing materials that can be reused will be stored in the Production Office. If you need a box or have one to store, please let us know and we will help you.
 
REDUCE: Think before printing!  Print double sided when possible. Also, use an "eco" font, which saves printer ink.  Ask for the font file at the Production Office.  You can reuse paper for notes, PC and other printing. All paper, even post-it notes, can be recycled. All envelopes, even window envelopes, are recyclable.
 
Limit paper towel use. There are biodegradable sponges under the kitchen sink.  Use them to clean spills, etc. The hand towel above the sink is replaced daily and is there for you to dry your hands. 
 
There are dishes and flatware available in the kitchen for your use. If you order take-out food, please ask them to not include the plastic utensils.
 
Only use To Go coffee cups when you are leaving the building. Instead, use the ceramic mugs.

GO LOCAL: Purchase supplies from local vendors whenever possible to reduce our carbon footprint.  Opt to ship via U.S. Postal Service over Fed Ex.  The Production Office will be purchasing fruits and vegetables for craft service from local farmers markets to provide healthy and local snacks.
 
CLOSE THE CIRCLE: We are purchasing recycled and earth friendly supplies when possible. Ask Production if you are looking for a better alternative for any of your supplies.

SET
 
RECYCLE: We will be recycling on set. Please sort your trash from your recycling before you toss.
 
REDUCE: We will have drinking water available to refill your reusable water bottles. Please consider bringing your own travel mug. It will save cups and help you identify your coffee or tea on set. If you forget your own mug, don't forget to use a sharpie to keep track of the compostable ones you do use.
WRAP
 
REUSE: New York City has many resources for donating and recycling supplies and objects. Please consult the Production Office before you throw ANYTHING away. We are here to help.
 
If you have any questions as to what can or cannot be recycled, reused or donated, please ask the Production Office.
As we approach shooting, we will add to this list, and we will give specific instructions that pertain to each department. We welcome any ideas or suggestions you may have in our effort to promote responsible filmmaking. 
 
THANK YOU!  - Mari Jo Winkler, David Bausch and your Production Team