The studio aiming to make Hollywood productions sustainable

While film sets are typically demolished and sent to landfill, Electric Owl is working with a company called Lifecycle Building Center to collect elements of retired sets and sell them to other productions. Leftover lumber, meanwhile, will be donated to circular groups like Habitat for Humanity.

Where possible, the studio will aim to give away catered food left by film crews to charities and food banks. Unsuitable items can reportedly be repurposed for use on campus after being dehydrated on site.

As we’ve seen countless times from big names in the energy sector, high production costs associated with renewables will turn away most companies with a strict bottom line. In the case of Electric Owl, however, all of its sustainable infrastructure has added just 1% to its budget.

The key to achieving this competitive price was finding the right partner for each aspect of the build. When it came to securing the sizable power needed for lighting, for instance, Cherry Street Energy installed solar panels for free and created a plan to charge at a kilowatt-hour use rate.

‘We could not have afforded to buy solar panels and pay for the installation ourselves,’ said studio co-owner Dan Rosenfelt. ‘That would have blown us out of the water.’

‘If prices are competitive, the green facilities are a way to stand out from the crowd,’ he explained. ‘We want to be a very special boutique hotel for movies and TV shows.’

In the context of the wider industry, major Hollywood producers are beginning to seriously consider sustainability targets. Netflix is aiming to halve its greenhouse emissions by 2030, and NBCUniversal is striving for carbon neutrality by 2035.

With operations slated to launch next month, Electric Owl could quickly land itself a serious clientele list. Let’s hope this is the start of a more ecologically responsible entertainment industry in the US.