Hollywood stars mobilize for the climate

(Los Angeles) Stars like Jane Fonda or the Oscar-winning directors of Everything Everywhere All At Once will advocate for the entertainment industry to take the fight against climate change seriously at the fourth Hollywood Climate Summit in Los Angeles this week.

This summit, from Wednesday evening to Saturday, will bring together filmmakers, scientists and environmental activists to try to change the culture in the sector and encourage film and television to use their enormous influence on audiences around the world.

“Hollywood is an extremely powerful industry,” said Ali Weinstein, co-founder of the summit and television writer. “We are on the verge of a cultural shift in many ways.”

According to a recent study by the Norman Lear Center and consulting firm Good Energy, the climate crisis is “virtually non-existent” in the entertainment industry.

Less than 3% of the approximately 37,000 film and television scripts made since 2016 mentioned “any keyword related to climate” and only 0.6% used the words “climate change”.

“For us, it’s a big problem because most people on average spend more time with movie or television characters than with their own families,” said Heather Fipps, also co-founder of the summit.

“Laughing at climate change”

“It’s really important for us to imbue our words with our reality,” said Ali Weinstein. “Everyone on Earth is affected by the climate crisis in one way or another. If we don’t show that in our day-to-day content, that content is science fiction.”

At this summit, Quinta Brunson – the star of the comedy series Abbott Elementary – will take part in a debate with Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the directors ofEverythingEverywhere which picked up seven major Oscars this year, including Best Picture.

Jane Fonda will appeal to the entertainment industry to fight new fossil fuel projects in California.

Taiwanese-American actress Stephanie Hsu, nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Oncewill participate in a discussion on the need to talk about climate change openly between generations.

A round table will discuss the role of improvised shows, including reality TV, in representations of climate change.

According to Heather Fipps, recent series like Succession And The Sex Lives of College Girls showed that screenwriters can address the issue of climate change with “jokes” or “jokes” towards those responsible rather than adopting a mournful tone.

“It can be fun to laugh about climate change,” she says. “It can be liberating to see it on our screens and not have people gulp it down as a political message.”

Hollywood and its private jet stars are frequently accused of hypocrisy about climate change, but the summit co-founders say their goal is to change the general approach, not to blame individuals.

“This event is meant to be an awareness event to change the culture in Hollywood – not at all for everyone in Hollywood to assert themselves as climate experts.”

“We are active activists in the entertainment industry,” they insist. “The entertainment industry is hypocritical. She didn’t do enough.”