The Green Behind the Scenes: From Sets to Stadiums

Leena Manro (: 00:00

Welcome to Up To So Good, the podcast that unlocks the secrets of creating a purpose-driven business, so we can all make this world a better place. Come join the conversation.

(: 00:13

Hello, and welcome to Up to So Good, the podcast that explores the purpose of business. I'm your host, Leena Manro. Today, we'll be talking to Zena Harris, she is the Co-founder of the Green Spark Group. This is a group that works within the entertainment industry, trying to encourage sustainability and help the entertainment industry to reduce their carbon footprint. Now, when we talk about the entertainment industry, it's more than just film and TV. That includes festivals and concerts and sporting events. And basically, when these things are left unchecked, they can leave a really negative imprint on our planet. The Green Spark Group does this by working directly with studios and production companies, reducing waste and helping them to reduce emissions by really working with them on their day-to-day operations. So, we hope you stick around because this is a really informative episode to listen to.

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Hello and welcome to Up to So Good, the podcast that explores the purpose of business. And I'm here with Zena Harris, who's the Founder and President of the Green Spark Group.

Zena Harris (: 01:07

Yes, hi, nice to be with you.

Leena Manro (: 01:09

Hi, thank you so much for joining us.

Zena Harris (: 01:10

Sure.

Leena Manro (: 01:10

So tell us, about the Green Spark Group. What is the Green Spark Group?

Zena Harris (: 01:14

Well, it is a sustainability consulting company that services the entertainment industry. So, we've been around, this is our 11th year, we're very proud of that. And we last year got our B-Corp certification, which I know that you have as well, so that was a journey in and of itself. And I mean, honestly, we're looking at sustainability in every corner of the entertainment industry. We focused a lot over the years on film and TV, and we are looking more at sports world and music world and how to uplift the workforce. And so, you can imagine there are many, many companies, many stakeholders in and along that value chain, and we hope to touch as many as we possibly can.

Leena Manro (: 02:11

Okay. So when you say the entertainment world, that's so broad. Actually, and you answered my next question, which was, where do you focus and what does sustainability consultant mean?

Zena Harris (: 02:22

For us, a sustainability consulting in entertainment means, like I said, we've been working a lot in film and TV over the years. So, we've divided up our company into multiple practice areas, we like to call it. And one of them is working on production with production crew and the leadership and the studio, all to help make that production more sustainable, help crew integrate sustainable practices. So, we like to say we're working with them, we're not doing it for them.

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And so what that looks like is, talking about what the goals for that production are related to sustainability. Maybe they just want to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions. Maybe they want to work on practices that reduce their carbon footprint, and that could be anything from reducing the amount of fuel that they use, using clean tech to do that. What does that look like? Where do you get it? How do we have conversations about gathering data around that equipment and the reduction in fuel. To material reuse, how are we going to source it? Where are we going to get it? What does that look like? What does the art department need? What do they want to do? What's their vision?

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And then what happens with that material at the end to all, you can imagine the various types of materials that might enter a film set. So, it could be the types of food, it could be how catering and craft service are serving that food. How people, crew members are interacting with that food, and then what's happening to it at the end of the day. So, all of these small decisions, I mean, when taken together and rolling up into that production, it can be a lot. It can be overwhelming.

Leena Manro (: 04:10

Yeah, definitely.

Zena Harris (: 04:10

Right? And so when we're working on production, we're helping the production ease that burden a bit and all those decisions and helping them gather information and execute on that. There is a lot of waste on film or TV production. I mean, everything that you see on the screen or everything you see on TV was put there by someone for a reason. It could be the plant, it could be the pen on the desk, it could be anything, it was put there for a reason. And then you think about the materials that are coming into that system, all of those little details then have to go somewhere after the show has wrapped. Right? And we're dealing with tight budgets and timing, really, that is for years it was just easier to throw all that stuff in the dumpster out back.

Leena Manro (: 05:11

And just think about that. So when you say everything, let's just take just a sitcom, I don't know, something like a show where the set is just at home and you've got the entire house, you're showing the house. Maybe it's an hour long drama, mostly at the house, and of course, you've got all these other sets. All the furnishings in the house were procured for the purposes of that filming and they'll all be thrown out. In the past, they have been thrown out, for the most part.

Zena Harris (: 05:36

That is absolutely a possibility. A lot of times folks will, if they-

Leena Manro (: 05:40

Sometimes they're sent.

Zena Harris (: 05:42

They'll rent them.

Leena Manro (: 05:42

Oh, I see, okay.

Zena Harris (: 05:43

Props will be rented.

Leena Manro (: 05:44

Well, that's good.

Zena Harris (: 05:44

Set decorations will be rented. So that's actually really, really positive and we encourage it a lot. People don't like seeing material like that go into the landfill, but I actually have seen sofas in dumpsters, there's no reason for that. But we're up against these tight timelines and budgets and-

Leena Manro (: 06:01

And it takes time, money, and effort to then-

Zena Harris (: 06:03

To do it.

Leena Manro (: 06:03

... sell or recycle or reuse this stuff. It's almost easier just to haul it away, and that's so... But think about all the TV shows that are out there. I mean, that's terrible. And then there's the really big budget sci-fi ones where all these things that are made, these giant whatever, aliens and all these materials. What happens with that?

Zena Harris (: 06:23

Yeah. Well, if you don't pay attention to what, and you don't have an intentional strike plan, that stuff more than often will go into a landfill.

Leena Manro (: 06:32

Goes into the waste, yeah.

Zena Harris (: 06:34

So, that's where we help production. But the good news is that people are aware of this and people feel the tension between throwing stuff in the landfill and then what their values are and what they may do at home, people feel it. And so they often want to do something about it, they just either haven't been given permission to do anything or don't quite know what to do, or it takes a lot of time to research a vendor that can help them, these sorts of things. So, that's where we started about 11 years ago. That's where we started, is literally working on that kind of thing on production, and the company has grown from there.

Leena Manro (: 07:17

It's troubling to me too, that so much waste is generated in an industry that is often just there for fun, for amusement, for entertainment. So much waste is generated.

Zena Harris (: 07:27

That's true. It's not just focused though on film and TV when we look at other aspects of entertainment. I mean, if anybody's been to a big concert and one where it's multiple days and people are bringing tents and all sorts of things that they may want during that timeframe. A lot of times, that stuff is left there.

Leena Manro (: 07:51

Oh, really?

Zena Harris (: 07:51

Yeah, and so there are organizations who have made their whole mission to go collect good stuff that's left at concerts and take it to shelters or take it to other organizations that can use it.

Leena Manro (: 08:06

Yeah. Do you also go into, when you're consulting with your clients, do you go into also the energy usage?

Zena Harris (: 08:13

Yeah.

Leena Manro (: 08:13

Oh, okay.

Zena Harris (: 08:14

That's a big deal.

Leena Manro (: 08:15

So, now has that gotten better or worse? Actually, let's talk about how, what that is, the energy usage. When we say energy uses, we're talking about the generators, we're talking about the storage of all of the very high definition footage that's captured. We're talking about just everything, all the lights being used and sound, all the equipment, all, everything running.

Zena Harris (: 08:35

A film set needs power. Right?

Leena Manro (: 08:37

Yeah.

Zena Harris (: 08:38

It needs power. You can get power in multiple ways, right? We've got lights, we've got cameras, we've got... And cameras are using batteries and lights, can use batteries, and there are all types of power sources that can go into play. So, what we're looking at is all of the power sources. We're documenting the energy usage there, but what we're looking at is, what's creating the power, right?

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Vancouver is a very popular place to film. You can look down the street and see cables running down the side of the street, not so much anymore in Vancouver though, they're really working to get those generators off the street and use battery power. They're great incentives in Vancouver for that. But you go to any city and you're looking at folks filming, just follow the cables and it will almost always go to a generator. Right? So, that generator uses a lot of fuel. And what we're noticing by collecting that information, we're noticing that we're oversizing our generators for what the power need actually is. So we're burning way more fuel than we actually need to, which of course, then you start looking at the dollars and cents, we're spending, we're wasting money on that.

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And then you're looking at vehicles as well, because we got a lot of trucks and vans and cars and whatnot. If we can start to look at the electric vehicle options and start to remove an internal combustion engine vehicle, we're starting to save fuel and emissions in that decision. Right?

Leena Manro (: 10:15

You seeing solar-powered in film and TV these days? Yeah?

Zena Harris (: 10:18

Oh, yeah. Trailers, casting through trailers.

Leena Manro (: 10:21

Oh, I didn't know that.

Zena Harris (: 10:22

Oh, yeah.

Leena Manro (: 10:23

That's fantastic.

Zena Harris (: 10:24

Lights, they'll use them from maybe perimeter lights or whatnot. They'll have, sometimes you can get solar-powered light stands. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of opportunity there.

Leena Manro (: 10:34

Right. So, you were saying about also food and catering. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Zena Harris (: 10:40

Yeah, it's interesting. One of the easiest decisions that can be made, and some people feel really passionate about their food, but one of the easiest decisions that can be made is to default to vegetarian options.

Leena Manro (: 10:54

Right, yes.

Zena Harris (: 10:55

And then if you need to add a little animal-based protein, you can, right? Instead of the other way around where it's like, "Here's your meat."

Leena Manro (: 11:06

Right.

Zena Harris (: 11:06

And put some veggies on the side. If you just flip that, you can save a lot of money. You can also save a lot of carbon emissions. It makes a huge difference. The type of protein that you serve, I mean, I hands down. And you think about it, meat costs more money, of course, at the end, what's happening to it? If you have leftovers, definitely donate the food. And then-

Leena Manro (: 11:33

Do they do that?

Zena Harris (: 11:34

Yeah.

Leena Manro (: 11:34

Oh, they do.

Zena Harris (: 11:35

Oh, yeah. It's a big deal. We did a big push a few years ago to show people it's perfectly legal to donate food. Here's how you can do it, here's a process, here are other organizations who can take the food. And I think it's more commonplace now.

Leena Manro (: 11:53

You just said a second ago, there's the barriers. A lot of people thought... I thought there were barriers to donating, but no?

Zena Harris (: 11:59

No, no.

Leena Manro (: 12:00

[inaudible 00:12:01] leftover lunch.

Zena Harris (: 12:01

I mean, perfectly legal to do. There's actually legislation protecting the donor. As long as you take good to care of the food-

Leena Manro (: 12:08

I see, I see, okay.

Zena Harris (: 12:09

... you can donate the food.

Leena Manro (: 12:11

What would you say is then, in just a sentence or two, I know it might seem self-evident, but I'd love for you just to say, what is the real purpose of Green Spark?

Zena Harris (: 12:21

The purpose of Green Spark Group is to change the climate of entertainment. It's absolutely what we're here to do, and we do it in several different ways through engaging with production, through this corporate work. And then a lot of our work also is in training, uplifting people, uplifting the workforce, upskilling, that's a huge part of it all. It's very important to us to teach you how to do something and you go off and do it on your own. But it also is important to us to walk the talk as well, which is why we focus so much on getting our B Corp certification and setting up an internal structure that works for our employees.

Leena Manro (: 13:04

And 1% for the planet.

Zena Harris (: 13:05

1% for the planet.

Leena Manro (: 13:06

[inaudible 00:13:07].

Zena Harris (: 13:06

And all of that, that we're trying ourselves to be a model in the industry to work with honesty and decency and transparency.

Leena Manro (: 13:16

Has it been positive for you all, or do you operate a little bit more like a nonprofit?

Zena Harris (: 13:19

I would say it's been lucrative in that we can think about more than just money. We've had quite a ripple effect in the industry, working locally with organizations like Real Green, for example, which is at the Creative BC, the film commission here. We've been working with them for years, and that has sparked this whole local movement, they've gone on to do great things. That to me is lucrative, that's success. We'd like to not take advantage of people.

(: 13:59

And so, we do charge for our services, and I think it's important. One of the things that I run up against a lot is that people just expect sustainability expertise to be free. At the end of the day, if you want to have a thriving company, you also need to think about how to do that in a financially successful way. I think when you're profit driven and you're just profit driven, it looks great on paper for a while, but at the end of the day, I do think that it's unsustainable because a lot of times, from what I can tell, is that when you're only focused on that and you're not focused on the broader picture of how your workforce is doing and how your employees-

Leena Manro (: 14:51

For sure, yeah.

Zena Harris (: 14:52

... are thriving and what you're doing for them to help them do a good job for you as the company, that kind of... Leaders are not thinking about that. It is unsustainable in my mind, because you just start driving people into the ground, and it might look great on paper, but your workforce is suffering.

Leena Manro (: 15:15

I do wonder about this idea of almost embracing poverty as being noble, and things like this sometimes do happen in the B Corp world. I don't think it's good. I don't know if it's done intentionally or subconscious or a lot of B Corps won't toot their own horn either. There's this humility piece that keeps them shy as opposed to just saying, "Hey, you know what? This is what we do. This is who we are. Let's do business."

Zena Harris (: 15:43

We've had this conversation internally for a little while, like, should we be more forward with how we've helped people.

Leena Manro (: 15:51

Yes, yes.

Zena Harris (: 15:52

Or we've had that internal struggle, right?

Leena Manro (: 15:55

As Canadians, it seems like this is, I think a kind of maybe a sweet part about our culture. We don't go out there and just in your face, as opposed to maybe some other cultures. So, what started you on this path? Because the Green Spark Group has been here for 11 years, but what triggered your desire to just say, "Hey, you know what? This is what I'm going to do now. I'm going to create this beautiful [inaudible 00:16:19]"?

Zena Harris (: 16:18

Yeah. Well, interestingly, it comes from a bit of a nerdy place. I was in graduate school and I was doing a master's in sustainability and environmental management. When I started thinking about sustainability and corporate sustainability and that sort of thing, I would read reports that would come out surveying the C-suite in multiple industries and comparing what industry was doing what and how are they integrating various practices, and the entertainment industry lagged behind biotech and manufacturing and many other industries in these surveys that came out over several years. And I'm like, my gosh, entertainment, that's one that influences cultures, influences the masses, people look up to people in entertainment, that sort of thing. And I'm like, I'm going to really have to drill in. So, I focused on entertainment, film and TV in particular for my master's thesis. And that's what started it all.

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And then I've talked to folks through that process and then afterwards, I turned my very long master's thesis into a short white paper, and I sent it around to all the studios and people that I had interviewed in that process. And then I went and visited them in LA and I was like, "Hi, I'm available to work." And-

Leena Manro (: 17:39

That started your business?

Zena Harris (: 17:40

That started my business. I was here in Vancouver and noticed Vancouver's a large film hub, what's going on? And so I looking around at what was going on and got on a production and we did some great stuff. The crew rallied and it was a big deal. And the studio was super supportive, and that got me thinking, this is one show in a city that's probably doing 50 at a time right now. This needs to scale, and not only does it need to scale on production, but it needs to scale with industry organizations who are talking to production. It needs to scale with unions and guilds, it needs to scale with the many service providers. So, that just launched the company right there.

Leena Manro (: 18:25

Did you get close to any writers and directors in your work? And are they talking about telling stories about climate change, about even including recycling?

Zena Harris (: 18:36

Now, people, there's a whole movement of climate storytelling out there. Organizations have sprung up just to focus on that with writers and doing workshops and whatnot.

Leena Manro (: 18:48

Beautiful.

Zena Harris (: 18:48

So, that's how the industry has evolved over the years. And many more films have been made with climate in them. I mean, people are now tracking that and then tracking what you see on screen, and then how it influences human behavior, the audience member. Social scientists are studying that right now. And then there are producers who have embraced this and who want to operate their production, produce in a sustainable way. And they have, that's their sort of claim to fame. Some don't even take shows unless they know that the studio is supportive, knows that they're going to have the resources they need to produce it in a certain way. And I'm talking big stuff, not just smaller, independent stuff, where you've got maybe more control, you don't have a studio hanging over you or whatnot. And they are outwardly saying, "This is how I want to work."

Leena Manro (: 19:47

So, you also have a podcast?

Zena Harris (: 19:49

I do, I do.

Leena Manro (: 19:49

What's your podcast called?

Zena Harris (: 19:51

It's called the Tie-in.

Leena Manro (: 19:52

The Tie-in.

Zena Harris (: 19:52

Yeah.

Leena Manro (: 19:54

And so, what do you talk about in your podcast?

Zena Harris (: 19:54

The whole point of it, and I should say I co-host it with Mark Rabin, who is a local Vancouver, another founder friend of mine and we've been working together for 10 years. He started Portable Electric, a battery manufacturing company years ago that revolutionized the industry. But he and I have been on this journey for about a year, and the whole purpose of the podcast is to bring forth the voices of people behind the scenes who are doing great work, a lot of it innovative, and I'm talking across entertainment. We've gone behind the scenes at concerts, big concerts like Coachella, Mark's been in the field at Burning Man. We've talked to people who power Coldplay's concerts. We've talked to producers, art directors, construction manager, all sorts of people who are doing great work behind the scenes, but that you would never hear about.

Leena Manro (: 20:53

And so, do you feel the work that you're doing now, just in life in general, do you feel that you found your purpose?

Zena Harris (: 21:00

I do. I think that what I'm doing, is making a difference, can make more of a difference. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface. So yeah, I think there's a lot still to do and I do think that somehow I fell into this and so I've found my purpose in trying to help others in this industry.

Leena Manro (: 21:28

And so, what do you want for maybe just the viewers and listeners out there, what would you want them to know to be mindful of?

Zena Harris (: 21:37

I feel like whether you work in entertainment or not, you all have the power to do something. If you feel like you want to tackle climate change in a certain way, go do it, just do it. I really am a believer of personal agency, we have the power to do stuff. We don't need to wait and be asked to do something. And I think that is one of the single most important things for people to grab onto and feel and just live life with that.

Leena Manro (: 22:19

Did you have any final things that you wanted to share, or?

Zena Harris (: 22:23

I just really appreciate you having me on, this has been a great conversation. And I think, yeah, just folks, lean in to what your interests are. I would just leave folks with that.

Leena Manro (: 22:37

And it's pretty magical that we have an opportunity now to really change the direction I think of where we're headed by taking these steps. And I really applaud the work you're doing and the people who are working with you to make film sets more sustainable and entertainment industry in general. Such an opportunity there. I just think people didn't know.

Zena Harris (: 23:01

Yeah, [inaudible 00:23:02].

Leena Manro (: 23:02

I think we'd just take it for granted.

Zena Harris (: 23:04

Let's get it out there more. Let's talk about this more. Let's get excited about this more. It's been a shift over the years doing behind the scenes videos and talking about this kind of stuff. So, I think it's great, the more we can do, the better. And then the more the general public knows about how their entertainment is made.

Leena Manro (: 23:25

Just so you know, the way that this podcast is made is very low carbon footprint. This is some used furniture.

Zena Harris (: 23:31

That's great.

Leena Manro (: 23:33

And if you're watching this on YouTube, this is some used furniture. You can see it, you can tell by the age of this, I don't even know how old this is. It just was here when we moved in and we've been using it.

Zena Harris (: 23:45

Might as well.

Leena Manro (: 23:45

As you can see, this is a very old vault and none of this stuff ends up in landfills, we keep it, and-

Zena Harris (: 23:52

And you're plugged into the grid, I can see.

Leena Manro (: 23:54

We're plugged into the grid. We have very small cameras that we use. And you know what? It might not be the prettiest set, but it's highly functional and we're very happy with it. And unfortunately, we're not solar-powered yet, but.

Zena Harris (: 24:08

That's okay. In BC, you've got like 98% of the electricity is coming from hydropower, which is a lot cleaner than other sources.

Leena Manro (: 24:16

Just want to say thank you so much for being on our show. And if people want more information, where can they go?

Zena Harris (: 24:23

They can go to our website, greensparkgroup.com, or we're on several social media platforms, LinkedIn, Instagram, I think Facebook, at Green Spark Group.

Leena Manro (: 24:34

Beautiful. And again, the name of your podcast?

Zena Harris (: 24:36

The Tie-in.

Leena Manro (: 24:37

Look at that, podcast to podcast.

Zena Harris (: 24:39

That's right.

Leena Manro (: 24:39

Right?

Zena Harris (: 24:39

Well, maybe we'll have you on as a guest. How about that?

Leena Manro (: 24:42

I want to be on, sure.

Zena Harris (: 24:42

That would be cool. Yeah.

Leena Manro (: 24:43

I don't know if I'm behind any scenes though.

Zena Harris (: 24:45

That's okay.

Leena Manro (: 24:46

[inaudible 00:24:46] do behind the scenes for both.

Zena Harris (: 24:46

That's okay.

Leena Manro (: 24:48

Okay, all right. Thanks so much and thank you everyone for joining us today.

(: 24:52

Well, that's all the time we have for today's show, thank you so much for joining us. And if you've enjoyed the show, please subscribe, hit the like button, or share an episode. And if you have any feedback, questions, or comments, or show ideas, you can email us directly at hello@allpurpose.io. Thank you once again for joining us, we'll see you next time.