That was a question thrown up in a recent Zoom panel at the Sundance Film festival, organised by the National Resources Defence Council’s Rewrite the Future initiative and moderated by actress Zazie Beetz. And the answer given by Scott Z Burns, writer of Contagion and An Inconvenient Truth, seemed to be: 'Stuff hope.' Of course that’s not quite what he said… Resist the studio push for ‘hopeful stories’ What Scott Burns actually said was that he was trying to escape what is be

... in arts and entertainment. Recently, I came across two of my go-to writers in environmental matters basically saying the same thing: climate change happens too slowly for humans to be bothered by it. Bill McKibben: Just a Little Too Slow In his blog ‘The Crucial Years’, 350.org founder Bill McKibben draws a parallel between ‘Don’t Look Up’ and what he’s been observing in the media for a long time now: climate change moves too slowly for journalism. In geological terms, th

The problem is, I am not really the right person to talk, or write, about diversity, being a privileged white woman. (At least I am a woman, but still.) Yeah... umm, not so much. But I want to write about environmental justice, which means writing about underprivileged groups*, and I want to do it right - so what can I do? What is ‘right’ in this context? *Even as I write that, I wonder if using that term isn’t white privilege and terribly patronising. But I gotta start this

Hands up: who can claim that during the pandemic, they did not turn to streaming to make up for the loss of social interaction? To keep from going stir-crazy, or worse? Thank you, Ted Lasso, and I mean it. And not only is there a lot of genuinely good content out there these days… we as (film) creatives depend on this for our careers and should be glad that Disney & Co. have ramped up their productions the way they have. As book authors, we hope one of these giants will snap

I just watched the opening address of the Climate Crisis Film Festival and streamed one of their short films, and I encourage you to sign up (I think that’s still possible) - it’s free AND you get lots back. Like, spirit, hope, encouragement. One hundred per cent preferable to watching PM Trudeaux boast of Canada’s position in the fight against climate change - the man who signs permits for pipelines that transport tar sand, the dirtiest fuel on this planet. Here's a digest o

We need big stories to tackle big issues - think Erin Brockovich or HBO’s Chernobyl. But we also should make smaller, individual pro-green choices part of our storytelling DNA. Just like extreme weather occurrences are now mainstreamed into our daily weather reports, so eco awareness and pro-future behaviour should be mainstreamed in our stories’ plots. Enter Ted Lasso. Or rather, Sam Obisanya. Big Choices Are Important Eco topics have a place in existing, popular shows. More

Or, possibly worse, be humiliated. Moving on from the ‘Green Hero’ post last week, let’s turn to the villains. Hands up: who doesn’t secretly (or openly) prefer a juicy baddie over any goody-two-shoes hero? But hang on, I want Ecotopia stories to promote positive action… Well, it’s complex. Just like climate issues. And there lies not only the rub, but also tons of potential. Take ‘em out! Let’s start with the black-and-white version. The Voldemorts of environmental crimes. T

Picking up from the last post, here’s the first of my Ecotopia storytelling principles: highlight the positive. Let’s create Green Heroes, Climate Warriors, who our audience will root for and will want to emulate. And let’s make it fun and exciting. Have your heroes kick dystopia in the butt! Apart from the fact that we now actually live in a fairly dystopian world, as a genre dystopia has become incredibly popular over the last ten years or so. Especially - but not only - in