“True Detective: Night Country” Shows How Productions Can Be Sustainable

Hit HBO crime drama True Detective: Night Country is played out against an explicit backdrop of environmental danger and climate action, implying that the show’s other themes of racism and violence against women are connected to society’s decaying morals if nothing is done to save it.

The show could hardly have authentically delivered these messages if its own production wasn’t also practicing sustainability. It was, from top to bottom, and earned an EMA Gold Seal with a whopping 186 points (only 125 are required) bestowed by the Environmental Media Association.

Executive producer Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda talked about how and why this was done in conversation with Zena Harris, president of Green Spark Group, at the 2024 NAB Show.

“I have made a commitment to only working on projects that have had a climate or environmental component to them. And I’m very interested in working with female creators, directors and showrunners.”

Introduced to director-writer Issa López, she found the ideal project to move forward on.

They scouted Alaska — which is where the fictional town of Ennis (even this name feels emasculated in keeping with the story’s anti-misogynist agenda) is located — but at minus 22 degrees in the Arctic circle, “there’s no way we could put cast and crew out in these elements for any length of time on a large-scale production.”

Canada was compelling. However, the areas that look like Alaska had similar problems, “where they were on an inhospitable weather standpoint, and very taxing on flights, so there would have been an enormous carbon emission.”

So, they switched to Iceland, another icebound location of equally cold weather, but all just a 30-minute drive from the capital city — and with a 35% tax credit “to sweeten the deal.”

Using local crew saved having to fly with production staff. They may be small in number, but they are professional and experienced with equipment rental and studio facilities. The fact that the whole production could be serviced in and around Reykjavík was another plus in keeping transport to a minimum.

“The other bonus to Iceland is that the country is run on one-hundred percent clean energy,” Winkler-Ioffreda said. “Sixty-three percent of that energy is geothermal, and the rest is hydroelectric. The entire country is wired and set up for EV vehicles. We had over 40 heavy vehicles that we rented for cast and crew. We saved about 4000 gallons of gasoline by renting EVs.”

It helped that environmental awareness is a “way of life” in that country, so the local Icelandic crew “really embraced it and so did our big crew from the UK and some Americans,” she said, adding, “there’s really no pushback in the United States, from the unions and crew members.”

Picking up the story, the Producers Guild detailed how the production considered sustainability throughout the entire process, from script development through distribution. In early prep, the physical production effort is addressed before buying and building starts and before vendor agreements are made — so decisions are made looking through a green lens. That continues through post to premieres and distribution.

READ MORE: Anatomy of a Sustainable Production (Producer’s Guild)

“There’s a direct correlation between the criticism we’re making of the ways of the world we live in and the way that we did the show,” showrunner Issa López said in a video featurette. “We executed the show as an experiment in low impact. Even in extreme conditions, we could take the impact back toward zero.”

Getting all of this done is a question of persistence and surrounding yourself with people whose mission is specifically the care of the environment.

“It’s not about keeping someone in the shadows of the production office. It’s having meetings and making their mission part of what we’re doing,” López says.

“Just like production in and of itself, the earlier it starts and the more prep there is, the easier it is,” Heidi Kindberg, VP of sustainability for HBO and Max, adds. “If A is more sustainable than B, and you make that choice in the beginning, then it’s no more difficult than having made the traditional B choice. You’re just choosing the more sustainable option.”

Every department should feel empowered to ask how their role can approach sustainability, they say. It starts the minute they have their team assembled. “When you have your DP on, it’s a conversation with them about lighting instruments. It’s a conversation with their crew about a power plan and right-sizing your generators while looking at efficient lighting,” Winkler-Ioffreda said.

“It’s a choice of how you prioritize how you spend the resources,” she added. “It makes for a more positive experience for everyone. It’s remarkable how cast, crew, and the people in neighborhoods where you’re filming feel about being on a clean set, not having diesel spewing or pollution spouting out. This has taught me to keep pushing and to keep addressing it with every film company, every director, showrunner and crew member.”

Of course, it might be easy to get clean tech in a location like Iceland, whereas in another such tech is out of reach — but maybe composting is accessible.

Kindberg urged productions to take advantage of sustainability infrastructure that’s there, while working with the production’s sustainability exec to solve for what isn’t there.

“Every producer, director, line producer and production manager should be in contact with their directors of sustainability and then have a relationship with those people.

“And if you want the utmost integrity, you have to staff it,” Winkler-Ioffreda added. “You have to make room in your budget for that.”

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