The push for more climate change stories in Hollywood

Hollywood has grown and changed in recent years, especially after the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes of 2023. But one common complaint remains: The major film and television studios are not telling enough stories about the threat of climate change. A new study appears to show that this is not just some insider's take but a quantifiable fact. 

The study, published in April by Maine's Colby College and the consultancy Good Energy, conducted a "systematic content analysis of 250 of the most popular fictional films released between 2013 and 2022." It analyzed these films based on two metrics: whether climate change existed within the film and whether characters were aware of it. The study concluded that only 9.6% of the films analyzed passed both of these metrics. Furthermore, the phrase "climate change" was mentioned at least twice in only 3.6% of the films. 

But while Hollywood may seem slow to come around to telling stories about our planet, there have been efforts in the industry to shift this.

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Why has there been a climate change disparity in Hollywood projects?  

One main reason is that when it comes to talking about the climate, the genre of a film or television show "doesn't require [showrunners and directors] to do it," Barbara Hall, the creator of the political drama "Madam Secretary," said to Mother Jones. You "don't necessarily have to talk about climate change in a cop show or law show or medical show." Others may not write stories about climate change because they simply do not understand it, and "it's true that if you don't know much about climate change, incorporating it into your storytelling is hard," said Mother Jones. 

There is also a disparity between stories that audiences think are about climate change and which ones are actually about climate change. When researchers from the University of Southern California and Good Energy "asked 2,000 people for examples of climate-themed movies or television shows, the most frequent answers were 'The Day After Tomorrow,' which is almost 20 years old, and '2012,' which is about the end of the world, not climate change," The Atlantic said.   

But the goal should not be for "everyone to make stories that are about climate change," Dana Weissman­-Scali, the director of programs for the Writers Guild of America East, said to Mother Jones. Rather, the aspiration should be that writers "don't pretend that this change isn't happening, and that it isn't affecting every aspect of human life on the planet." 

What is the industry doing about this? 

For years, there were no efforts to incorporate climate change into the entertainment industry — but that appears to be improving. While the current climate narrative is "part of the problem, by all counts, it can be an integral part of the solution, and Hollywood is playing its part," Rolling Stone said.  

One of the most notable efforts of the past few years involves Apple TV's smash hit series "Ted Lasso." A highly lauded episode centered around a beloved character, Sam Obisanya, as he "takes a stand against AFC Richmond's fictional corporate sponsor, Dubai Air, because it's owned by an oil company that's causing environmental and economic devastation to his native country Nigeria," said Rolling Stone. This plot arc "isn't just a story about footballers bonding. This is a story about climate activism winning. We need more of this."

This shows that the previous barriers to entry for climate change stories are falling, largely due to the success of films like "Don't Look Up." Beyond this, 2023 saw the release of "Extrapolations," a show that "centers climate change in grandiose fashion, via a series of vignettes that imagine how humans will be grappling with everything from species extinction to geo-engineering over the next five decades," said Fast Company. The series was the "largest-budget fictional show about climate change ever made," executive producer Dorothy Fortenberry said to Fast Company. 

And the data on climate change in Hollywood "could also help serve as an incentive to connect audiences with climate stories," Harry Winer, the director of sustainability at New York University's Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, said to The Associated Press. It means that audiences "will be more open to hearing a dialogue about what is right and what is wrong."