Why aren't more TV shows and movies taking on climate change?

The devastating wildfires in Los Angeles have many people thinking about climate change. So why aren't we seeing more TV or film addressing this pressing global issue? 

Today on Commotion, Allison Begalman, co-founder of the Hollywood Climate Summit, and Kendra Pierre-Louis, climate reporter with Bloomberg, join Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss what's keeping Hollywood from reflecting our environmental reality. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Climate change is a part of the reality of being on Earth. It is not political — yes, it's been used as a political tool — but that doesn't negate the fact that it is just a truth that we're dealing with and we're trying to sort our way through. Allison, what do you think is getting in the way of that, being more explicit in TV shows and movies? What do you think it is about Hollywood that's saying, "Ah, maybe let's not go there so directly, so on the nose?"

Allison: There are three main challenges that are probably the biggest barriers to seeing climate stories on screen. The first one I would say is the politicization of climate has created a challenging dynamic where creators are worried about alienating potential audiences. And this often leads to self-censorship or avoiding the topic entirely. 

Second, there's just a knowledge gap. Many creators feel that they need to be climate experts to tell these stories or have to have been on the frontlines, which I don't believe is true. At the Hollywood Climate Summit, we focus on building climate literacy in ways that help creatives find their own entry points into these narratives. Climate storytelling doesn't require a science degree or a climate degree; it requires authentic human stories that connect with audiences. 

And the final barrier is Hollywood is ultimately a business driven by profit. While we are seeing more successful climate-related content, we still need more case studies that prove to folks who are buying and putting out this content that these stories can reach broad audiences and be commercially viable. The key is helping creators understand that they can integrate climate themes naturally into any genre or story type without sacrificing the entertainment value or audience reach. 

Elamin: Kendra, I think Allison is telling me that it's a little bit hard to run an ad campaign for a movie that says, "Hey, come see this movie about climate change." Which, point granted, that is a difficult ask. You can say, "Come watch this movie about the world ending and the Statue of Liberty is buried under all the snow." That's a little bit sexier than the idea of like, "Please walk through the door of the cinema, there's a climate change movie waiting for you."

Kendra: Yeah. I was watching this Netflix romantic comedy called Partner Track. It's a legal romantic comedy, it's called Partner Track because the protagonist is trying to make partner at her law firm. But it has a climate change B plot. When I was reporting on it and ended up talking to the showrunner, the B plot's not in the book (the television series is based on a fictional book). They created that wholecloth, where she's brokering a deal with an energy company that's trying to buy another energy company to shut down its clean energy division. And the clean energy dude is hot! But I did not go into it looking for a climate television series. I went into it because I wanted to turn my brain off a little bit and watch this little, frothy rom-com series about this lawyer trying to make partner. But they stuck it in there, it was really lovely. By the end, you're fully on board with the climate themes. And it's not depressing, right? Because it's couched in a solution: the enemy — the big, evil oil company — is trying to shut down the renewable energy division of this other company. So it's this big David-and-Goliath situation. And it is about climate change, it's about the things that we're dealing with in terms of climate. But it's not, to your point, this really sad, melodic movie about rising seas.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jean Kim.