The upcoming psychological mystery series Evil, set to premiere on Sept. 26 this year, has taken great strides to ensure a fully green production. The show collaborated with a sustainability consulting firm, Earth Angel, in efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.
The film and television industry is usually short-term, resource intensive and time-constrained, making it hard to monitor the consumption and disposal habits of the cast and crew. Due to limited time, recyclable and reusable material is often disposed and wasted. But during the show’s collaboration with Earth Angel, they assessed the production’s waste levels and helped them lower the wastage. In 2018 they helped bring down the average carbon footprint by 23 percent and saved up to $533,418 in sustainable efforts on film and television sets.
This isn’t a one-time venture either; Evil takes the step to be more environmentally conscious as a part of the CBS Green Production program. This program is an important part of the bigger CBS Eye on the Environment sustainability initiative.
The showrunners currently have the final say in whether to partake in the initiative or not at the beginning of production, but in the future this decision will most likely be made at the studio-head level according to CBS chief procurement officer Mike Smyklo.
“It was really never a question,” said Michelle King (The Good Wife, BrainDead), one of the show’s writers and executive producers when asked about the decision to participate. She also went on to say that everybody involved in the production of the show wanted to recycle and believed that being sustainable is critical.
The show’s set completely avoided single-use plastic bottles and utensils, paper scripts and call sheets. They ensured that only hybrid cars were used for transportation to set and donated any untouched food to food banks and non-profits. At the end of production, set decorations and furniture are donated to organizations like Habitat for Humanity.
Evil is one of the six CBS shows that is taking such strides this year, joined by Twilight Zone, Charmed, Nancy Drew, The Stand and BH90210, according to Variety.
“That’s up from one or two sustainability-conscious productions just a few years ago, starting with Madam Secretary,” expressed Smyklo, going on to say that it’s a choice that makes financial and environmental sense. “If you would’ve asked five years ago, most people would tell you that lowering your waste and your carbon footprint costs money. But we find that not to be the case anymore. We’ve found that cost savings and positive environmental impact can go hand in hand.”
Evil will be available to stream soon on CBS All Access this month.