In relation to Cuhre's area of interest, there are two projects and an EU application on sustainability in the media industry, which Associate Professor Heidi Philipsen and our institute is at the forefront of and here briefly describes: 

"Sustainable sGreenplay" was a 1-year research project under the SDU Climate Cluster, which IMADA and the Department of Design, Media and Education Sciences worked on together. A key focus in this project was the first phases of development of a green writing software. The project was finished in Nov. 2023. 

"Green Media Production Development" is a 1-year project focusing on obstacles to greener media productions. It has received funding from Vision Denmark and is carried out in close collaboration with the companies TV 2, Growing Stories and Produced By. It will be rounded off and finished with a seminar in Dec. 2024. 

"European Sustainable sGreenplay" is an EU application on which the Department of Design, Media and Education Sciences is in front of. A key in this project is to address the media industry's green transition across Europe. Again, we are focusing on writing software and early development processes and now also European talent development and the present screen production industry in Europe.

The ambition is to help the green transition

The effects of climate change are visible in every corner of the world today, and the scope and speed of this global challenge is increasingly evident and alarming. In response to this global challenge, the European Union launched the “European Green Deal” in 2019, which aims to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C and reach carbon neutrality for Europe by 2050. To support the European Green Deal objectives, the objective in our projects is to study and support the screen media industry in Europe to expediate their green transition as the media sector is not only, one of the most important sectors for communicating about climate matters, but it is also a sector with a huge environmental footprint. ‘Sustainability’ in the context refers to the screen media industry adopting greener storytelling in film and tv-series in the future and developing more environmentally sustainable practices by moving towards more carbon neutral production processes to meet their “European Green Deal” objectives.  
 
Our projects, thus, aims to enhance the European media industry’s climate change mitigation and adaptation measures by addressing the specific areas where this industry can contribute. This will especially be done by developing writing software to be used by especially screenwriters, directors, and producers in the early phases of film and television production. This software and knowledge could become a vital tool for every field in the creative sector where the writing of a story is essential. This represents a new tool that will allow the contemporary industry and its next generation of talent to meet its climate responsibilities.   

In a survey we have carried out in the Danish screen production industry (in March 2023) we asked the screen production companies how many of them would like to try out the software SDU is working on, and 61% answered “Yes”, 9% answered “no” and 30% “I don’t know” (Philipsen 2023). So apparently the interest is out there in the relevant industry. Green software can be regarded a key factor in the green transition in this industry. As suggested by Vaughan and Käpää (2023), digital technologies are often framed as a solution to production management.

If you are curious about our sustainability projects related to the media industry, there is more knowledge to be gained if you listen to this podcast we have produced:
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/13467d86-1f0e-43fc-ab81-c8b416488898 

More information on these projects, please contact Heidi Philipsen (Heidij@sdu.dk)